Sales are alive & well

6 ESPITE the slacking olf of Lf housing starts, the door and window market is healthy and vigorous.

Propelled by builders focusing on the move-up market, architects are designing houses with more and more windows as well as glazed doors. More energy efficient products with high performance glazing enable them to incorporate additional windows into a house without losing efficiency or comfort.

Home buyers are hooked on the dramatic, spacious, expansive feeling provided by skylights, greenhouse windows, window walls, bays, bows, half-rounds and patio doors.

The increase in the number of windows used per family house is helping to offset the drop in housing starts. While in 1984 the average number of windows per single family home was 12.5, an average of 14.'7 windows was installed per single familv home last vear.

Replacement windows bought for repair and remodeling projects are doing their bit to keep the sales figures for windows in the upper ranges. Homeowners who elect to stay in their houses and remodel want light and views as much as the move-up buyer. The majority of resale homes are being remodeled soon after purchase with updating the window systems a prime objective. Adding greenhouse windows and French doors are probably the most popular do-it-yourself jobs.

The emphasis on larger, more expensive single family home construction has an impact on the demand for both interior and exterior doors. The drop in multifamily units has had iittle effect on door usage since single family detached units use more doors.

Per house usage of interior doors is expected to increase in both single family detached and attached homes. The average usage per single family detached house is l7 interior doors and four exterior. Single family attached homes have an average of nine interior doors and three exterior doors.

Door sales have benefitted from the repair and remodeling market. Along with replacing windows, homeowners electing to stay put or those buying previously owned homes are installing new exterior and passage doors as well as closet doors. Ornamental doors with or without sidelights and transoms have become a way of giving the exterior of a home an instant face lift.

Doors are an achievable do-ityourself project for many homeowners. Others find installation service easy to come by.

As long as the trend to larger, more luxurious homes and the Frank Lloyd Wright concept of integrating home and landscape continues, window and door sales are projected to stay alive and well.