The thinnest frames and the largest lites — as long as the frame is thermally broken. Which systems we carry, where each has gone in, and where aluminum is not the answer.
Aluminum is the material of the thinnest frames and the largest lites, and for decades it was also the material of the coldest windows: the mid-century aluminum sash conducts heat straight through the frame and sweats in January. Every aluminum window worth installing today is thermally broken — the inside and outside halves of the extrusion are joined by polyamide struts, not metal, so heat has no path across. With that break, a good European system carries double or triple glazing and meets any New York energy code. Without it, the window should not be sold.
We fabricate, install and service aluminum windows across the five boroughs, Long Island and New Jersey, and we are factory-certified on the Alutech and Everest systems. The others — Cortizo, Reynaers, Alumil, Kleidco, Kawneer — we install from the manufacturer’s fabricator or fabricate to their specification. See our credentials.
| System | Origin | Character | Where we have used it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cortizo | Spain | Slim tilt-turn, sliding and curtain wall; wide range | LIC (The Anable), 165 East 64th, Gravesend Neck Road |
| Reynaers | Belgium | SlimLine 38 steel-look; MasterLine; the slimmest sightlines | Ocean Parkway |
| Alutech | Belarus/EU | AW80 tilt-turn, storefront; we fabricate and service it | 408 Lefferts, 461 East New York, 2 Bushwick |
| Everest | US | Windows, doors, curtain wall, panels; shortest lead time; we fabricate and service it | 2518 Ocean, 2535 FDB, 24 Frost |
| Alumil | Greece | Custom houses, large sliders | Monmouth Beach |
| Kleidco | US | Storefront and windows, small commercial | 217 Main Street |
| Kawneer / YKK AP | US | Commercial storefront and curtain wall | 3915 Flatlands |
Facades and new construction. Curtain wall and window walls are aluminum by definition; the systems above are what LIC, Williamsburg and Harlem are built with. Large openings. A sliding door twelve feet wide, a fixed lite eight feet tall, a full-height Juliet unit: aluminum carries the glass weight in a frame that stays slim. Custom houses with a modern or steel-look design. Reynaers SlimLine 38 shows 33 millimetres of frame on a fixed lite, a hair over an inch, and reads as a black line around the stone. Exposed and oceanfront sites. Marine-grade powder coat on aluminum outlasts anything on wood at the shore; Surfview Towers is the example. Colour. Any RAL, inside and out, and two different colours inside and out on most systems.
On a landmarked street facade, almost never: the Landmarks Preservation Commission wants the original material, which in New York is wood. Steel-look aluminum is occasionally accepted on industrial buildings. On a budget rental program, usually not: uPVC gives better thermal numbers per dollar and nobody is judging sightlines on the sixth floor of a rental. For the full comparison see aluminum vs uPVC vs wood vs fiberglass.
The European systems are built around the tilt-and-turn, with casement, fixed, sliding and lift-slide as the other members of each family; the American systems add hung and projected types. All carry double glazing as standard and triple where the design asks for it — the Ocean Parkway house is triple-glazed Low-E argon throughout. Key-locking handles and limiters for rentals are standard options. Screens for inward-opening aluminum go on the exterior face; see screens for tilt-and-turn windows.
Contractors buy aluminum windows and doors from us in the systems we fabricate — Alutech and Everest from the Staten Island shop, the European systems to order. Shop drawings, glass and hardware are included; pick-up by appointment or delivery. See material supply.
Every aluminium window we sell falls into one of the three product lines. Budget aluminium is a maker’s own profile with in-house hardware — Crystal’s Series 2000A and 2300, base configurations of Everest and Alutech — and it is the right money for landlord replacements and buildings that want aluminium without European pricing. Standard aluminium is a branded system with named hardware and glass: Reynaers SlimLine 38 and CS 77, Cortizo COR 70, Alutech, Everest, Crystal 5500. Premium is the top series of those brands — Reynaers MasterLine 8 and 10, Cortizo COR 80 — with concealed hinges, specialty glass, custom colours, arches to template and the engineering a custom house or a landmark asks for. The tier decides the sightline, the sash size, the finish range and the price; the material is the same.
Aluminium conducts heat about a thousand times better than glass, which is why a 1980s aluminium window sweats in January. A modern frame is two aluminium halves joined by a strip of polyamide — the thermal break — so heat cannot cross from the outside face to the inside. The width of that strip is the whole story: American residential aluminium uses a 1/4 to 1/2 inch break; European systems use 24 to 34 mm, and the deep Passive House series more. That is why a Cortizo COR 70 or a Reynaers MasterLine reaches whole-window U-factors in the low 0.20s while a budget aluminium frame sits near 0.30 with the same glass. The break also carries the glass load and the hardware, so the system houses test it structurally; a frame with a wide, well-designed break does not bow, and its inside surface stays warm enough that condensation is a glass-and-humidity question, not a frame one.
| Finish | What it is | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Powder coat (any RAL) | Electrostatically applied polyester, oven-cured; matte, satin or gloss; textured options | The default. Black, bronze, greys, whites; landmark-matched colours |
| Anodised | The aluminium surface itself converted to a hard oxide; clear, bronze, black, champagne | Commercial fronts, buildings that want the metal to look like metal |
| Two-tone | One colour outside, another inside on the same frame | Dark exterior with a white or wood-tone interior |
| Wood-effect | Sublimated wood grain over a powder base | Where wood is wanted without wood maintenance |
| Marine / coastal | Enhanced pre-treatment and thicker coat (AAMA 2604/2605) | Long Beach, the Rockaways, Staten Island shorefront |
Aluminium is the material for big glass. A standard tilt-and-turn sash in Cortizo or Reynaers carries about 130 kg of glass on its ordinary hardware and 170–200 kg on heavy-duty gearing — a 4 × 8 foot operable sash with a triple unit. Fixed lites go larger still, limited by glass availability and wind load rather than the frame. That capacity is why aluminium is the default for window walls, corner windows, curtain-wall inserts and the oversized terrace doors on the East 71st Street townhouse. It also means the opening has to be ready: we check the head, the anchors and the sill before a big unit is drawn, and the weight calculator gives the glass weight for any make-up.
A thermally broken frame only performs if the installation respects the break: the anchors go through the frame at the manufacturer’s points, the gap to the masonry is filled with low-expansion foam and sealed inside and out, and the sill is flashed with a pan so water that reaches the frame drains outward. On brick-to-brick replacements in pre-war buildings the old steel or aluminium subframe comes out, the opening is squared, and the new frame is set on shims with a continuous perimeter seal — the waterproofing page covers the detail. On new construction the frames are set into rough openings with a sill pan and integrated with the air barrier. We fabricate the European and Everest systems in our own shop, so the frame that arrives on site was made for that opening from a survey, not adjusted to it.
165 East 64th Street (Cortizo, complete townhouse), the Anable in Long Island City (Cortizo curtain wall with tilt-turn inserts), Ocean Parkway (Reynaers, arched units to template), 408 Lefferts Avenue and 461 East New York Avenue (Alutech, multifamily), 2518 Ocean Avenue and 2535 Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Everest), Ansonia Court (Crystal sliders). Outside our installation area we ship the same systems by container.
Thermally broken aluminum windows are. The polyamide break stops heat crossing the frame, and with Low-E argon double or triple glazing a good European system meets the New York energy code comfortably. Old un-broken aluminum windows are not, and should be replaced.
Cortizo, Reynaers, Alutech, Everest, Alumil, Kleidco, Kawneer and YKK AP. We are factory-certified to fabricate, install and service Alutech and Everest.
Rarely on the street facade; Landmarks expects the original material. They are common on rear facades and terraces, which are usually not reviewed.
Reynaers SlimLine 38 shows about 33 mm on a fixed frame and 67 mm frame-plus-vent on an opening unit; a conventional window frame alone is 70 mm or more.
No. Powder-coated aluminum needs washing, not painting. Hardware and gaskets are the only parts that wear, and both are replaceable.
A frame made of two aluminium halves joined by a polyamide strip so heat cannot cross from outside to inside. European systems use 24–34 mm breaks and reach whole-window U-factors in the low 0.20s; narrow-break American frames sit near 0.30.
Budget uses the maker’s own profile and hardware (Crystal 2000A, base Everest/Alutech); standard is a branded system with named hardware and glass (Reynaers SL38/CS 77, Cortizo COR 70, Alutech, Everest, Crystal 5500); premium is the top series with concealed hinges, specialty glass, custom colours and shapes (MasterLine, COR 80).
A standard tilt-and-turn sash carries about 130 kg of glass, 170–200 kg on heavy-duty hardware — roughly a 4 by 8 foot operable sash. Fixed lites go larger, limited by glass size and wind load.
60 East Haines Street, Germantown, Philadelphia 185 Van Dyke Street, Red Hook Budget, standard or premium? The three window lines explained · We ship nationwide: container orders to any state · Triple pane windows: are they worth it in NYC? · Reynaers MasterLine 8 vs SlimLine 38 vs CS 77 · Aluminum windows in New Jersey · 17 Dodworth Street, Bushwick — Everest windows on a new nine-unit condominium 420 12th Street, Park Slope — Crystal aluminium sliders in a converted clock factory Alutech vs Cortizo Reynaers vs Alutech Reynaers vs Schüco Aluprof vs Cortizo Cortizo Reynaers Alutech Everest Tilt-and-Turn Windows Material Comparison Window Replacement NYC
About this page. Written by Alex GC Inc. d/b/a Alex Glass Construction and reviewed before publication by Aleksandr Chernovolenko, Managing Partner, with our design and estimating lead and a field foreman. Our foremen hold the NYC DOB Site Safety Training supervisor card and our crews the 40-hour worker card; we are certified to fabricate, install and service Alutech and Everest aluminum systems. Facts are drawn from our own projects, manufacturer test data and the applicable codes; where we are giving an opinion, we say so. Last reviewed September 2026. Credentials
Related: Window supplier on Staten Island.
Tell us the building and the openings. We will recommend the system, confirm the thermal numbers, and quote fabrication and installation or supply only.
