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Casement vs. Slider vs. Hung vs. Awning Windows: Which Opens Best, Seals Best, Cleans Easiest and Costs Least, Room by Room
Windows & Doors
Casement, Slider, Hung, Awning or Fixed: Which Window Goes Where, and Why the Cheap One Is Cheap
A window style is a decision about how it seals, how it opens, how it cleans and how it looks, and the price difference between the best and the worst at sealing is about $250 an opening. Most houses should have two or three styles, not one. Here is each one plainly, and then the house room by room.
The numbers
| Style | Installed, 36 by 48 | How it seals | Cleans from inside | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casement | $1,100 | Compression; the tightest | Yes, on a good hinge | Bedrooms, anywhere you want a seal, egress |
| Awning | $1,000 (36 by 30) | Compression | No, outside face | Bathrooms, basements, under fixed glass |
| Slider | $850 | Pile weatherstrip; the leakiest | Sash lifts out | Wide low openings, budget, garages |
| Single-hung | $850 | Pile weatherstrip | Sash tilts in | Traditional look on a budget |
| Double-hung | $950 | Pile; two meeting rails | Both sashes tilt in | Traditional houses, upstairs |
| Fixed | $950 | Does not open; best of all | No | Views, pairing with openers |
| Tilt-and-turn | $1,400 | Compression, multipoint | Yes | European style; big glass; expensive |
Why the slider is cheap, and what you pay later
A slider has one sash that moves sideways past a fixed one, on rollers, with brush weatherstrip between them. Brush weatherstrip has to let the sash slide, so it cannot press hard, so air gets through. On a windy January night you can feel it on the back of your hand. Sliders are also where the meeting rail is a cold strip of vinyl down the middle of the glass. They are the right window for a wide, low opening where a casement would be a barn door, and they are the right window when the budget says so. They are not the right window for the north bedroom.
A casement is a door for air: one sash, hinged at the side, cranked out, pulled back against a rubber gasket by the lock. Nothing slides past anything. The air leakage ratings are a fraction of a slider’s, and on a good series the multipoint lock pulls the sash tight along the whole height. It costs $250 more, the screen is on the inside, and the operator is the part that wears. Hardware is the thing to ask about.
The house, room by room
- Bedrooms: casements. Seal, and they clear egress easily because the whole sash opens. A slider has to be big to give 0.35 m2 of clear opening through half of itself.
- Living room: a fixed picture window with a casement each side, as one mulled unit, or a fixed over an awning. The glass you look through does not open; the glass you ventilate through is small and seals well.
- Kitchen, over the sink: casement, with the crank you can reach. Or an awning if there is a counter.
- Bathrooms: awning, high. Opens in the rain, frosted or tempered glass, nothing to climb through.
- Basement: sliders where it is a utility space; casements or large awnings where it is a bedroom, for egress.
- Upstairs on a traditional house: double-hungs, because they look right and tilt in to clean, and the seal is adequate up where the wind is less noticed.
- Garage, shed, cottage bunkie: sliders.
Three things nobody mentions at the showroom
- Casements swing out into the walkway. A casement over a deck or beside a path is a head-height sash in the open position. Hinge it the right way, or use an awning.
- Screens are on the inside of casements and awnings, outside of sliders and hungs. Inside screens get dirty and show; outside screens get hit by the hose and the dog.
- Big casements are heavy and hinges are not infinite. Over about 30 by 60, or with triple glass, a casement wants a fibreglass or reinforced frame and a hinge rated for the weight. The frame.
Where homeowners go wrong
- Replacing every slider with a slider. Because that is what was there. The bedrooms deserve better.
- Replacing every window with a casement. Over a counter, over a deck, in a 60-in.-wide opening: not the right tool.
- Making the bedroom window fixed because it faces the neighbour. It stops being a bedroom under the code.
- Buying a cheap casement. A casement with a plastic operator and a single lock seals like a slider in five years.
Questions people ask
Are casement windows better than sliders?
At sealing, yes, by a wide margin, and for egress. Sliders win on price, on wide low openings, and on not swinging into anything.
Which window style is most energy efficient?
Fixed, then casement and awning, then hung, then slider. The glass package matters more than the style for heat loss; the style decides air leakage.
What is the easiest window to clean?
Double-hung with tilt-in sashes, then casements with a hinge that leaves a gap to reach the outside. Fixed glass upstairs is a ladder or a pole.
Mix the styles, price the mix
The calculator takes one line per style and size, which is how the house actually is. Casements in the bedrooms, a combination in the living room, awnings in the bathrooms, sliders in the basement, and the number for all of it.
Sources and further reading
- Ontario’s Building Code: the official page, with the current regulation. Egress is 9.9.10, glazing and windows 9.6 and 9.7, energy is Supplementary Standard SB-12.
- Keeping the Heat In: Natural Resources Canada. The free guide to windows, doors, air sealing and insulation written for Canadian houses.
