Andersen

Andersen Corporation has been the most-specified window brand in American residential construction for more than a century. Founded in 1903 by Danish immigrant Hans Andersen and his sons along the St. Croix River, the company has remained headquartered in Bayport, Minnesota for its entire history — and Bayport is still where most of the company's wood, Fibrex, and engineering work originates. Andersen Corporation today operates as a privately-held employee-owned business that spans the full residential window and door market from premium architectural products through value-engineered vinyl windows and the retrofit replacement channel.

The Andersen Product Hierarchy

Andersen organizes its lineup as a clear tier-of-product hierarchy that maps to project budget, performance requirements, and design intent. Understanding the hierarchy makes the catalog choice straightforward.

Architectural Collection sits at the top. It groups the A-Series and E-Series products — Andersen's most-customizable, most-performant, and most-design-flexible windows and patio doors. The Architectural Collection is the right Andersen brand for custom homes, premium remodels, and any project where window-and-door selection is a primary design element rather than a commodity build component.

A-Series is Andersen's flagship dual-material window: composite Fibrex exterior cladding over a true wood interior, with the broadest array of historically-accurate trim profiles, grille patterns, and exterior color options in the Andersen lineup. A-Series products are engineered to match specific architectural styles — Colonial, Queen Anne, Craftsman, Modern Farmhouse, Coastal — out of the box, so the spec'd window already looks correct for the home style without custom millwork or aftermarket trim.

E-Series is Andersen's fully-custom aluminum-clad wood line. Where A-Series provides style-specific configurations from a defined catalog of options, E-Series is built to a custom order: any size up to 11 feet tall, 50+ exterior colors, custom interior wood species (pine, oak, maple, mahogany, cherry, vertical-grain Douglas fir, alder), unlimited grille configurations, and the option for custom shapes (true ellipticals, full circles, trapezoids). E-Series is the right choice for architect-specified residential projects with non-standard openings.

400 Series is Andersen's most-installed window line — the historic Andersen 400 with the Perma-Shield® vinyl exterior cladding over a wood interior. The 400 Series double-hung, casement, awning, gliding, picture, bay, and bow windows are the products most likely to be specified for a standard residential build, a kitchen or family-room remodel, or a whole-house window replacement on a typical American home. The 400 Series patio door (the historic Andersen Frenchwood) is the most-installed wood patio door in the United States.

200 Series is the value-engineered version of the 400 Series — same wood interior and Perma-Shield exterior, but in a smaller catalog of sizes and options to deliver the Andersen quality at a more accessible price point. 200 Series is the right Andersen for production builders, rental and investment properties, and remodels where the window count is high and per-unit cost matters.

100 Series is Andersen's all-Fibrex window — the entry-level Andersen line. Fibrex is the proprietary Andersen composite (40% reclaimed wood fiber + 60% thermoplastic polymer) that gives 100 Series products the dimensional stability of vinyl with material aesthetics closer to clad wood, at a price point that competes with high-end vinyl. 100 Series is the right Andersen for first-time replacement projects, accessory dwelling units, and budget-sensitive new construction.

Fibrex® Composite Material

Fibrex is the single biggest material innovation Andersen has introduced since the company's founding. Patented in 1992 and now central to the 100 Series, the A-Series cladding, and every Renewal by Andersen window, Fibrex combines 40% reclaimed wood fiber (sawmill remnants Andersen would otherwise have to dispose of) with 60% thermoplastic polymer. The result: twice the strength of vinyl at the same wall thickness, dimensional stability across temperature swings that prevents the warp-and-seal-fail cycle of pure vinyl, and a finish that can be painted in deep dark exterior colors (true black, deep bronze, forest green) without the heat-induced warping that limits vinyl-window color palettes. Fibrex is the material that makes the 100 Series possible and that lets Renewal by Andersen offer a 20-year transferable warranty on a retrofit window — a commitment vinyl-frame replacement can't match.

Big Doors and Patio Door Systems

Andersen's Big Doors product family — multi-panel sliding, lift-and-slide, and folding patio door systems — is built within the Architectural Collection and engineered around the Fibrex-and-wood material platform. Big Doors handle openings up to 50 feet wide and 12 feet tall, with panel weights and operating hardware that let homeowners actually move the largest configurations by hand. The Big Doors brochure is essential reading for any project that includes a major indoor-outdoor opening: kitchen-to-deck, primary-suite-to-patio, great-room-to-pool-deck.

Renewal by Andersen

Renewal by Andersen is the start-to-finish window replacement subsidiary of Andersen Corporation — a full-service channel that operates independently of the new-construction Andersen network. Where the standard Andersen channel sells products through lumber yards, dealers, and contractors who then handle installation, Renewal by Andersen handles every step of a window replacement project in-house: in-home design consultation, custom-manufactured window in any of 50+ size and color combinations, removal of the existing window, installation, exterior trim and interior wood trim work, and a 20-year transferable warranty on the complete installed product. Renewal by Andersen windows are Fibrex-frame products in their own catalog — separate from the standard Andersen 100 Series — and engineered specifically for retrofit installation. The Beauty Catalog and the Patio Door Catalog cover the full Renewal by Andersen window and door lineup.

Choosing the Right Andersen Catalog

For an architect-led custom home: start with the A-Series brochure for style-matched windows and the E-Series brochure for custom openings. Add Big Doors if the project includes a major indoor-outdoor opening. For a standard new-construction or whole-house remodel: the 400 Series brochure covers the broadest Andersen product line and is the right starting point. Add 200 Series if the project is budget-constrained or builder-grade. For a window-replacement project that will be handled by a third-party contractor: the 100 Series brochure shows the all-Fibrex retrofit line. For a window-replacement project where you want Andersen to handle every step including installation: the Renewal by Andersen Beauty Catalog and Patio Door Catalog cover the full-service retrofit channel. All Andersen brochures listed here are mailed free to homeowners, architects, builders, and trade professionals.