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Glass

Bob Crager

2013-02-01 09:59:53

Q-I’m just about finished with the complete restoration of my old classic car, and need help with the glass parts. Those are very hard to find. Where do I turn for help?

A-The Starbird Show last month was another impressive presentation with amazing custom cars and trucks from all over the country on display. There were a lot of local custom car and truck club members in attendance and were, as always, enthusiastic about the custom cars and other “street rods” they saw there. As to your question about getting the glass to complete your restoration, we’ve heard that question so many times over the years, and as you point out, you can have the sweetest running engine with the neatest looking paint job on the coolest looking car you have ever laid your eyes on, but if the glass parts are damaged or missing, you’ll never really enjoy driving it as much as you would if the glass problems were solved. The glass parts end up being an important part of your restoration, and it matters not whether you’ve entered it into that 100 point competition, or are just going to use it to turn heads as you tool it down the street. The absolute finishing touch will be how attentive you were with the glass. And that’s an absolute fact! As you may or may not know, the older glass parts for custom cars and trucks can be looked at as being in about three separate categories. Those categories generally fall into the years of production for that particular car or truck. The first category is “flat glass”, laminated and tempered for use in the windows, windshields, etc. This was used primarily from about 1920 through about 1965, and due to the fact of these vehicles being out of production now for 45 to 90 years, most glass shops do not have the original patterns for those glass replacements. Being able to replicate that original glass pattern is critically important to your successful restoration project, and being able to work with a local glass shop that has those patterns and can utilize their own highly trained installers to complete the glasswork will be a huge advantage for you on your classic vehicle’s complete restoration. The second category of auto/truck glass included “curved or bent” glass, and was used from about 1948 to the 1980’s. There are many antique vehicles that are now very rare, and therefore the curved glass that is available will always be in short supply, whether it is reproduced or NOS (new old stock). The glass manufacturers who make this glass are not going to reproduce glass for vehicles that are few in number. So if there’s a special glass you’re going to be needing, it might be good to go ahead and check out your options and how to go about getting that glass you’ll need before you actually need it. Then there’s the dash glass, where we actually fabricate the pieces for flat dial restorations on vehicles built from about 1939 through about 1950+. There are some really cool pieces of dash glass from that era, and absent a full service glass shop with that fabrication capability, those pieces can be really hard to come by. The tools to make patterns for a wide assortment of glass for the restoration of the older vehicles are also not found in most glass shops. Authentic reproduction and replacement of the flat dash glass on vehicles in this age group is critically important to the correct finished look. If you’re restoring the antique dials and gauges, make sure you finish that job off with the proper glass pieces that are called for. If you’re going to do vehicle glass restoration to any serious degree, you have to have access to the tools and the patterns, and installation techs that really care about the finished product. When you get into those antique vehicles that utilized a lot of “curved glass” for the windows, you begin to find that these windows are getting pretty rare and hard to find. When you need replacement glass for these, you’ll see that it is becoming pretty much in short supply, due to the fact that the glass manufacturers who make reproduction glass like this produce very little of it because they don’t have a lot of calls for it. Supply and demand controls the market there. A good local full service glass dealer just may be able to help you locate that unique piece of glass you’ll need to fully restore that antique vehicle. So go ahead and take those fenders and bodies down to the bare metal, have them powder coated, primed, and layer on those finish coats of paint or lacquer. But don’t stop after you’ve chromed all the brake lines, carburetors, and other parts and re-covered all the interior surfaces. Make a call or a stop by your local full service glass dealer’s location, and order those new window glass replacements and dash instrument flat glass pieces. That way, you can finish that job up right! Some of the information for this article was researched on the world wide web…More next month.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2013-01-02 14:14:19

Q-I own several large retail and office buildings in the Wichita area, and am very concerned about what I can do to help prevent possible deaths or injuries of employees and/or customers, from the glass in my buildings being broken or blown out by bombs, vehicle accidents, or even the winds from severe weather events that come through the Wichita area from time to time…how can I accomplish this in a cost effective manner with my existing windows and doors?

A-Whether we're talking about a 9-11 type terrorist attack, a police car chase, a storefront business or office with display windows, a shopping mall, or a stand alone building with employees and consumers who enter and exit the facility, it’s pretty clear that nearly everyone in law enforcement or public works knows that unprotected glass poses a number of severe dangers concerning these, and all of the other applications of glass in our lives . An explosion or even violent weather, such as a tornado, high straight-line winds, or a hurricane, can catapult unprotected razor sharp glass up to 150 miles per hour or more. Sometimes much more! During the World Trade Center terrorist attack, there were many, many deaths and injuries that resulted from the shards of glass from the buildings that were struck, eventually coming down, causing the broken glass to fly up to a half mile away from the collapsing structures. You don’t want to be in the vicinity where broken glass is falling! In the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, more than 50% of the injuries sustained were the result of flying glass from the blast! Property damage to the interior of buildings was also a costly consequence, as shattered and fallen glass left dozens of adjacent buildings vulnerable to looters, as well as much water and weather intrusion damage. There are also some other safety issues to consider. Many experts on glass fragmentation retention advise law enforcement officials and security directors to safeguard their buildings and vehicles by adding protection to the glass windows in addition to their current security measures. Many business owners and operators are now making the investment in specialty glass, not only for security reasons, but also to head off liability issues from the possible accidental breaking of glass windows and doors, sometimes causing life threatening injuries to people in close proximity to their business or office locations when something goes wrong. In today’s world, things happen…unexpected things that can be devastating to the bottom line of a business. Looking ahead to those possibilities and doing something to prevent them is not a bad thing to consider in a litigious world. Some of the products to accomplish this are made from a raw polyester compound that transforms ordinary glass into a super-strength invisible barrier. This unique glass retention film minimizes the risk of bodily injury and property damage by holding the dangerous razor sharp shards together within the window frames, preventing the flying glass from becoming deadly weapons. New windows or doors with glass retention film can be installed in a new building during construction, or the film can be installed to existing windows as a retrofit safety measure. In the last few years with all the civil unrest we've been seeing, it was realized that there would be a tremendous future need and a multitude of applications for this incredibly strong, yet simple polyester film used with glass. The product was originally developed as a defense against bomb blasts and explosions, and there was then a market developing for a number of different variations of the original product. By changing the thickness of the polyester, the type of adhesive used, and in some cases, adding color, such as tinting, new products were brought to the market. With those modifications and others, the industry began targeting specific applications and new market segments began to develop. Facing growing threats from terrorism, rioting and other armed assailants, many law enforcement and terrorist fighting agencies worldwide were looking for cost-effective ways to increase vehicle security. Instead of installing expensive ballistic glass in their vehicles, many local, state and national law enforcement agencies have opted to have the less expensive glass retention film installed. Glass is one of the weakest points in any physical structure’s security program, and the most secure facilities are generally the ones with the least accessible glass. Glass is often chosen by intruders as an entry point because it normally breaks easily. Even the most sophisticated alarm system sounds only after the burglar or other intruder has entered a home or business. And a burglar knows that he needs only a minimal amount of time inside to wreak havoc, and carry away some valuable merchandise. According to the FBI's Unified Crime Report, almost 70 percent of all burglaries involved forced entry through a window or door. Law enforcement agencies across the board credit glass retention film applications in preventing "smash and grab" crimes against businesses and private homes. While a criminal may muster enough force to shatter the window, it will require repeated and attention getting blows to break through glass protected with properly applied glass retention film. Generally, a burglar cannot risk the time needed to break through this product, and will usually, very quickly, abandon the attempt. Vandalism and burglaries have been an increasing problem in many areas of the country in recent years. As mentioned earlier, natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes can strike anytime, anywhere, sometimes without much advance warning, catapulting flying glass, debris and water at lightning speeds through the air. Some glass retention films are intended for strong wind loads that may create excessive wind load pressures for extended periods of time. In some cases, glass retention film can eliminate the need to board up windows prior to a violent storm as you’ve seen folks do on the coasts in advance of an approaching Hurricane. There are now companies that offer consulting services for law enforcement agencies, security directors and facility managers on blast protection preparedness. Since the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as our consulate in Benghazi, these companies have been inundated with appeals from both the private and public sectors requesting immediate installations and threat assessments. When evaluating the risks, they have to look at the height of the buildings, the direction of the glass, the type and age of the window frames, how they are secured to the building, among other things. Flying glass is a danger not only in internal areas, but also zones such as windows facing a parking lot or a walkway where the public may be at risk. The type of glass also dictates what type of protection is needed. While safety glass or ballistic glass are exceptionally high quality and can also be used against acts of terrorism and explosions, they are more expensive and not practical for most non governmental or military facilities. If the owner of a facility is concerned with terrorism and budget is not a concern, the choice will be the higher cost, more effective ballistic glass installation over the less expensive film applications every time. A phone call or email to your full service glass dealer can provide you with good information on what you can affordably do right now to protect your customers, your business buildings, and your existing glass! I hope this information helps you with your questions. Some information was researched on the world wide web. More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2012-11-19 10:26:20

Q- We’re going to build a new home in the spring, and need to sell our present home. Would it be cost effective to go ahead and have our old windows replaced before trying to sell our existing home? They’re not in good condition. And what do we need to know about windows before selecting the ones for our new home?

A- It’s hard to give you a meaningful answer to your question without having taken a look at your windows and see what we’re dealing with. But, as a general rule, whether you're replacing windows in an older house, or choosing windows for a new house, your decisions on what type of windows to buy will be among the most important decisions you will make in terms of energy use. Because of the impact windows have on both heat losses in the winter, and heat gains in the summertime, proper selection of window products can be troubling for most folks. To add to the confusion, window glazing technology has changed tremendously in recent years. The best window glazings today insulate nearly four times better than the best commonly available windows from just twenty years ago. Window technology has improved very dramatically in recent years, and the net result is the lowering of your energy bills. And that could be a big deal for most folks. High efficiency windows are a gift that keeps on giving. Let's discuss some of the most important energy features of windows that are used in both replacement windows, and new construction today. Until the 1980s the primary way manufacturers improved the energy performance of windows was to add additional layers of glazing, or panes. Double glazing insulates almost twice as well as single glazing. Adding a third or fourth layer of glazing results in even further improvements. Some of these windows use glass only, but others use thin plastic films for the inner glazing layers. With double-glazed windows the air space between the panes of glass has a big effect on overall energy performance. A very thin air space does not insulate as well as a thicker air space because of the conductivity through that small space. Many window manufacturers have increased the thickness of the air space in their double-glazed windows from ¼" to ½" or more. If the air space is too wide, however, convection loops between the layers of glazing can occur. Beyond about 1", you don't get any further gain in energy performance by virtue of thicker air spaces. It's a point of diminishing returns to try to go thicker than about an inch of air space. By substituting a denser, lower conductivity gas such as argon for the air in a sealed insulated glass window, heat loss can be reduced significantly. Most major window manufacturers offer argon-gas fill as an option in their most popular windows. Other gases that have been or are being used in windows include carbon dioxide, krypton, and argon-krypton mixtures. Tinted glass and tinted window films have long been used in commercial buildings to reduce heat gain through windows. Improved, lightly tinted windows are becoming more common for the residential market in southern (cooling-dominated) climates. These newly implemented glazings can reduce the solar heat gain, without reducing visibility as much as the older tinted glass and films. More than any other single improvement, the invention and commercial development of low-emissivity (low-e) coatings in the 1980s really revolutionized window technology. Thin, transparent coatings of silver or tin oxide permit visible light to pass through, but they effectively reflect infrared heat radiation back into the room. This reduces heat loss through the windows in the wintertime. A variety of low-e windows are now available for different climate zones and different applications in any particular location. Low-e windows with high solar heat gain coefficients are appropriate for northern climates, where passive solar heating is advantageous, while "southern low-e" windows with low heat gain coefficients are appropriate in milder climates where summer cooling is more significant than winter heating. The edge spacer is what holds the panes of glass apart and provides the airtight seal in an insulated glass window. Traditionally, these have been hollow aluminum channels, usually filled with desiccant beads. Aluminum has extremely high conductivity. That didn't matter when the glazing did not insulate very well, but as better performing glazings were developed, proportionately more heat was lost through the edges. Since about 1990, a number of improved edge spacers have come onto the market. Some are made of thin-walled steel and have a thermal break. Others are made of silicone foam or butyl rubber. Generally, better edge seals are a low-cost option when changing out windows, and well worth considering. Interesting, huh? So…in summation, we believe that most savvy buyers today will pay particular attention to the windows in any home they’re thinking about buying, and if yours are either new or in very like-new condition, this could be an important consideration to any buyer thinking about buying your existing home. Pointing them out to a potential buyer is a great way to justify your asking price in most cases, and most buyers are aware that great windows will result in lower energy bills and more comfortable living, than in a home where the windows are a question mark. We hope this is helpful in answering your questions, both on your existing home, and your new one. More next month...

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Glass

Bob Crager

2012-11-01 14:52:08

Q- Can all of the windows in a house be replaced in the cold weather months, or did we miss the boat by waiting until the summer and fall are just about gone?

A- Well…you’ve just about missed the boat! (just kidding) As Thanksgiving approaches once again, and the cooler weather makes its Fall/Winter 2012 appearance. As far as installing new windows when the temperatures have fallen below your normal comfort zone, that’s not any kind of a problem for a full service glass dealer worth their salt. They just wear warmer clothes and get right out there and do what they need to do to help their customers be more comfortable with the extremes of our Kansas weather swings. It wouldn’t be much help to you if you called during a cold snowy spell, and told someone your windows just fell out, and they said we would like to wait until it’s warmer to come out to your house. Instead, they should be out to take care of you when you need then! Now that the distractions of the national election campaigns are nearly behind us, and we’re starting to feel the colder weather that nearly always comes in the month of November in Kansas, the timing is perfect to call and ask a full service glass dealer for an estimate on any or all of the glass work that you might be thinking you should have had done. If that’s something you’ve put off for a while, you probably recognize that the conditions of your windows only get worse by ignoring them. Sometimes it’s dry rot that begins to take its toll on your window frames. Sometimes there are leaks in the glazing around the window glass that allows rain to seep inside that seal, and rot from that begins to erode the wood of the window next to the glass panes. Many times the window might “look” okay from out in the yard, but a closer examination might prove to be eye opening, and alert you to the problems in time for you to have a repair done so that you can prevent a full replacement project. Windows are kind of easy to skip over right up until they’ve deteriorated past the point of repair. Don’t do that, because it makes you feel “less than smart”. If your windows are of the “single pane” glass variety, and you don’t have “self storing storm windows” installed over them, you are undoubtedly losing a huge amount of energy for heating and cooling right through the glass, which is one of the largest places for heat and cold losses or gains in your entire home. This single project, of installing those storm windows, will, without question, save you a large amount of money over a short period of time. There are actually calculations that can be done to show you how much you’ll save on the energy bill over a specified period of time by having that window replacement project done sooner rather than later. They’re based upon your usage prior to having the work done, and your comparative usage afterwards, and the cost of the fuel you’re using to heat and cool your home. I can’t think of a single family who had this work done that didn’t benefit greatly from having a comprehensive window project done to their homes. With having someone come out, take a look, and give you an estimate of what the cost of the repair or replacement would be, now you can begin making plans to improve the comfort levels of your home. This time of year, it’s especially good to button up the home from the weather elements trying to invade your space and keep them outside. So, as Thanksgiving approaches once again, we believe that we should all be aware of all that’s positive in our lives and be thankful for our many blessings. You might have heard this somewhere before, but we think nurturing an attitude of gratitude daily can be life enriching. In fact, a great way to share with family, friends, and neighbors, might be to begin a tradition of compiling a written list of our blessings daily, during the days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. And when the family gathers for dinner, pass the list around the table and invite each of the family members to share in reading aloud from the reasons our/your family has to give thanks at this special time of the year. It’s just one way to be mindful of those things that are important…really important in our lives. From our families to your families, may you all enjoy a richly blessed Thanksgiving holiday, and may we all continue to cultivate our “attitudes of gratitude” with and towards those special people who make our lives “over the top” worth living! What more of a blessing could we ask for than that? More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2012-10-02 14:08:14

Q- We have a large two story home with a ton of windows, most of which have the original glass from the turn of the last century when the home was built. We know there are new windows available that are a lot more energy efficient, but if we go to those, will we lose the character of the originals?

A: Not having seen your home, I can only generalize in a response to your question. The short answer is, one can generally maintain the “look” of your home when going to the newer energy efficient windows. The job should be done with maintaining your original “look”, while giving you a huge improvement in heat and cold transfer through your windows. There are a lot of homes in the Wichita area that were built back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that have had the windows replaced, and now enjoy the energy saving benefits of that project, and with most of them, you would be hard pressed to say that they lost anything in appearance. You didn’t say whether or not you have installed storm windows over the original windows of the home, and if you have, the appearance from the street will not offer much change, if any at all, from what it is right now when the storm windows are reinstalled after removing and replacing your original windows. Self storing storm windows are designed to cover your windows completely on the outside, and include a built in screen that allows for raising the storm window panel so you can move air through it without letting insects, falling leaves, etc., inside your home. These kinds of storm windows stay in place year round, and help keep the cold out in the freezing winters we sometimes have here as well. Another advantage of installing these storm window units is that your window sills are protected by and large from the elements, preventing them from rotting out from “dry rot” or being assaulted by rain, sleet, and snow. Your local full service glass dealer will be able to inspect your windows and advise you as to what would give you the most advantage with your window replacement project. Once again this year, we had a summer here in Kansas that included a lot of very hot days and nights without much rainfall at all. The drought was worse than any dry spell since the middle of the great depression in the 1930’s. There were a lot of folks who installed outside awnings, louvers, etc. this summer on the sides of their homes facing the blistering sun, which can reduce the heat that enters your home through your windows by up to 80%, a really worthwhile thing to do. Many people even made up some temporary window reflectors by covering cardboard pieces with aluminum foil to reflect heat back outside on those windows facing the east, south, and west. That works kind of like the reflectors you put in your car’s windshield in the summertime. It’s temporary, won’t eliminate heat transfer to the inside of your home completely, but for those for whom budget is critical, does help out with slowing some of the heat. Also, if you opened and closed your windows a lot over the last year or so, you should know that your window seals will probably have accumulated some dirt and debris, which could prevent a tight seal from forming. That might not seem important to you, but over the course of the winter coming up, you could lose plenty of heat that will escape through those gaps. Before it gets that cold, take the time to walk around your house and clean and inspect each window. If the weather stripping has deteriorated or worn, right now would be a good time to replace that. The end of summer heralds in the fall season, which for a lot of folks is their favorite time of year. The oppressive heat ends, and pretty quickly the falling leaves of October will be signaling that winter weather is not far away. We’re very lucky that we get to enjoy all four of the distinctive weather seasons here in our state and city. As the seasons change, our activities and home needs change too. What a great time to do some seasonal maintenance around the house to keep your home running smoothly. While you work in that last trip or two to the cabin, lake house, or the country house, remember to set aside some time for those little repair projects at your house. If you ignore them, or forget about them, you might end up with a few regrets when the chill of this winter sets in. Winter time follows the fall just as surely as the morning sun follows the night. Even ahead of “more insulation in the attic”, your windows, if they’re in good shape, can do more to help you not lose your budget to the elements than just about any other part of your home’s physical structure. Don’t fail to spend the time to give them a good checkout right now while the weather is temperate, and the time to correct problems is now. Call your local full service glass dealer for an inspection of your windows now, before you begin to think things like “why didn’t I do that back in October when the weather was so nice”! October is a great time to take care of this…and I hope this information helps you! More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2012-08-29 13:11:29

Q- We’re having such a drought, and coupled with “over the top” heat again this summer, what can we do to our homes and office buildings to help us cut our cooling bills, which are going up again? And we’re not looking forward to the high heating bills coming up in just a few short months. Ideas?

A- September, October…the fall months of the year in Kansas are the ideal months to recognize what you’ve just recognized, and begin to do something about it! Whether you’re talking about residential window glass, commercial window glass, or any other glass, this is a great time of the year to be able to get an estimate for work that you know you should have done now rather than later. Summer is passing, cooler weather and temperatures are approaching, and window and door replacement is a great fall project. Here’s your chance to get ahead of your neighbors…get that estimate done now! (g) Window and door glass, commercial or residential, comes in all different sizes, shapes, tints, can have multiple panes and many other configurations, and are all important to the levels of satisfaction of the occupants of the buildings, as well as some security considerations. Reducing the energy costs associated with windows while increasing the human comforts, without excessive price increases, is a real challenge to the designers of homes, and/or new or existing office buildings. Achieving an acceptable design or design improvement depends upon many factors, all of which can contribute to the comfort levels, or lack thereof, experienced by the building’s occupants. Some of these are: • Which way the window faces relative to the prevailing dominant direction of the mid-day sun. • How much outside shading is planned or is present for the building’s windows. • How bright the exterior scene is to the eye, sometimes causing unbearable glare. • How dark the interior is (the brighter the interior surfaces, the less the window glare). • The building owner or occupant’s willingness to operate shading devices to achieve their best performance in controlling light and heat. • The building owner’s desire for impact resistance, whether from storm-blown objects or vandals. • How critical it is to maintain an unobstructed view to the outside (gorgeous vistas shouldn’t be permanently blocked by window shades or other add-ons, although temporary blocking for privacy or solar heat rejection may be desired at times) • The building owner’s desire for acoustic isolation in noisy environments. • Whether the window can meet aesthetic desires for appearance and quality. There are some basic principles to keep in mind when selecting windows for buildings located in the Midwest areas of the country like Kansas. The winter space-heating season is from short and mild, to long, severe, cold, and brutal. The summertime cooling season can start in April, and run all the way through mid October in some years. Thus, there is a strong need to insulate a window, as well as to protect it from direct solar radiant heat gain. It is true that insulating the window with multiple panes, insulating glasses, and sometimes special coatings, can reduce the size of the air conditioner needed to meet peak loads, and that this smaller size of that high effeciency unit will reduce both heating and cooling costs as well. Reduced heating and cooling equipment size could save enough construction dollars to pay for the extra cost of the window insulation, but this should be proven through calculations before being taken as a fact. . For retrofit applications, such as replacing windows in an existing building, there is seldom the chance to save dollars on the air conditioner, unless it just happens that the building owner needs to replace the air conditioner at the same time that the windows need to be replaced. If the owner decides to install insulated windows, for whatever reasons that make sense to him or her, a few extra comfort benefits can be expected too. For example, there will be less transfer of sound through the window, an advantage in urban settings with frequent road or aircraft noise, but a possible disadvantage for rural sites where the occupant might enjoy hearing the sound of the wind or the chirping of birds. Insulated windows have less of a tendency toward condensation, and/or the growth of mold and mildew. On the cold winter nights and excessively hot summer afternoons, an insulated window will be far and away more comfortable to sit near. In trying to prevent unwanted solar radiant heat gain during summer months in Kansas, it is best to minimize window exposures toward the east, southeast, south, southwest, and west. This can be accomplished by the design and orientation of the building, in the case of a new construction project, and by utilizing some shading techniques for the windows. During hot summers, like we’ve been experiencing in Kansas the last couple of years, it is far better, for heat gain prevention, to block the sunlight before it reaches the windows, thereby dissipating the absorbed heat outside, where it can be carried away by the wind and air currents. This means that simple shade trees and other exterior shading methods can be very effective, both in saving air cooling energy, and in blocking the strong glare, which direct sunlight can produce if allowed inside. In the winter time in the Midwest, most of the deciduous trees lose their leaves, allowing the sunshine and radiant heat through the trees’ bare branches, and into your windows, thus helping to actually provide extra heat to the interior of the building. If the owner of the home and/or the building designer for a commercial facility cannot avoid windows facing the wrong directions, then the use of exterior operable shading devices could be considered to protect the windows from the sun in the summer. In many cases, darkening shades can be pulled down to reduce solar radiant heat gain, along with its glare and higher energy costs. They can be opened when the sun is not shining directly on the window, or on overcast winter days, to provide both good exterior views and interior daylight illumination to the extent possible. A variety of exterior or interior shading devices are available. Proper planning can save big bucks in energy usage for just about any commercial or residential window application. Your local full service glass dealer is a great contact to get you started on the relief you’re looking for! Some information was researched on the world wide web…More Next Month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2012-08-02 08:51:46

Q- We love our home with so many beautiful windows and lots of glass, but we’re a little worried about bad people seeing an easy way to get inside our home unannounced. Other than moving, or losing all of that great outside light, how can we keep all those great windows and make things a little more secure?

A- Your question reminds me of a wonderful story about two fellows being chased by a bear through the woods. The bear was winning the race, gaining on them with every step they took…and one of the men quickly sat down on a big rock, opened his backpack, and put on some of the finest running shoes ever made. He got back up, and the other guy said, “that bear is running too fast for us…you don’t think them running shoes are gonna let you outrun that bear, do you?” The first guy said, “I don’t have to outrun that bear! All I have to do is what I’m fixin’ to do…and that’s to outrun you!” Now that I’ve stopped laughing…again, I’ll get to the point of the story. You don’t have to make your home, and/or your home’s windows the most secure home with windows in your neighborhood. You see, burglars aren’t necessarily looking to break into “your” specific home…they’re just trying to break into “anybody’s” home. And the more you can make your home appear to be way more trouble to break into than the others in the area, the less likely a break-in artist is to choose your home as his target. There are a lot of ways to make your home appear to be a bad choice for the thief. Installing a high quality alarm system is one way to accomplish some security. Anyone in the security business will tell you, however, that a wood-be burglar who is determined to get into a particular house will probably get it done, one way or another. The security alarm sound decibel level is to make it unbearable for him to stay inside that home for any length of time, and the monitored alarm also can summon the police to your house in pretty short order. Even then, sometimes they’re too late to catch the snatch and grab burglar! Alarm company signs and stickers also work well to notify a potential burglar that he might be encountering more trouble with this house than it’s worth. Particularly if there are other homes in the neighborhood that look easier to him…hence the story about “all I have to do is outrun you”. If there are easier looking homes in the area, chances are he’ll make them his target, leaving your home alone. Most of the break-ins involved kicking in the front or back doors. The reason this is the choice of most burglars is that most homeowners haven’t taken the precautions of replacing the original locks on their doors with upgrades. Good dead bolt locks have a "throw", which is a metal finger that sticks out and into the door frame when it’s in the locked position. It’s just about an inch long, so it actually goes into the 2 X 4 door frame, not just into the light wooden casing around the door. Upgrading your deadbolt locks are a great place to start, but don't forget the screws holding the lock and door hinges in place. The striker plate on your door jamb and the hinges on your door are probably held in place with screws that are about an inch long, which is just long enough to fasten into the casing lumber. You can upgrade that inadequate strike plate with a much longer strike plate ten or twelve inches long, and install it with 3" heavy duty screws. These screws are long enough to go right through the door casing and into the 2x4 or 2x6 framing lumber around your door. The longer strike plate will also accommodate 6 or 8 screws for fastening it. Remove those short screws fastening your hinges on as well and replace them with the 3" screws. Now your door will be firmly fastened into the door frame. Not many kick and grab burglars are going to kick that door out of its frame. Now let’s talk about your windows and sliding doors. Many folks don’t know it, but patio doors and sliding windows are relatively easy to get out of their frames. A thief could do it by just lifting them up out of their frames or tracks (this works just as well from the outside as it does when you lift them out for cleaning from the inside). The way to fix this problem is to drive a few screws into the top track above where the door or window sits when it's closed. The trick is, don't drive the screws all the way in, but leave the screw heads protruding about 1/4". The protruding heads make it impossible to lift the door or window up high enough to lift the bottom out of the frame when it's closed. You can still remove the door or window for cleaning by sliding it over to the open position (where there aren't any protruding screw heads) and just lift it out of the frame. Clever? You don't need to do anything very fancy to stop windows and doors from being slid open. The old reliable idea of a "stick in the track" when combined with the aforementioned “screws above the window or door”, effectively blocks them from being slid open and lifted out. Cut a piece of dowel (about 3/8" to 3/4” in diameter) to fit into the track. When you're inside, you can easily pick up the dowel in the track, but its round shape makes it hard for someone to dislodge it from the outside. Paint the dowel to match your window frame and it will go virtually unnoticed. With double hung windows, (up and down) you can prevent these from being raised from the outside by drilling a small hole through both the window casing and the window frame and sliding a nail painted to match the window into the hole. Simple to do, easy, and very effective at preventing raising that window, unless you’re inside the home and wish to raise it…then just slide that nail out and raise away. If you have casement and/or awning type windows, the securing of these designs requires the installation of specially designed locks, which are designed to keep these windows from being swung open. These locks will either prevent the handle from being turned, or fasten the window directly to the frame. The last suggestion seems to be more secure, in our opinion. Again these locks are available at your home store and are easy for a DIY'er to install themselves. Now, when you’re talking about securing basement windows, those are more of a challenge simply because of the fact that they’re down lower, compared to most other windows in your home. Break resistant glass, and pins or locks securing the window to the frame will definitely help, but security bars are probable the best defense. Decorative bars that can be painted to match your home's trim are available and if you use them, your home won't look as much like a branch office of a high level penal facility, which might seem vaguely familiar to that burglar. (g) Finally, today’s burglars don't like to be seen, so install some security type lights that will light up the outside of your home after the sun sets. Lights that come on at dusk, and go off at sunrise are especially good, as long as you check them occasionally to make sure that the bulbs are still good. Motion detecting fixtures are also a great idea, if you make sure to install them where a potential burglar can't reach up and remove or break the bulbs. Plants and shrubs growing around your home can provide a great place for a burglar to lurk unseen. Lurking burglars are not a good thing, so keep your bushes trimmed so that a burglar can't hide in them, and be basically out of sight. Also, don't advertise that there are things worth stealing in your home. If you get a new flat screen TV or computer, don't just put the box out by the curb on trash pick up day and let the bad guys know what’s inside your house. Break down that box or turn it inside out, so that no one passing by will be able to make out a shopping list! Make sure that your home has a lived-in appearance at all times. Plug interior lights and a television or radio into timers that turn on and off at different times so that when you’re gone, your house looks occupied. If you're going to be away for a while, then make arrangements to have your grass cut (or snow in your driveway cleared away…not something to think about with the run of 100+ degree days), stop mail and newspaper deliveries, and have someone pick up those flyers that seemingly show up every single day. Getting a neighbor to park a vehicle in your driveway also helps make it look like someone is there. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that if you do everything suggested here that your home won’t ever get broken into. However, following these suggestions will definitely make it way more difficult for a burglar to get into your home in a short time span, (which is what they like) and often that's just enough to get him to try to find a slower bear! Our business philosophy has always been to stay way out front of the nearest competitor…and let the bears pick and choose amongst all of them. (g) More next month!

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Bob Crager

2012-08-01 13:52:21

Q- I’ve heard that when a tornado is approaching my location, that I should open all my windows, and that will prevent the ‘low barometric pressure’ inside my home exceeding the pressure outside my home, thereby causing it to “explode”…I was wondering…how good is that glass in my windows? Is it…that good?

A- There are some folks in the SE part of the Wichita area who have recently seen first hand the effects of these tornados. And even though most homes in the Wichita area have never seen one, they’re awesome in their destruction, and can take a while to recover from. Back to your question about how good your glass is. I don’t know of any window glass, in the real world, that anyone could actually afford to buy for windows that could stand up to a tornado. (grin) If you hear anyone telling you your windows and/or window glass will withstand winds of a tornadic velocity…don’t walk away from them…run hard and get away from them! That bad advice could be contagious! If tornadoes blow away wood, brick, stone, steel, and concrete, and they do, glass doesn’t stand a chance. Seriously, over the last 2 decades or so, there has been a lot learned through studying the extent of building damage left behind by tornadoes. There are still lots of problems in deciding whether the damage was caused by tornadoes, or straight line winds, in the absence of a video of the actual storm. This is partly due to the fact that some objects were moved along straight line paths inside a tornado, and the same kind of objects followed curved trajectories inside straight line windstorms. Many variables can cause this, not the least of which are the characteristics of the objects themselves, but also the variations of the surfaces over which they are moving. That’s why the investigators who go out to assess the damages are sometimes unable, from the evidence they see, to determine the exact kind or type of wind field they’re looking at. What I’ve never seen in the wake of a tornado though, is the home blown away, and the windows still standing there unbroken. (g) Have you? The Fujita Scale is used by those who study this stuff, to rate the intensity of a tornado, by examining the damage caused by the tornado after it has passed over a man-made structure. Assigning f scale numbers to structures based on the degree of damage is a subjective visual procedure. However, when trying to derive the intensity of the winds, it is important to consider how well the buildings are constructed and to recognize weak links or flaws within such structures. Large variables in the strength of wood-framed buildings will yield an f scale number with no greater confidence than plus or minus one f scale. The popular beliefs some folks still have about opening windows as the tornado heads for your house just don’t stand up to the facts. There’s also a bit of advice for folks in hurricane pathways. They’re sometimes told to board up their windows. In a very light storm, that might keep them from being blown out or penetrated by flying objects, but in the big winds, that roof is probably coming off and the rest of the home or other buildings are leaving too. Some of the lessons learned in analyzing tornado damage and hurricane damage is somewhat confusing, but the end results are still that when Mother Nature unleashes her mighty powers, we’re pretty much “holding on” till she blows by. Just make sure that when the warnings are given, you and those you care about are in a well constructed storm shelter or a room in the basement of your home that allows the highest level of safety you can get. Pre-plan for this emergency like you do for other emergencies, and stay away from the windows…glass will break and become flying shards of lethal destruction! Back to your original question about preventing your house from “exploding” from the changes in pressures…Even though it was once thought that the low pressure within tornadoes caused buildings to explode, it was based upon the erroneous assumption that a building somehow remains structurally intact after passing the radius of maximum winds on the periphery, or edge, of the tornado. In addition, that theory assumes that the building could have remained sealed so that the barometric pressure inside the building could become significantly greater than outside. That’s not likely! However, studies of tornado damage have, for some time now, indicated that building damage initiates from wind pressure ‘breaching the building’, not from low barometric pressures at all. The winds typically enter the building through broken windows or doors. Evidence of mud, insulation, glass shards, and wood missiles inside buildings that remain partially intact have indicated that the winds had entered the interior of the buildings. Openings on the windward side of a building actually increase the internal wind pressures, resulting in additional uplift pressures on the roof itself. If you’ve watched videos of tornadoes as they strike homes or other buildings, you can actually see the roof of the home or buildings being raised up into the funnel and blown away in the early stages of the strike. Then the rest of the home or buildings normally follow rapidly. Thus persons are no longer advised to open their windows in advance of a tornado, by anyone who knows what they’re talking about. You don’t want to “listen to a tornado approach your home”! All of that flying debris will likely break the windows anyway, thus everyone in the path of one of these violent storms should use every second of advance warning time to seek appropriate shelter rather, than running around opening their windows. The fact that a tree, house, or object is twisted during a tornado does not always indicate that the varying direction of the wind caused the damage. Although the primary wind flow in a tornado at the ground is rotational, the rotating wind field extends over a diameter much larger than the dimension of most objects. The width of an average house is much smaller than the diameter of an average tornado. Thus at any given instant, a building in the tornado path would receive winds that are approximately unidirectional. Tornado damage studies have indicated that twisted buildings are usually the result of variations in the strength of foundation anchorage, and not the rotating winds. You may have heard the experts say for you to get into the hall bathroom if you’re in a house with no basement. That’s because the bathroom plumbing usually provides the greatest anchorage of a house to the foundation, and the house will pivot around this point. That sounds kind of scary to me. How about you? Studies have concluded that a twisted house was more likely the result of different resistances in foundation anchorages, rather than the spiraling winds themselves. The same kind of damage has been known to occur even in straight-line winds from violent and severe thunderstorms. In the Northern Hemisphere where we live, the greatest wind velocities typically occur on the right sides of cyclonically rotating tornadoes, as the effects of translation are added to the rotation. Computer simulations have shown that fast translating, weak tornadoes can leave straight-line damage paths, the same kind of straight-line damage trajectories that were seen in the debris fields left behind in the Mesquite, Texas tornado. So, use the time wisely when a warning is issued, get underground if you can, and after the storm has passed, you will then, because you were blessed to survive it all, be able to call a good, full service glass dealer to come out and help you with the new windows you’ll need when you rebuild your home after the storm. (g) Some information for this answer was researched on the world-wide web. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2012-06-08 15:11:58

Q: What upgrade could I consider to my home that stands the best chance of getting me the best return on the investment, as well as improving my “creature comforts” during my remaining time of ownership, maybe 5 to 10 years?

A: I recently read a very interesting article, entitled “Realtors Identify Exterior Replacement Projects as Best Investment for Homeowners.” This article contained some really good information that all homeowners should be interested in knowing! A couple of the main points of the article were that “a recent survey of Realtors pointed out that realtors rated many exterior improvements as among the most valuable home investment projects, as part of the 2011-12 Remodeling Cost versus Value Report.” According to the report, seven of the top 10 most cost effective projects nationally, in terms of value recouped, are exterior replacement projects. One window replacement project, changing to upscale vinyl windows, rounded out the last exterior replacement project in the top 10, and was expected to recoup 69.1 percent of costs, one of the highest recoups of the investment made of all considered by the study. Now, that last number is pretty amazing! A lot of people don’t believe remodeling projects are worth the price, but research is telling a different story. Homeowners might want to take that last point into consideration and begin researching the premium vinyl replacement windows, since they could possibly recoup more than two-thirds of their costs upon resale of that home. Additionally, while a lot of people are staying in their homes longer, there are the added benefits of more comfort, plus the energy savings that a high-quality window project can bring. Vinyl windows are designed so that the frames are very good insulators. They can be enhanced with various types of fill inside the hollows of the extruded vinyl, some for more insulating value, and some for more structural integrity. Well designed vinyl frames perform at least equal to the best wood windows, and far superior to any of the other alternative framing materials. But the really important part of creating a high performance energy saving window is the glass system. Sometimes the difficulty is in choosing which type of glass is best for you. Cost is certainly a factor, but some of the other factors are the part of the country you live in, or the amount of security you might desire. Some of the window manufacturers offer as many as eight different glass systems to allow you the freedom of choice you can consider for your home. And a full service glass dealer will be able to help you decide if replacing the total windows at your house is desirable, as opposed to retaining the structural integrity of your windows, as in an older or historic residence, by rebuilding those existing windows. The key part of high performance glass is the type of Low E (Low Emissivity) glass that is incorporated into the unit. The number and type of the microscopic coating layers makes a dramatic difference in the energy performance that can be obtained. There are some excellent double glass systems, some very appropriate for specific parts of the country. But the popularity of triple glass in some locations is now a market fact. Triple glass has been around since the 1970’s, but the original glass packs made back then were somewhat problematic. They experienced a much higher failure rate than double glass windows, also known as thermo panes, probably because there were double the number of seals to the glass surfaces that were required. But modern insulating glass is far superior to what was around in “the early days” of replacement windows. Low E glass first became available somewhere in the 1980’s, but the original coatings had significantly less performance values than the coatings available today. Every few years there seems to be a newer, better coating, offering even more energy performance. Now to the facts…if the windows in your home were manufactured before about 1990, you cannot possibly have truly high performance windows, as the current technology didn’t even exist then. In just the last ten or fifteen years, the performance levels have just about doubled from what was available on the market in 1990 to 1995 or so. So give some thought about when your windows were made, and look into what is currently available to save you some of your energy costs, be somewhat more green, if that’s an important consideration for you, and make your home more comfortable, as well as more attractive. In Kansas, one thing you can always count on is the weather. It will either be good or bad…And if you don’t like what’s happening right now...just stand by, and in short order, you will probably see it change. It is nearly always different than what is predicted, and won’t do what the weathermen and women say we can expect. I recall that when Jimmy Carter was president, the “weather experts” were saying that the next ice age was only a few years away! Global warming…global cooling…I reckon it’s all real, but I have my doubts as to whether anyone has a good handle on man being the significant cause of any of that, one way or the other. One single volcanic eruption can send more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than everything men have done cumulatively since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Your mileage may vary on that, and that’s okay too. We’ve been pretty lucky this year, with a pretty mild winter and comparatively low natural gas costs, making it pretty good for most people. But who knows what the short term future may hold? Or the long term future, for that matter? With the uncertain energy situation worldwide, I think the best thing you can do is take stock of what you have today, hope for things to get better tomorrow, and be prepared if things don’t quite go the way you hoped. Like a good scout…”Be Prepared”. Preparing by sealing up your home with high performance vinyl replacement windows, maybe some new entry doors, and a good check and sealing of all the cracks and holes in your home’s exterior will go a long way in making you more prepared for what may come in the future. With the milder winter we just had in Kansas, after a much colder and stormier winter a year ago, it might be a great time to think about some of your exterior home projects right now. A good estimate of the costs involved can be a big help in deciding. Some information was researched on the worldwide web. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2012-04-19 14:34:13

Q: I looked at a couple of older, well located homes a few days ago, and one of them had 5 of those older 8 or 10 foot sliding glass doors. It took all the Realtor had to try to get them to slide open a little bit…can these be repaired? Or replaced? Either way, is it cost prohibitive to do this? Otherwise, I really liked the home.

A: Your question describes what we see pretty regularly…homes that have had, to some degree, the deferring of normal home maintenance by the current or previous owners. And when this deferred maintenance involves such high profile items as windows, doors, or storm windows and doors, it makes you wonder what else might not have been taken care of by the present owners, such as the HVAC (heating and air conditioning) units, electrical service, and/or plumbing. There can be a corollary in deferring the maintenance of home repairs. Ignoring the operation of those sliding glass doors, and attempting to sell that home to someone who is predictably going to discover that non-sliding slider, as you did, is not smart by any stretch. Even if a prospective buyer failed to discover those sticking, hard to slide doors during a first or second look at the home, a home inspector most certainly will find the problem if the prospective buyer actually decides to sign a contract to buy that home. We find that a lot of folks let things slide, (pun intended) rather than having things done that will keep things that are supposed to slide, sliding. And it doesn’t matter if the sliding glass doors are the smaller 6’ doors, or the 12’ or larger, multi panel doors, sometimes comprising a full wall of the sliding doors. Absent ongoing maintenance, they will all develop sliding problems at some point. Repair or replace? That’s a question that has several parts to the answer. Is the wood framework in good repair now? Will it have to be repaired or replaced in order to address the sliding door problems? Are the existing glass surfaces of multi paned glass, or are they the older single pane sliders? If they are single pane glass, the answer becomes obvious. With the prices of energy that we pay today, you just cannot leave those single panes in place…that costs you way too much! If they are multi paned glass, and the glass has lost its seal, fogging up during variables in temperature and humidity, that’s pretty hard to live with as well…and certainly will cost you money in the event you try to sell the property as described above. If you’re going to have to have them replaced in response to a home inspection when you sell the home, why not go ahead and have them taken care of now so that you personally get some enjoyment from having done that…rather than doing it at sale time for someone else to enjoy. Storm doors, properly installed, work to keep the dead air space between them and the inside door, whether it’s the front or the back door. Storm doors also provide an additional measure of security for those living in your home. And, they give visitors either a favorable or unfavorable first impression while standing on your front porch. A well chosen storm door is a great and affordable way to welcome friends to your home. As to the question of “is it cost prohibitive?” Let me ask about the “cost to you of the aggravation” of standing there trying to open a sliding door that won’t slide…or a door or window that is fogged up so that you can’t see through them. Or answering your door bell, and opening the front door to a stranger standing there with nothing between you and them. At that moment, the cost you could have made with the installation of a well constructed and locked storm door, but didn’t, could be insignificant to you. It’s kind of like the decision to have a security system installed in your home or business…after you’ve been violated. The horse is already out of the barn, as they used to say in describing this situation. So, waiting till you’re ready to sell your home to make repairs and replacements for the enjoyment of someone else seems silly to me. We’ve found that most folks who get an estimate for these types of things are actually relieved, and go ahead and take those deferred maintenance things off of the deferred list. Maybe that’s something you want to do…More next month…

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Bob Crager

2012-03-22 16:37:02

Q: We’ve been thinking about having some new storm windows installed on our home. But since winter seems to be over, should we wait till next fall to think about doing this, and what kind of storm windows would you recommend? Our home is not new, but a little older. It has those little thin window sashes screwed onto the outside of the window frames over the existing glass panes.

A: Whoa! I almost got the feelin’ that you think that storm windows don’t benefit you except in the cold weather months! If that’s what you thought, let me help you with that misinformation, please. Also, since experience tells us that prices of anything seldom go down, it might make some financial sense to get the job done now rather than later. The only time of the year that storm windows give you their benefits as much or more than in the cold, brutal winter months, is in the super heated summers we sometimes have here in Kansas. Remember last summer where we had 53 days of 100 degrees or hotter? That was a record breaker summer for heat, since way back in the 30’s. And preventing the incursion of both, cold winter or hot summer air into the climate controlled spaces of your home, is the year round job of your storm windows, as well as your home’s insulation factors. If your windows are in really well maintained condition, without the condensation problems some older windows have had, then the recommendation would be to install custom fitted self-storing storm windows over the outside of your existing windows. Self-storing means that the windows are designed and built to include moveable glass panels with built-in screens to allow you to open your windows as well as your storm panels, to allow for fresh air to be brought inside your home when the weather and other conditions make this desirable. The waft of springtime outside air through the windows is pretty sweet! The screens let the air in, but keep the bugs and birds out. Self storing storm windows come in many great colors, and most of the better ones are metal, usually aluminum. These windows keep the winds from coming against your normal window glass, creating drafty conditions in both winter and summer. Anytime you can stop the drafts, your heating and cooling units will have an easier time of maintaining the temperature you’ve set your thermostat for. Consistent temperatures can save you money at the meter. If your windows are not so well maintained, suffering from either dry rot or wet rot, it is a pretty good indicator that you don’t have the self storing storms we’ve been visiting about here. The self storing storm windows cover your complete window, including keeping the weather and rainwater from getting onto your window sills. If you look at a home that has had self storing storm windows installed since the house was built, there is a high likelihood that the window sills are also in good shape. It’s pretty simple, every few years, to remove the screws holding the self-storing storm windows in place, and refresh the painted surfaces, check on the condition of the glazing, and just generally do a maintenance check. If you do this little process every so often, you will probably never lose your windows or window frames to dry rot or wet rot due to rainwater standing on your windows or sills. Window maintenance is easily overlooked by lots of folks due to the fact that unless you are in tune with this kind of thing, and as long as the windows are serving their purpose of keeping wind and rain outside, we sometimes tend to just ignore them…it’s easy to do. But now that you know about it, walk around the outside and the inside of your home, raising or opening the windows, and giving them a little bit of your attention. If you find that you have inadvertently missed this area of home maintenance, it’s a perfect time to call someone for an estimate to correct the problem before it continues to deteriorate…these things do not get better over time…they only get worse. It’s amazing what good windows and good storm windows can do for the comfort levels of your home. Well maintained windows also just make your home look great, and preserve the values too. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2012-02-27 13:49:33

Q: I just came home from a party where there was a lovely custom designed wooden table in the dining room that was about 16’ long with a colored plate glass top on it. It looked like it must have been nearly half an inch thick…with a beautiful beveled edge on it…and polished to a high shine! The wood on that table looked “deep”! It blew me away! I’d never seen anything like that before. Are those glass tops readily available, and are they expensive?

A: A really smart fella once said “It doesn’t cost any more to have the best…you just pay for it a little longer!” The investment in glass that is designed to protect the investment in wooden tables is actually not expensive at all. And glass table tops are really in vogue today. They add a touch of class to any table you put them on. Everything from the swankiest dining room tables, to the most plane Jane outdoor patio table, and every kind of table in between are getting those outstanding glass tops. A lot of folks put glass on their end tables to protect them from the lamps, and on the coffee tables and night stands too. And the look is fabulous on the large Hickory, Maple, or Walnut desks so prevalent today in offices. You will likely love the look I’m talking about! There are a myriad of table top designs and a lot of different considerations that would help answer your question of whether something like that is expensive or affordable. But for the protection of the woods that you’ve already paid a lot of money for, we believe the decision of putting glass tops on your tables is a pretty good one. The size and thickness of the glass would be relevant to the cost, as well as the configuration, and whether the glass was colored, tinted, clear, or any of a number of other variables. A lot of folks years ago had their tables fitted with a custom glass top so that the wooden table would be protected from the abuse a table can receive just from normal family use. That has progressed to where today, there are so many examples of what a beautiful and well designed glass table top does for the ambience in the room, that a lot of folks no longer want just the original rich luxurious look of a wooden table, without the protection and beautiful look that a well designed glass top provides. Glass brings with it another advantage, that of extremely low maintenance. It can be cleaned with most any glass cleaner to make the surface sterile and spotlessly clean, unlike a wooden table top, which can harbor bacteria in the smallest crevices. Glass protects from the inevitable spills, enhances any type of décor you might have, making it a good long term investment. Glass table tops can also make the spaces appear larger, and as such, are well suited for small rooms too. You might even want to consider scratch resistant glass tops that have the ability to look brand new for years to come. The glass is available in various attractive colors like green, black, amber, and others. Tints from very light to very dark and anything in between are also possible. Shapes like round, square, rectangular, oval and custom cut glass to fit your special table are also available. The edges can be polished to a number of different finishes, such as ogee, pencil, bevel, and others. There isn’t a bad looking finish among them. Tempered glass tops are usually more durable and tensile and reduce the chances of glass breakage and related injuries, making them a safe bet around small children. It is mostly used for table tops, window panes and door panels. It’s heat resistant too, and can be used safely for serving hot dishes directly to your table tops, kitchen tables and so forth. To sum up, a beautiful glass table top can bring a luxurious look to your kitchen or dining room table, and protection to those ancillary tables you have all around your home. If you want the tables to still look as good 20 years down the road as they did the day you brought them home, cover them with beautiful glass tops. The designs and colors have never been better than they are right now. More good info for you next month…

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Bob Crager

2012-01-26 14:12:19

Q: I recently stumbled onto a ’36 Ford Truck in an old barn, so I bought it. It had been covered with a tarp, kept off the ground and is in pretty good condition, except for the window glass. The windshield is one piece, but is in pretty bad shape, plus the back glass is gone, broken. I know it’s an antique, age wise, but would it also be a classic if I restored it?

A: As a matter of fact, it could. There is more than one definition of what constitutes a “classic” car or truck, and these definitions can vary from state to state. For example, the Classic Car Club of America defines classic cars as cars that were built between 1925 and 1948, and are “fine or unusual motor cars & trucks. These are very special vehicles which are distinguished by their fine design, high engineering standards, and superior workmanship.” However, not every car produced during this time frame is considered to be truly a “classic.” Some people use the term “classic” and “antique” interchangeably when referring to older cars and/or trucks. Since 1975, the Antique Automobile Club of America considers cars that are 25-years old and older to be eligible for classification. So, even though the definitions can be very varied, if you want to get a point of reference, there are a number of “classic” car shows that are held in most major cities several times a year, where you’ll see one heck of a lot of genuine classic and antique cars. Some of the restorations are nothing short of phenomenal. You might have gone to the Starbird/Devlin Classic Car Show last month at Century ll, here in Wichita. What a show, and even though Daryl Starbird is not running the shows personally like he did for about the last 55-years or so, the shows still have all the flavor of his influence all over them! The next close show they’ll be doing will be in February in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Worth the drive if you missed the show in Wichita and love classic cars! Getting back to your question…You might not have known this, but there is a well known glass shop in Wichita that has been specializing in glass for old antique and classic vehicles for well over 80 years now. In fact, it’s a glass shop where most of the other glass shops in the area take similar vehicles for replacement of their classic vehicle glass. Most of them don’t fabricate glass themselves to solve these problems. In automotive glass, especially auto glass for those speciality vehicles that have been around the block a time or two, the general consensus is that you are going to need someone working on your glass solution that has also been around the block a time or two. Not just having the correct glass pieces, but the installation that must be done by technicians with the expertise to do it perfectly. This workmanship is critical to the end result. It is a rare specialist that can accomplish this to the satisfaction of the most critical judges that might critique the final product in a classic car show. But let’s visit just a minute about the fact that a lot of those old flat window/windshield pieces are really hard to find…and most glass shops just do not have the expertise and experience to take care of that. Curved glass windows, and almost any other type of antique automotive glass replacement is an area that not too many glass shops do anymore, as you know if you’ve spent any time at all searching for specialty glass. Difficult installations and restorations on classic cars require specialized know how, and that has been rapidly disappearing in recent years. If you have an antique or classic car, you know what I’m talking about. If you are going to undertake a restoration on that ’36 Ford truck, you can’t afford to make any big mistakes in your project, so you want to take it where you know they have done this kind of work for many decades. The fabrication of specialty glass for the automotive needs of people with the older cars is something that must be done to a high degree of care. The question of where to go to get the answers you need is pretty easy for us…as the question comes up for us a lot, and we just tell them to take that vehicle around to the side door of our shop and we’ll tell them what they’ll need, estimate the cost and how long it might take to get it done. After over 80 years of automotive glass work, specializing in classic and antique glass, the answers are automatic to us. And the automotive glass business includes more modern cars and trucks too, as well as Motor Homes and recreational vehicles. Full service means full service, so if questions about speciality glass or any other kind of glass becomes the subject of your conversation, take those questions to the Glass Doctors, and get the right answers, right away. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2011-12-27 10:07:17

Q: The Eagle recently said that the natural gas bills should be about the same this year as last year. With all the other bills going up, is there something we can do to slow down the loss of heated air through our old windows so that we can save on the cost of heating our living spaces?

A: Well, it’s not a secret that window leaks do mean higher bills, and when the temperature heads down, and we adjust the thermometer upward to keep it warm in our houses, that monthly gas bill is going to be higher, no doubt about it. I read the same report you did that said that Kansas Gas Service charged $5.44 for a thousand cubic feet of gas in the month of October this year, which is about .40 a cubic foot higher than a year ago. Black Hills Energy, conversely, has reduced its charges by about 2% over a year ago, charging $5.02 a cubic foot. So according to that information, the cost monthly with the same usage as last year each month, should not vary that much based upon the charges by the gas company. A little higher if your provider is Kansas Gas. A typical household will use around 80,000 cubic feet of gas in a year, most of it during the winter. The amount consumed can vary widely depending on the size of the house, the furnace efficiency, thermostat settings, and other factors, such as “are my windows leaking air.” One way to learn the answer to “are my windows leaking air” is, take a bic lighter, or a match when the wind is blowing outside, which is nearly anytime in Kansas, and strike the match or lighter and hold it just inside the windows you think might be leaking air. If you see that match blow out, or a significant movement of the flame, you will know you have a problem. And you probably won’t solve that much air leakage by adjusting the thermostat. Your window units have a problem, either in the insulation, or lack thereof, around the frame, the seal around the windows themselves, or the glass panes and/or the glazing for those panes. If the glazing dries out, that can allow air to penetrate into the inside too. Any of these areas can create the air movement we’re talking about, and contrary to popular opinion, those windows don’t have to be ancient to leak air when the wind is blowing, as it does here in Kansas. Thermo pane window technology wasn’t up to speed until about the 1990’s, and lots of windows installed in the 1980’s and before have proven to be a real problem. A lot of those windows leaked, lost their seals, and suffered a lot of dry rot from all of the moisture that stayed on the window frames and sills due to sometimes nothing but poor designs. Dry rot or wet rot in wood that is exposed to the elements every day, year after year, will eventually end up as a serious problem unless they are seriously maintained. This requires a homeowner to periodically assess the condition of the windows of the home, and take preventative measures to stop these types of things from getting out of hand. If you let them go, you will be doing a total replacement at some point down the road. Sometimes, in older homes, even today, there are still single pane windows. A homeowner with single pane windows will lose heat and air conditioning right through those glass surfaces 24/7, year after year. That’s unnecessary, and very costly! It is much more cost effective to have those windows upgraded to multi-pane glass as soon as possible. Adding storm windows is another great way to stop air leakage. And when selling that home, these are the kinds of problems that are going to be turned up in an inspection, which will normally require the Seller to have the repairs made as a condition of sale. So it might make more sense to go ahead and do the repairs so that you can enjoy them, as well as the new owner after you’ve sold the home. Your glass professional can evaluate your situation, and estimate the cost of adding panes of glass to your existing glass surfaces, and/or whether your windows should be totally replaced. And do yourself a favor and add the storm windows right now. You’ll begin saving money immediately if you do, and you’ll save that money year round. So, in summary, whether you take action right now, or whether you don’t, you’ll be paying for it either way. But, if you get those energy wasting window panes corrected right away, you’ll only continue to pay for this problem short term, rather than paying for not correcting it from now on…You can decide what you should do for your situation…and a call to find out what you should do costs you nothing. It is wintertime in Kansas! More next month…

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Bob Crager

2011-11-30 10:41:16

Q) My wife and I have been looking for another home to buy. We’ve seen so many deteriorated windows so far, that we now go into each home and the first thing we look at is the condition of the windows. If those are in good shape, we go on. Many times, the windows are in really bad shape, and we want to know why so many people neglect this important part of their home.

A) Unless folks are really in tune with the exterior maintenance of their home, the windows are frankly just easy to ignore. As long as the heat and cold are kept from actively intruding on the inside of the home, a lot of the time people just ignore the windows. This is why, when they do finally discover the deterioration, it’s already way beyond repairing, requiring instead a total replacement. It’s also why we recommend that twice a year, you walk around the exterior of your home and closely examine the windows. The frames can be bad and look good. Unless you get up close and personal with your examination, you will miss the problems that may be getting ready to get much worse. Check carefully for “wood rot” in the frames. This can be either “dry rot” or “wet rot”. The wood becomes soft and shows signs of deterioration. Sometimes the wood rot is still covered or concealed by the paint or vinyl, thereby making the damage hard to discover. But you’ll save yourself significant headaches if you’ll take this inspection program seriously. The first thing to go bad on quite a few windows is the seal on thermo pane windows, allowing moisture to begin to accumulate between the two or three panes of glass, creating a fogging condition, which makes it increasingly hard to see through. This happens to even the best of residential windows, sometimes after only 10 to 15 years, whether as a result of sunlight or temperature changes or both. In the Wichita area, we have icy winters with the heat on indoors, and then steamy, humid summers with the central air blasting inside. With the glass panels alternately expanding in the heat and contracting in the cold, you can imagine the wear and tear this puts on the seal between them. Therefore, the seal goes, and the moisture accumulation begins. It’s important to note that not every permanently foggy window is eligible for the types of repairs required to correct the problem. When homeowners wait too long to have the damage repaired, the moisture stains and damages the glass to the point that the foggy appearance cannot be effectively removed. White or opaque coloring in the glass, or a mottling on the glass, are good indicators that you have waited too long, but the best way to know if the glass can be saved is to have a local certified trained professional glass technician come take a look at it. Then you’ll know if a repair is in order, or if total window replacement is your best option. Repairing the window is normally a less expensive proposition than totally replacing the window. The best time to repair a “perma fogged” thermo pane window is as soon as you notice the damage. Just because you have stalled too long for one window doesn’t mean you can’t save the rest of your windows. But, since it seems that when one or two window seals fail, the rest are soon to follow. So it might make some sense to contact your local glass dealer and get a professional opinion as to which way to go on your own windows. If you have been experiencing window failure in your home, the chances are, but not always, that all your thermal pane windows are nearing the end of their engineered life span because during the construction of your home, windows are installed as a "family of windows". They’re built of the same materials and subject to the same failures. The differences normally being how much sunlight or shade, heat and cold, each one gets during the daytime or nighttime exposures. The clear windows adjacent to visibly foggy windows have been exposed to the same devastating environmental conditions. There may not be visible signs of failure yet (i.e. window fog or condensation), but it usually isn’t very far behind. To sum up, do your twice a year inspections, or call your local glass shop where you plan to get your repairs done. Help for all of these glass problems is normally just a phone call or a click away! More next month…

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Bob Crager

2011-11-30 10:16:59

Question: This summer 2011 heat wave is awful! I have some cracked window panes in my older house in College Hill…how do I replace them, or should I even try to do it?

Answer: Replacing cracked window panes in an older home can be tricky, especially if you’re trying to preserve the integrity and look of a home that was built, say, around the turn of the last century. But it is possible to tackle this job and win, either doing it yourself, or letting the pros do it. If you have some experience, and have the time and the right tools, you might decide to attempt it yourself. On the other hand, sometimes it’s a good idea to call someone in the business, to see if letting someone who does it every day take a look and let you know what is going to be involved in the repair or replacement of your old windows or window glass. The key to your job is to be very careful in removing the old glass panes so that you don’t destroy the wood frames. Sometimes the wood is less than pristine, with dry rot or wet rot having done a number on it over the years. First, you should determine that the wood frames are solid and worthy of being retained. If they are, then you can use a sharp knife to remove the old glazing around the glass, and if you get them out in one piece, take the pieces to your local window glass dealer, and have the new panes cut to fit. If the panes are already totally broken out, measure the dimensions of the openings carefully from side to side, then up and down, to determine the precise size of the replacement glass panes you will need. And remember, after you pick up the glass replacement panels, you’ll have to reinstall and re-glaze the new glass into the frames. With summer heat as bad right now as we’ve seen in several decades, it might be a good time to fix all of your leaky window panes, and the frames, to conserve the loss of cooled air from your home’s interior, unless, of course, they are deteriorated beyond repair. A lot of heated and cooled air goes right out the leaky frames of windows and doors of older homes. These are the weakest link in your home’s energy loss chain. Large amounts of your energy losses, both winter and summer, go right through the windows and window frames of your home. We get many requests for changing out the old single pane glass windows with new double pane insulated glass. Using your existing frames, this can be a tall order, because the original windows were originally made to accommodate a single pane of glass, normally an eighth of an inch thick…whereas an insulated glass component is normally about a half inch thick, and would require mortising out the frames to receive the thicker insulated unit. Typically, absent a lot of experience at doing this kind of retrofit job, a novice can mess it up beyond repair. Clear insulated glass can run into the neighborhood of $10 per square foot, whereas the upgraded insulated “low-e” glass can run on up into the $14 per square foot range or higher. Estimates on a specific job are available by contacting your local full service glass dealer. The alternative is to replace the entire window unit with a new insulated unit…the downside is that you normally will lose some of the original look of the turn-of-the-century architecture of the home. It all depends upon the outcome you desire. Sometimes saving money and making your home easier to heat and cool wins out over preserving the look…sometimes it’s the other way around. Your local fully staffed, full service window glass dealer can assist you in deciding what is best for your particular situation, and will provide the expertise to get the job done right for whatever outcome you want for your home. Remember that if you’re losing your air conditioned air through your old windows, you really can’t afford to not get that stopped. Cooling the inside costs a lot of money, and I don’t know anyone who can afford to try to cool the outside with the heat we’ve had this summer. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2011-11-17 13:38:01

Q: We’re in the “Senior” age group and sometimes we forget the things we should do when the weather turns cold. You previously printed a list and I can’t find it, could you run it again?

A: We always try to bring you, our readers, valuable and helpful information that will be educational, and sometimes even entertaining. In light of your question, and the time of year it is, we thought that it might be good to talk about some of the things we all should be doing to make certain that in the event of a really bad weather event, such as the ice storm we had about 6 years ago, what should we have on hand or available to get us through a bad spot of several days of being “holed up” without outside access to some of the staples? When winter storms come barreling through Kansas off of the Rockies, we can experience blizzard conditions, and worse. For some of the seniors, and the rest of us in this area, it can become pretty serious quickly. Since we usually answer questions about your windows and doors, let’s write this time about things that can actually save lives, if the following information is followed. The Kansas weather can get us focused on much more than just taking good care of our windows and doors, which we always recommend. We don’t like to dwell on it, but when the power goes off for several days, as it did back during the big ice storm in 2005, we all saw the need to develop alternative methods of keeping warm and feeding ourselves till the storm passed. Winter storms can also be deceptive killers because most deaths are indirectly related to the actual storm. The major causes of these deaths are automobile or other transportation accidents, exhaustion and heart attacks caused by overexertion, simply “freezing to death,” and asphyxiation from improper ventilation of our heating sources. House fires occur more frequently in the winter due to lack of proper safety precautions when using alternate heating sources, such as unattended fires and space heaters. As with most potential disasters, your advance preparedness, monitoring the heating devices, and common sense can minimize the dangers to you and your family. Before the winter storms begin, it makes some sense to acquire some particular supplies that would prepare you and yours to survive on your own for 2 or 3 days. There should be some non-perishable food, bottled water, flashlights and extra batteries around the house, along with a portable radio or NOAA Weather Radio in case of power outages or other emergencies. Additional items that should be included on your Winter Weather Supply List are a freshly-stocked first-aid kit, essential prescription medicines, foods that require no refrigeration such as canned goods, dried fruits and nuts, a non-electric can opener, water (one gallon per person, per day), baby-care items, extra blankets, sleeping bags and a fire extinguisher. Additional ideas you might consider are: Have extra alternative heating fuels, as regular sources may be cut off. Have emergency heating equipment and fuel (such as a gas fireplace, wood burning stove or fireplace) so you can keep at least one room at a livable temperature. Be sure the room is well ventilated. We don’t want to read about you in the papers. Make sure your home is properly insulated. Caulk and weather-strip doors and windows now to keep cold air out (again, do this now before the blizzard hits). Install storm windows or you could even cover windows with plastic from the inside to provide extra insulation. To keep pipes from freezing, wrap them in foam insulation or even layers of newspapers, covering the newspapers with plastic to keep out moisture. Let your faucets drip or run a little to avoid freezing. Know where and how to shut off all of your water valves, including the main valve. Suggested items for a Winter Emergency Car Kit include a flashlight with extra batteries, a basic first-aid kit, necessary medications, a pocket knife, booster cables, a blanket or a sleeping bag for each person, extra clothes (including rain gear, mittens and socks), non-perishable foods, a non-electric can opener, sand for generating vehicle traction, tire chains or traction mats, a basic tool kit (pliers, wrench, screwdriver), a tow rope, a container of water and a brightly colored cloth to serve as a flag, if that becomes necessary. Ensure that your tires have adequate tread and always keep your gas tank at least half-full. A full tank can save your life. Plan long trips carefully, listening to the latest weather reports and road conditions. Travel during the day, and if possible, try to take someone along with you. Take this seriously: About 70% of winter deaths related to snow and ice occur in automobiles. Keep a windshield scraper and small broom for ice and snow removal, and in the cold weather season, keeping a small shovel and a few bags of ice melt and sand in the trunk with your other supplies can also come in handy. Put some distress flares and lighters in your vehicle, and if you’re caught out along the road by a blizzard, pull off the highway. Turn on hazard lights, run the engine and heater about 10 minutes each hour to keep warm and conserve your fuel. When the engine is running, open the window slightly for ventilation. This is important: in a bad snowstorm, periodically clear the snow from the exhaust pipe. This can prevent carbon monoxide poisoning from getting inside the car. If everyone is getting sleepy together, get out of that car…you’re being gassed and may not know it! Exercise to maintain body heat, but avoid overexertion. In extreme cold, use road maps, seat covers and floor mats for insulation. Huddle with passengers. Take turns sleeping. One person should be awake at all times to look for rescue crews. Drink fluids to avoid dehydration. Be careful not to waste battery power. Balance electricity energy needs: the use of lights, heat and radio. At night, turn on the inside lights so work crews and rescuers can see you in the dark! A shortwave radio is another good communications device. Your Cell phone might not get a signal along the road you’re on. Remember to take the charger for your phone along so you don’t get caught out with a “smart phone” and no charger to allow you to use it to reach out for help. Dress for the weather coming your way, wearing several layers of loose fitting, lightweight, warm clothing, rather than one layer of heavy clothing. The outer garments should be tightly woven and water repellent. Mittens are better than gloves. Wear a hat; most body heat is lost through the top of the head. Cover your mouth with a scarf to protect your lungs. Be careful when shoveling snow. Over-exertion can bring on a heart attack, one of the major causes of death in the winter. Watch for signs of frostbite: loss of feeling and white or pale appearance in the extremities such as fingers, toes, ear lobes or the tip of the nose. If symptoms are detected, seek medical help immediately. Watch for signs of hypothermia, which can be different from frostbite. These can present as uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness and apparent exhaustion. If symptoms are detected, get the victim to a warm location asap, remove any wet clothing, warm the center of the body first and give warm, non-alcoholic beverages, if the victim is conscious. Get medical help, as soon as possible. Develop a “Family Emergency Communication Plan” in case family members are separated from one another during a winter storm (a real possibility during the day when adults are at work and children are at school), and have a plan for getting back together. Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to serve as the ‘family contact. After a disaster, it is often easier to call long distance than it is to make a local call. Don’t ask me why…Make sure everyone including your children knows the name, address and telephone number of the contact person for this emergency. We’ll talk about windows and glass and other great stuff again next month, but we believe that answering this question could save a life, or at a minimum, get you all prepared for the winter weather that might be headed our way. Remember, “if you don’t like the weather here in Kansas, just wait 15 minutes, and it’ll change!” Stay warm, and we’ll have more helpful information for you next month…

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Bob Crager

2011-10-25 10:59:28

Q: I have a home that was built over 50-years ago, and the basement windows are those little short ones about 12 to 16 inches tall and about 28 to 32 inches wide…the metal frames are rustin’ and needing some attention…I don’t think another can of that so-called “rust stopping” spray paint is the answer…at least it wasn’t the last two times I tried to fix this. It’s still rusting! Can you offer some real helpful advice?

A: Not an uncommon problem at all…we hear this a lot, and the proper fix will depend on a close inspection of that frame situation, and whether the rust has advanced beyond any reasonable repair. Normally, if it’s to the point that it has your attention, it would be a good thing to get someone right on it and correct the problem now. This rusting frame problem just gets a lot worse if you leave it alone. Most folks haven’t seen any evidence that spray paint stops rust at all…rust rusts! In these older basement windows, there are a couple of ways they were built. In nearly all cases, the frames are either metal, which rusts or wood, which rots. In a lot of cases, the window panes themselves are in tracks, and slide sideways to open them and allow for ventilation. In some other cases, the entire window can be unhooked and tilted open for ventilation. Those usually involved glazed fixed glass panes. In the sliding panel windows, there usually are a couple of metal or plastic keepers that allow the removal of the entire window. Now that’s the window, not the frame! If that original steel frame is rusted badly, it will need to be completely removed, and a complete new window, including the frame, installed in the space. Options can include vinyl, clad, fiberglass, aluminum and other types of replacement materials. These older basement windows were built mostly to standard sized openings, but there are some “odd sized” critters that are sometimes found in some of the older houses. Seldom were any of the older basement windows anything other than a single thickness pane of glass, so therefore they weren’t energy efficient by any stretch of the imagination. New ones can be thermo panes! It was reported the first week of October that there was a lot of deep early snow covering the foothills in the Colorado Rockies. After the record breaking summer we had here in the Wichita area, there’s no telling what this up coming winter could bring. It might be a good time to seriously make an effort to “button up” that home, getting the windows up to speed, and sealing the leaks that occur as a house ages. We’ve seen some pretty wide-ranging, divergent temperatures in this area recently, and the movement of the window glazings and seals due to this temperature fluctuation can cost some serious money if not detected early, and repaired. Movement of seals and glazings bring on fogging, allowing condensation to form, which can begin the deterioration of the frames themselves. Serious stuff! Your top notch local glass dealer will be able to take a look at your basement windows as well as the rest of your windows, and pretty quickly tell you if a repair or a replacement will benefit you the most. Sometimes the repair will get you where you want to be for now, and sometimes a frame and window replacement is the better solution…it just depends upon your situation. So whether your needs are for correction of “rusty” basement windows and/or frames, or your needs are in the commercial glass or classic automotive glass arenas, your experienced local glass dealer will get you taken care of in time for a bruising winter, if that’s what Mother Nature delivers to us this year. A quick phone call can begin the process for you. The Farmers Almanac is calling for freezing temperatures by around Thanksgiving Day this year. Stay as warm as you can till then. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2011-09-26 15:56:39

Q: Wow…what a summer!! 53 Days over a hundred degrees! That heat nearly made me forget that winter follows fall, which follows summer! Speaking of winter, my old windows in my house drip and run like my nose in cold weather. And I just lit my pilot light! Are new updated windows or new panes a good idea to try to get installed at this time of year, and do you think that would help with the problems I had last winter with the condensation on the glass?

A: The good news is that you just lit your pilot light! I just lit mine too…another bit of good news is that we didn’t have to try to live through those dawg days of summer without air conditioning like they did back in the “dirty thirty’s”. That had to be pretty brutal, and probably miserable too. To answer your question about whether to consider new windows for your house, we would need to actually take a look at what you have in the way of windows, and make a determination as to what would benefit you the most in that regard. Sometimes there are repairs and/or corrections that we can make that will solve certain problems for the short term. The inspection would determine if your existing window frames and casements are still solid and weather worthy for the upcoming winter we’re facing here in the Southern Plains of Kansas. If the frames are deteriorating, the chances of the seals on the glass panes being good are pretty slim. If they haven’t started fogging or dripping yet, they probably will be sooner than you would like. Air leakage around your windows is kind of like trying to heat the yard…on a cloudy day, that can be rough. One of the things you can do early on is to not make the common mistake of turning your humidifier on at too high of a setting, putting too much moisture into your circulating air. When the furnace begins to run, the air it moves is normally really dry, absent a humidifier. You’ll recognize this when you walk through the house and reach for a doorknob, and hear and feel the spark of static electricity on your fingers. That’s dry air, which means it’s time to turn that humidifier on again. But do that gradually, so that you don’t get too much moisture laden air in your house, allowing it to begin collecting on the window panes. Let’s talk a little more about condensation. Condensation occurs when a substance changes from the gaseous state to a liquid state. It occurs when air comes into contact with a cooler air or a cooler surface. By cooler, we mean, having a temperature lower than the dew point. Dew point is the temperature at which the moisture in the air condenses into water. It is the process of condensation that is responsible for the formation of clouds, fog, dew and rain. I am sure you might have seen water droplets form when you pour cold water in a glass on a hot summer day. Due to its transparency, condensation is pretty conspicuous on glass windows. While window glass condensation bothers most of the homeowners during cold winter months, water droplets can also appear and form on the outer side of the windows during summertime temperatures. During summers, the humid air touches the cooler glass surface, and as a result, water drops form on the outside of some windows. During winters, the air inside the house is much warmer than outside. As the warm air touches the cool inner surface of the glass windows, dew drops form on the inside of the windows. If there is excessive condensation on the inside of the windows, the water could drip to the window sills and the floor. This could stain the windows or damage the sills, the walls, and the floor. It’s good, therefore, to try to prevent condensation from forming on your windows. Here’s some information on how to prevent that. While condensation during summertime doesn’t really cause any damage, as the water droplets are formed on the outside of the windows, and evaporate outside, during winters, condensation occurs on the inside of the windows where it can do some damage. During winters, we need to use heating systems with humidifiers to make our homes comfortable. But while this warmed air protects us from the cold weather, it allows the warmed air to hold a lot of moisture. The warmer the air is, the higher its moisture content, unless you do what we suggested and gradually add that moisture with your humidistat, while not overdoing it. Now, when this warm and moist air meets a cooler surface, like glass, it can condense and water droplets can form and settle on the inside of the windows. The most effective ways to minimize condensation in our homes lies in regulating the moisture levels inside the home. If you have a humidifier on your furnace, start using it slowly in the beginning. If you make the mistake of adding too much moisture to the air in your home, you can also employ a dehumidifier, either a portable device, or one installed on your heating and air conditioning system. Remember that excess moisture can result in mold or mildew forming in places you can’t see. That’s not good! Moisture inside your home can happen as a result of an inadequate ventilation system, running your clothes dryer a lot, and taking showers in bathrooms without an exhaust fan in operation. The use of ceiling fans facilitates circulation of air, so it’s good to use them more often than most folks do in the wintertime. One should use the exhaust fans while in kitchens, bathrooms, or laundry rooms. This is the best way to get rid of most of the excessive moist air from these areas. Don’t keep the windows covered with curtains all the time, because those window treatments can also prevent the circulation of warmed air around the windows. You should also make sure that the home appliances like space heaters or furnaces are functioning properly. There shouldn’t be any blockage in the ducts or vents. Leakage in pipes can also contribute to moisture, so make sure that there is no leakage in the house water or waste lines. Indoor plants and aquariums are also sources of humidity, so, make sure you keep them away from the windows. As you can see, the wintertime problem of moisture on window glass is a lot about balancing the heat and the water! Hopefully some of these timely tips will be helpful to you in the area of moisture on the glass of your windows. My first recommendation of having your local glass dealer send out a professional glass and window technician to check out your particular situation is a good one. So, till next month…stay warm!

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Bob Crager

2011-07-01 13:56:00

Question: I’m responsible for the maintenance of several commercial buildings in my organization. What would you recommend that I put on my maintenance checklist, just in case I might’ve forgotten something?

Answer: The components of a commercial building envelope/exterior are as varied as its occupants, and its uses. Brick and glass, bitumen and composite panels, many metals, marble and stone, can be, and all are, used for the interior and exterior construction of today’s commercial buildings. And all exterior building materials respond differently, one from the other, to the forces of high heat, winds, rain, snow, ice and other inclement weather conditions. Ideally, the envelope of the building ensures that the weather stays on the outside, where it belongs, and that the people and property inside are protected, with a level of comfort that is acceptable. One of the best ways to minimize a building’s risk of water damage is to develop, maintain, and follow a systematic operations and maintenance inspection routine that includes all interior and exterior elements of the building envelope. Anywhere the outside wall meets the ground can be a notoriously high-risk area for damaging water intrusion. Building components such as hose bibs, roof drains and landscape irrigation systems can put a lot of water in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even a small leak can turn into a major headache like a flooded basement or parking garage. It’s important that you schedule and make regular inspections, if you’re the one responsible for maintaining the building or buildings for the owners that employ you. Train yourselves to constantly be on the lookout for both the expected, as well as the unexpected event that can ruin your day. Each month, you should have on your schedule to inspect all at-grade plumbing systems, all at-grade drainage systems and be sure to regularly test any basement flood control and/or sump systems. You should also replace any leaking fittings or drains immediately, even if those leaks are small. Check to see if the irrigation system sprays water right against the foundation or exterior walls, collecting in pools. Make the changes necessary to prevent that from happening in the future. Check out all the roof drain outlets, including all gutters and downspouts, making certain that they are clear of any debris that can collect there. Some maintenance people have found out too late the importance of making sure that any water elements present on the exterior are not at risk for vandalism. A flooded building due to this kind of prank is not fun to find in any building you’re responsible for. Make certain that any runoff water is directed away from the foundation or perimeter of the building, and find the source of any standing water you might discover. Keep in mind that below-grade building elements are a significant part of the building envelope. Basement walls and floors play crucial roles in protecting the building from water intrusion, and can provide important warnings of water problems above. Also, check for signs of effervescence, a condition where moisture boils up through the surface of the concrete, evidenced by the flaking of the mortar or concrete. A landscape irrigation line leak may first manifest as mold on the basement walls. Try to keep yourself out of the mindset of “out of sight, out of mind”. That’s potentially costly. About every 3 months of the year, you should check any basement floor drains and the basement drainage system. Check all basement walls for signs of water staining or damage. If found, do not ignore, but track the source of the water or moisture and repair that cause immediately. Windows and glass doors are also areas that you should give considerable attention to in order to properly maintain them against breaking, cracking, movement, wear, tear and/or vandalism. Keeping all of this in mind, you should know that even the most carefully operated and maintained commercial building will likely experience a water or wind damage event at some time during its lifetime. The building staff charged with this area of responsibility should have a well-practiced emergency response plan. Just like the fire drills that your children do in school, everyone hopes they never need to use these plans. However, they can be helpful to ensure a more rapid recovery from a major roof leak, flooded basement or soaked office carpets. Often the speed of response to a high wind or water damage event is the most vital key to getting back to normal day-to-day operations. A good and easily executed water emergency response plan includes quick shut down of the main water supply lines, safe and quick shut down of electric and gas supply lines, if appropriate. Keep tools you might need in these circumstances accessible, as well as emergency phone numbers for fire, police, and emergency personnel. You’ll also want quick access to companies who do water extraction, window and door glass replacement, heating and air conditioning, and plumbing specialists. Now that’s a plan you can use! More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2011-06-01 12:22:00

Question: What kind of commercial glass doors should I consider for my new business building?

Answer: Let’s talk for a little bit about the things that are going to be important to you and your business going forward. Such as the aesthetic appearance, the look of the business where the customer gets as a first impression of who and what you and your business are trying to project. Is security an issue for you? Do you need light or heavy security, during what hours of the day? Are you a 24-7 business, or do you have “open” hours, and then remain closed during the rest of the day or night? Do you have “walk-in” trade, or are you an office/warehouse facility? All of these questions should enter into your plan for the entrance of your new facility! Will you have an outside “lobby” arrangement, or will the customer walk directly into the interior of your retail or office rooms? If a lobby is in the plans, you’ll want to use some very high grade commercial glass & metal doors that are well designed and built to hold up in the face of all of the changing weather conditions and higher than normal winds experienced here in Kansas. Intense heat, and brutal cold will take a toll of some kind on the most well built exterior doors and windows. The lobby will be, more than likely, heated and cooled to some degree, which will help to stabilize the temperatures of the metals and the glass, extending the useful life and durability of these fixtures. When your customers drive or walk up to the front of your building, is their first impression of your company important to you? There are many different designs, different combinations of materials that will assist in that first impression…tinted glass, Low-E coated glass, many different colors and shades of tint can give your customer a great feel for walking inside your front doors. Sometimes an “airlock” arrangement which controls the inflow and outflow of air is incorporated into the design. The direction the front doors face should be considered when deciding the answers to a lot of the pertinent questions about commercial doors for your business. There are commercial glass doors, commercial steel doors, impact commercial doors, roll-up commercial doors…an amazing list of choices for your consideration! The choice for your own business should be important to you if, for no other reason, you’ll be looking at your choices for quite a period of time, and you don’t want to feel bad every time you see it because you tried to cut a corner when you installed whatever you installed. In Commercial windows and doors, it’s pretty important not to try to save money by cutting corners in these areas, unless there are no other choices for you. Some recommendations that might help you with your decisions are: Choose the strongest, most secure commercial doors for the exterior doors. The material make-up of a commercial door will impact the level of security it can provide, as well as the maintenance and upkeep it will require. Commercial steel doors offer the most security, but many business owners find wood doors and commercial glass doors more aesthetically pleasing, depending on the particular individual application. From security and ease of access to aesthetics and first impressions, interior and exterior commercial doors play an important roll in the success of most business operations. Remember, commercial doors not only provide the public’s first impression of your business, but they also serve such purposes as managing traffic flow, securing work environments and climate control. Automatic sliding commercial doors provide ease of access for the needs of some businesses. Consider the benefits of automatic sliding commercial doors in environments where customers have to push shopping carts, or carry items inside and out. Automatic doors also cater well to handicapped patrons. Revolving or automatic sliding doors can help keep your lobby climate controlled and can also help with the control of foot traffic by limiting the number of people entering the building at once. Commonly used in the restaurant industry, impact commercial doors can swing both ways to allow traffic to flow in and out easily. These swinging doors also make a good choice as commercial entry doors for loading docks. There are about as many different choices for commercial glass doors as there are designs of new buildings. If you have a chance to do it from scratch, do it right the first time. If you’re retrofitting the entrance area of an existing building, you can pick and choose from a wide array of materials, glass and metal, wood and many more. A meeting with your local glass dealer who specializes in commercial doors and windows might just be a good first step, and could take the brain damage out of the process for you. Some information was researched from the worldwide web… More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2011-05-01 15:19:00

Question: In planning and building my new office building, how can I accomplish the control of radiant heat gain and loss without going overboard on costs?

Answer: Window and door glass, commercial or residential, comes in all sizes, shapes, tints, can have multiple panes, many other configurations, and are all important to levels of satisfaction of the occupants of the buildings, as well as some security considerations. Reducing the energy costs associated with windows while increasing the human comforts, without excessive price increases, is a real challenge to the designers of new office buildings. Achieving an acceptable design depends upon many factors, all of which can contribute to the comfort levels, or lack thereof, experienced by the building’s occupants. Such as: •Which way the window faces relative to the prevailing directions of the mid-day sun. •How much outside shading is planned or is present for the building’s windows. •How bright the exterior scene is to the eye, causing sometimes unbearable glare. •How dark the interior is (the brighter the interior surfaces, the less the window glare). •The building owner or occupant’s willingness to operate shading devices to achieve their best performance in controlling light and heat. •The building owner’s desire for impact resistance, whether from storm-blown objects or vandals. •How critical it is to maintain an unobstructed view to the outside (gorgeous vistas shouldn’t be permanently blocked by window shades or other add-ons, although temporary blocking for privacy or solar heat rejection may be desired at times. •The building owner’s desire for acoustic isolation in noisy environments. •Whether the window can meet aesthetic desires for appearance and quality. There are some basic principles to keep in mind when selecting windows for buildings located in the Midwest areas of the country. The winter space-heating season is from short and mild, to long, severe, cold and brutal. The summertime cooling season can start in April, and run all the way through mid October in some years. Thus, there is a strong need to insulate a window, as well as to protect it from direct solar radiant heat gain. It is true that insulating the window with multiple panes, insulating gases and a special coating can reduce the size of the air conditioner needed to meet peak loads and that this smaller size will reduce both heating and cooling costs as well. Reduced heating and cooling equipment size could save enough construction dollars to pay for the extra cost of the window insulation, but this should be proven through calculations before being taken as the truth. For retrofit applications, such as replacing windows in an existing building, there is seldom the chance to save dollars on the air conditioner, unless it just happens that the building owner needs to replace the air conditioner at the same time that the windows are replaced. If the owner decides to install insulated windows, for whatever reasons that make sense, a few extra comfort benefits can be expected too. For example, there will be less transfer of sound through the window, an advantage in urban settings with frequent road or aircraft noise, but a possible disadvantage for rural sites where the occupant might enjoy hearing the sound of the wind or the chirping of birds. Insulated windows have less of a tendency toward condensation, and/or the growth of mold and mildew. On the cold winter nights and excessively hot summer afternoons, an insulated window will be far and away more comfortable to sit near. In trying to prevent unwanted solar radiant heat gain during summer months in Kansas, it is best to minimize window exposures toward the east, southeast, south, southwest and west. This can be accomplished by the design and orientation of the building and by utilizing some shading techniques for the windows. During hot summers, it is far better, for heat gain prevention, to block the sunlight before it reaches the window, thereby dissipating the absorbed heat outside, where it can be carried away by the wind and air currents. This means that simple shade trees and other exterior shading methods can be very effective, both in saving air cooling energy, and in blocking the strong glare, which direct sunlight can produce if allowed inside. In the winter time, in the Midwest, the trees lose their leaves, allowing the sunshine and radiant heat through the trees and into your windows, thus helping to heat the interior of the building. If the owner and building designer cannot avoid windows facing the wrong directions, then the use of exterior operable shading devices could be considered to protect the windows from the sun in the summer. In many cases, darkening shades can be pulled down to reduce solar radiant heat gain along with its glare and higher energy costs. They can be opened when the sun is not shining directly on the window, or on overcast winter days, to provide both good exterior views and interior daylight illumination to the extent possible. A variety of exterior or interior shading devices are available. Proper planning can save big bucks in energy usage for just about any commercial or residential window application. Some information was researched on the worldwide web…More Next Month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2011-04-01 13:55:00

Question: You wrote about some “get outside now before it gets hot” springtime home window and other repair recommendations sometime back…but I lost the paper…can you repeat some of that for me and others who need to do some of that stuff now that Spring is finally here?

Answer: Here in Kansas, this time of year is about my favorite time, cause I can get out there, with the sunshine and spring breezes blowing the frost on out of my way, and I can start touring around outside my home and other buildings to see what the harsh presence of winter has done to me. I really enjoy that first chance to get out and do something, after being “holed up” for several months. And the surprises I find are usually in one of several forms. The first thing I like to do is start making a list of projects I need to take care of that have been necessitated by all that cold weather and freezing rain and snow. Besides, I feel more important when my wife sees me walking around outside with a clipboard. ;~) You might want to do something similar. Even though we specialize in window glass repairs and replacements in all residential, automobile, trucks and motor homes, as well as all commercial applications, we also like to help our readers with some other tips that will benefit them during special times of the year. Like the end of winter!! Here’s a reasonably good outline for your springtime checklist: 1. Windows first! Warm weather is coming, and so are the bugs. Take a look at each window screen for damage, and repair or re-screen those as necessary. Shop vacuums work really well for cleaning out window tracks to keep those windows moving freely. While you’re at it, go ahead and clean the exterior glass and frames. You might need a razor blade scraper and some vinegar water mixture for that to get the best result. You can make an inexpensive home made mixture for cleaning glass as follows: Using just vinegar and water, you’ll add a half-cup of vinegar to one gallon of water. Or, for smaller jobs, add two tablespoons of vinegar to one quart of water. This makes a very good mixture for this purpose. For an Ammonia based cleaner, add a half cup of sudsy ammonia to a gallon of water, or for smaller jobs, add two tablespoons of sudsy ammonia to a quart of water. On tougher window stains, you can mix a half cup of sudsy ammonia, two cups of rubbing alcohol, and a teaspoon of liquid dishwashing detergent to a gallon of water. Mix that well, apply it to your glass with a spray bottle, and wipe it till it’s clean. This solution is good for use in the colder parts of the year, because it is less likely to freeze. Another good formula is to combine ammonia, vinegar and cornstarch to make a good window cleaning solution. Do this by adding a half-cup of ammonia, a half-cup of white vinegar and two tablespoons of cornstarch to a gallon of water. This cleaning process is also a good time to check out the frames and sills on your windows for dryrot or wet rot. If you find that going on, you’ll want to correct that as soon as possible, as that problem only gets worse with time. Repairs are normally cheaper than a replacement of all those windows. A great glass shop can advise you on the most affordable way to stop the damage and end the drain on your money, comfort and the high cost of the energy lost through weak windows and frames. Single pane windows are one of your biggest sources of lost energy, costing you money each and every day! Get more glass now! 2. Decks! Your wood decks take a beating during our cold, below freezing Kansas winters. Yes, even that treated lumber is susceptible to this kind of deterioration due to the weather conditions. Take the time to make a slow and thorough examination of your deck boards, railings, posts, stairs, and other structural members and look for loose fasteners, cracks, dry rot, or other damage. Remove loose nails and replace them with weather-resistant deck screws that are made for that purpose. Just hammering loose nails back in won’t do you any good. They’ll just pop back out again. Now is also the time to completely clean the deck. Rent a power washer if necessary, and then re-apply deck coatings. Those hours you’ll spend on your clean, well repaired, shady deck will be a great reward for the work you’ll do now in all these areas. If you have brick, concrete, or stone patios or walkways, it’s good to go ahead and get them cleaned up from the winter debris. You can use a hose or that pressure washer you rented to accomplish this. Broken out grout or caulk should be redone right now to prevent more damage of the same kind. After re-caulking, seal with a good product. Later you’ll look back and believe that was money and time well spent. 3. Fireplaces & Wood Stoves! You’ve enjoyed your wood stove or wood burning fireplace all winter, and now is a good time to empty the built up ashes. Use an airtight metal container that is approved for this use, until you know the ashes are completely cooled. Even if its been a while since your last fire, the ashes can be a fire danger for a surprising long time. Now is also the time to check the condition of the fireplace, and make any necessary repairs. Clean doors and screens, clean fireplace tools, and check and repair door seals and hardware. 4. Miscellaneous checks! Spring is a great time to check all of your exhaust fans, cooling fans and air conditioners. Check dampers for smooth operation. Remove interior fan covers, and wash in mild soapy water. Clean dust and debris from inside the fan unit using a shop vacuum – do not operate the fan with the cover removed. Check the roof or wall caps where the fan ducts terminate to make sure they are undamaged and well-sealed. Check the dryer vent hose and cap for damage or loose connections, and clean out lint buildup. Check outdoor central air conditioning units for damage or debris buildup. Clean and check window or wall air conditioners, especially the filters. If you utilize a portable or central humidifier during the winter to improve indoor moisture levels, now is a good time to clean it out. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning, disinfecting and de-scaling. Clean or replace filters as necessary. Now is also the time to replace furnace filters that have become choked with dust. This is especially important if you have central air conditioning or if you utilize your heating system’s fan to circulate air during the summer. As soon as you’re comfortable that the danger of winter freezing is over, remove foundation vent blocks or open vent covers to allow air circulation in the crawlspace. While removing vent covers, check the grade level around the foundation vents – winter weather can move soil and create buildups or grade problems that will allow ground water to drain through the vents into the crawlspace, so re-grade as necessary. Remove outdoor faucet covers. Turn on the water supply to outdoor faucets if it’s been shut off. Last but far from least, now is the time for your semi-annual checking of all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Replace the batteries, writing the date you changed them out on the batteries themselves with a sharpie, because if you’re like me, you can’t remember when you changed them out last, and you want to make sure they are ready if you have a problem…test the unit’s operation…your life really could depend on it. Hopefully, this list of projects will help you get organized on your outside work, and if it gets to the point that it’s interfering with your golf time, just call in an expert to assist you with the work. Remember, a great glass shop can help you with lots more than just your residential window glass! Automotive glass, motor home windows, Commercial glass windows and doors for businesses, mirrors, shower doors, French doors, in town or out in the country! Some info was researched on the worldwide web…more next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2011-03-01 14:39:00

Question: We’ve decided it’s time to grow our operations in a much bigger way. We like glass, and the visual effects of glass, and might like to incorporate a lot of it in our expanded facilities, any recommendations?

Answer: As one of the “go to” companies in the glass business, that question does come up for us a lot. When you’ve done something for over 92 years, you either get pretty good at it, or you’re defying the odds of survival in the business world by being mediocre. I don’t recommend that second choice. Usually if you’re pretty good at what you do, people learn a lot about you in a lot of different ways! There are many ways to go about this process of expansion and growth, and most of the time when you get good folks advising you, you’ll end up with a pretty good plan of action. There are some considerations to be included, not the least of which is your budget for the project, which will allow you to determine specifically what your goals need to be. Whether you’re developing a commercial property from scratch, expanding an existing business, building a “mixed needs” facility to meet unique business needs of one or more entities, etc., the plan should include the thought of maximizing the value of the total property or project, and/or maximizing the value of a particular business. The design should give you the highest and best use of the property and spaces available, while using the latest state of the art technology in the design. In today’s world, many companies have found that a combination of the usual building components, together with some of the more unusual components and materials give them a great appearance from the outside, and a facility that can save them a lot of money when it comes to heating/cooling, and overall operating costs. The time to make the investment in those higher efficiency equipment choices is right at the beginning of the plan to build the project. Also, the traffic flow of the operation is an important consideration in order to maximize the different aspects of the business. A minor change in that flow could be just what is needed to really streamline your operations. If you have a retail business with local foot traffic coming in the front door, the business building needs to be very attractive to the consuming public, and offer an open invitation to them to visit you as they drive by. Signage designs can attract them, or can be a moot point as the business magnet that it can be, if done right. Do you require a “waiting room” for customers to sit in while waiting for your service? Or do you move them through to an ordering desk or retail shopping area? How large of a space is needed for your support personnel? Office space that accommodates your needs might be a critical part of the overall operation, and it can sometimes be large open cubicles, with convenient conference rooms nearby, and/or sometimes private offices for key persons in your organization. In any case, you can see where the planning stage for your expansion can be an integral part of the overall success you’re trying to achieve. Don’t overlook planning for your next expansion when you’re planning for this one. That can save future monies just because you took time to provide for something you don’t even need right now, but might down the road. Reconfiguration of your building’s floor plan, relocation of some of those design elements, your move coordination, project management, space analysis, furniture analysis…it should all be in the plans from the outset. If done properly, the result is pretty much guaranteed. When a company does most of the commercial glass installations in a geographic area, you can be pretty sure that they have most of the top installation professionals employed there. Those “highly trained-to- factory-specifications” folks are incredibly important to the end result we all want to achieve with our work. We see that as critical to our future, as well as all of our working relationships. One of the fastest growing elements of new commercial building construction starts, anywhere in the country today, is glass! Most of the large or medium sized commercial building projects will involve designs which include a high percentage of glass, in the form of windows, window- walls, dividers, etc., bringing the outdoors inside and allowing the feel of nature to uplift your entire organization. Tinted glass, coated glass, multi-paned glass, UV glass…a myriad of choices can be considered for your project, to give you the creature comforts you desire, and the classy appearance you want your business to project to the world. There are many other interesting ways you can utilize glass in your project, inside and out. Planning the project, including your budgetary considerations, followed by successfully executing the plan, will get you where you want to be in your facilities. Plan now for a brighter tomorrow! Some information was researched on the worldwide web. More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2011-01-01 10:18:00

Question:What’s going on with so many drivers in Wichita deciding to park inside the lobby of the place of business they’re trying to visit?

Answer: We’re not really sure! We could blame it on the cold weather, the holiday season, or misdeeds by Santa’s elves, but it seems like we get more calls during this time of year asking that we send out a crew to board up the front of businesses after someone has stepped on the gas instead of the brakes…the result of which is pretty predictable nearly every time! The boarding up process takes care of temporary security and weather issues, allowing us to pick up the precise glass, metal, and other materials to do a permanent repair of the damage. The commercial window and door frames, in most cases, are pretty sturdy, strong enough to prevent the intrusion of nearly all types of bad weather, short of a tornado. But no matter whether they’re built of glazed steel casements, anodized aluminum, or any of the other materials commonly used to construct these daylight filled interior space enhancers, they won’t keep an out of control car or truck from coming on in! It happens that several times a year, someone has a mishap like we’ve been seeing recently here in Wichita. When the butt or pivot hinges on these heavy duty commercial doors get bent or destroyed, it’s always good if the glass company making the repairs has the glass and other parts in stock, so that the inconvenient situation for the business owner is corrected right away. The heavy duty commercial door closers are an important part of the operation, and prevent that door from catching in the wind, and bending up the frame and other parts all over again. In one recent automobile driver’s adventure into the lobby, the exit sign above the door fell completely off the wall. Since the business needed to stay open that day, it was very important that the exit sign, a code requirement, be repaired and replaced immediately. We’ve seen exit devices just go bad…not needing a car wreck to cause the malfunction. A top glass repair and replacement dealer will, more often than not, have all the technicians and materials on hand to handle all of the repairs needed when an emergency or unexpected mishap occurs. Have you ever stood with your hand on the door of a business, PUSHING when the sticker said PULL, or PULLING when the sticker said you need to PUSH? Well, most of the time it’s pretty easy, as shown in the picture, for you to know whether to PUSH, or PULL, when you’re coming in, or going out! But then, that’s assuming you got your foot on the brake instead of the gas pedal! :~) More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2011-01-01 10:18:00

Question: How in the world can you afford to heat these big commercial buildings with all that glass when it’s this cold outside?

Answer: We have seen a lot of unusually cold winter weather, with lots of snow, wind and freezing rain this year. And that’s been the case throughout most of the country! Even in the “deep south.” This global warming is just about to freeze me up! Seriously, if you take notice, those folks working in the “glass buildings” are staying pretty comfortable, as comfortable as those working in the ones with fewer windows and no views to the outside, in fact. That’s due to the fact that the significant building design elements of windows and glass walls used in this kind of construction are highly efficient today in preventing the loss of heat through the glass in the cold weather seasons, and preventing the gain of heat in the warm or hot seasons. The important challenge when selecting windows and glass systems for commercial building construction is balancing your structural requirements, cost/budget considerations and environmental requirements with your energy requirements. Enough money can overcome most problems, but sometimes that isn’t a good option. There are, though, some outstanding glass options that offer long term sustainable low maintenance features, while exceeding most all energy requirements and keeping your long term operational costs down. For example, there are some spectrally selective glazing technologies available that provide a great combination of high visible light transmission, UV blocking, and infrared reflection, by employing suspended film technology. There are too many options to discuss here, but with a good glass dealer, you can get just about whatever you want in your home or commercial building. Glass serves many uses in modern life. Insulated and specially treated glass can keep your warmed or cooled air in, while providing good condensation and sound control. Tempered and laminated glass makes doors and windows more secure. In those large commercial buildings, glass panels give office buildings a distinctive look, while reducing the need for artificial lighting and the high ongoing costs of that. The creative use of large windows, glass doors, skylights and sunroom additions can make homes bright, airy and inviting, and bring an unequaled look to a commercial building. In the business of glass construction and installation, our highly trained glaziers are responsible for selecting, cutting, installing, replacing and removing all types of glass. These specialists generally work on one of several types of projects. Residential glazing involves work such as replacing glass in home windows, installing glass mirrors, shower doors and bathtub enclosures. They also fit glass for tabletops and display cases. On commercial interior projects, glaziers install items such as heavy, often etched, decorative room dividers or security windows. Glazing projects also may involve replacement of storefront windows for establishments such as supermarkets, auto dealerships, or banks. We talked last month about people “parking” in the lobbies of business establishments after getting their foot on the accelerator rather than the brakes. It happens more often than you might believe. In the ensuing repairs of those incidents, and/or in the initial construction of small or large commercial buildings, glaziers, after reading and interpreting blueprints and specifications, build metal framework extrusions and install glass panels or curtain walls. For most jobs, the glass is precut and mounted in frames at a factory or a glass contractor’s shop. It arrives at the jobsite ready for glaziers to position and secure it in place. They may use a crane or hoist with suction cups to lift large, heavy pieces of glass. They then gently guide the glass into position by hand. Once glaziers have the glass in place, they secure it with mastic, putty, or other paste-like cement, or with bolts, rubber gaskets, glazing compound, metal clips, or metal or wood moldings. When they secure glass using a rubber gasket—a thick, molded rubber half-tube with a split running its length—they first secure the gasket around the perimeter within the opening, then set the glass into the split side of the gasket, causing it to clamp to the edges and hold the glass firmly in place. When they use metal clips and wood moldings, glaziers first secure the molding to the opening, place the glass in the molding, and then force spring like metal clips between the glass and the molding. The clips exert pressure and keep the glass firmly in place. When a glazing compound is used, glaziers first spread it neatly against and around the edges of the molding on the inside of the opening. Next, they install the glass. Pressing it against the compound on the inside molding, workers screw or nail outside molding that loosely holds the glass in place. To hold it firmly, they pack the space between the molding and the glass with glazing compound and then trim any excess material with a glazing knife. If you have a project coming up that will be more desirable if you include lots of glass, check out your options with a really good glass dealer who is large enough to handle your project details so that you end up with a fantastic result! Some information was researched on the worldwide web. More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2010-12-01 11:33:00

Question: I worked for over 2 hours trying to get the door panel in my car off so I could see what was wrong with my electric window…never did get it clear off…what was I doing wrong?

Answer: Getting the interior door panels off of most vehicle doors is a pretty good chore…especially if you want to get them off without damaging them in the process. There are hidden keepers, and sometimes there are special tools required for the removal of the panels. And after the panel is off, what you find inside usually looks like a mess to someone who hasn’t seen inside the door before. And that includes most folks who drive cars! If your electric window isn’t moving up and down like it’s supposed to do, you probably have something like what you see in the picture. When the motor that raises and lowers the window wears out, and/or the teeth are worn off inside that little motor, it won’t move the glass. Sometimes you can tell something is getting ready to happen because the window begins to perform irregularly…either slower in its movements, or jerky while trying to raise or lower the window. The parts that hold the glass, and move it up and down are normally all metal except for the “connecting” parts, which are usually plastic. The cable that is extended and retracted is a metal cable, usually connected at the ends with plastic parts. There are also “regulators” that sometimes break or wear out, disallowing the electric windows to operate. Generally, if the cable or parts are worn to the extent that the cable jumps the track, or winds around the other parts inside the door, it’s easiest to just open that panel up and replace the system in one fell swoop. Back in the old days, there used to be “parts” available for these repairs, but the individual parts became largely unavailable due to the manufacturer’s going to the “full replacement” idea that it makes more sense to just replace the complete window operating mechanism in its entirety, rather than trying to “fix” it, leaving some of the old worn out parts in place, waiting for another breakdown, which is sure to come. If you’ve made the attempt to remove your door panel to try this repair yourself, you’ve probably discovered that there are some things required in that removal process that you don’t know how to do. A good glass shop technician has all the right tools and removal techniques to make short work of this repair, and that’s probably the best solution for most folks. Some pickup trucks have electrical sliding glass in the rear of the cab that sometimes wears out or breaks, and there are some tricks to accomplishing those repairs or replacements as well. Whether you have a broken windshield, side glass, or back glass, or your electrical devices have quit working, you need to get a factory certified technician to handle that job. Those are folks who are trained by the factory rep in all of these systems so that you end up with a great result. Today, most of the windshields used for replacement glass come with the mouldings attached, and encapsulated directly to the glass. All of our glass meets or exceeds the original equipment manufacturer specifications and all are installed with factory specified primers, urethanes and sealants. Interestingly, some models of vehicle windshields also come equipped with a “rain pad” inside the glass, up center top by the rear view mirror. This “rain sensor,” when present, detects when it’s raining on the windshield, and automatically turns the wipers on. The built-in override of this device overrides the manual controls to let the windshield wipers go faster when it’s raining heavier, and slower when the rain lets up…neat huh? Additionally, those side mirrors sometimes have a way of getting caught on the side of the garage door and broken. Whether your side mirrors are heated or not, a good glass shop can replace that mirror for you too. It’s important that the wires that control the heated mirrors be re-attached correctly. If you just have a “chip” in your windshield, you should know that most insurance companies allow for the repair of windshield chips in certain locations on the glass, and cover the cost of those chip repairs completely. Nothing out of pocket for you to pay. So, whether you’re driving a “beater”, or a brand new vehicle, if your glass systems are giving you pause…call or go into a full service glass shop, and put those problems behind you…More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2010-11-01 13:31:00

Question: I have an older Motor Home that we like to take out on the road 3 or 4 times a year for mini vacations. The windshield is cracked, and some of the windows aren’t working right. Some of them roll up or down really slow. What can I do about that?

We get this problem pretty often. And it doesn’t have to be an “older” motor home that develops a myriad of problems with the glass and/or windows. As time goes by, there are different ways that windows in motor homes and travel trailers can get cracked and broken, and need repairs. Leakage, both water and wind, occur in both older, as well as newer units. Wind noise can drive you right off the road, and temporary insanity can result. Seriously, water leaks need your immediate attention as soon as you can discover that they’re there. Unattended, those will begin to rapidly deteriorate the materials inside those wall sections of the motor home. That’s not a pretty discovery later on. A good habit to get into is that when it rains, just do an inspection of your windows all the way around, inside and out, and you’ll probably catch those pesky leak problems early before they turn into something more, like electric wiring problems inside the walls. Most of the windows in motor homes and travel trailers are specialty windows designed for that particular line of vehicles. If you have one of the motor homes that has some of the more involved antique glass patterns, you really want to try to get those replaced or repaired by professional techs who do that kind of installation as a regular part of their business, as soon as possible. Many glass installers don’t have those antique glass patterns, so go ahead and do a little research before you actually need to repair or replace those windows. Otherwise, less than desirable results could be in the offing. Windshields for nearly all motor homes are normally available through a good glass shop, even if the original manufacturer of the motor home has gone out of business. Whether it’s the driver or passenger side that’s cracked, or both, the replacement of either or both is relatively common. Most of these windshields have some manner of tinting in the glass, so matching the original color is pretty important. The glass installation should, in all cases, be done by trained certified installation techs, using the correct sealants and trim materials, and make sure the shop doing your glass work is insurance approved. Custom van windows, side mirrors, windshields, and all manner of glass for heavy equipment and tractors are all repairable or replaceable. Sometimes the electric motors or the regulators go out on the windows, and those normally have to be replaced with new units. Occasionally, the raising and lowering mechanism for the windows will break or loosen up inside the doors, requiring the disassembly of the door panels to accomplish the repair. Other than the periodic inspections of your unit’s windows when it rains, you’ll be in good hands with the right glass shop handling your repairs or replacements. More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2010-10-01 10:11:00

Question: I’ve been working on restoring my old classic car. It’s running great. It may sound strange but I never thought about the glass parts until now. Where do I turn for the most help?

You can’t believe how often we’ve heard from people who are in your same situation. As you point out, you can have the sweetest running engine with the neatest looking paint job in the state, but if the glass is damaged or missing, you can’t even enjoy driving it. The glass parts end up being an important part of your restoration, and it matters not whether you’ve entered it into that 100 point competition, or are just going to use it to turn heads as you tool down the street. The absolute finishing touch will be how attentive you were with the glass. As you may or may not know, the older glass parts can be looked at as being in three separate categories, and those categories generally fall into the years of production for that particular car or truck. When you search for prospective providers of what you need, using these designated categories can be most helpful. The first category is “flat glass,” laminated and tempered for use in the windows, windshields, etc. This was used primarily from about 1920 through about 1965, and due to the fact of these vehicles being out of production for 45 to 90 years, a lot of glass shops do not have the original patterns for those glass replacements. Being able to replicate that original glass pattern is important to your successful restoration project, and being able to utilize highly trained installers to complete the glasswork will be a huge advantage on your classic vehicle. The second category included, “curved or bent” glass, and was used from about 1948 to the 1980’s. There are many antique vehicles that are now very rare, and therefore the curved glass that is available will always be in short supply, whether it is reproduced or NOS (new old stock). The glass manufacturers who make this glass are not going to reproduce glass for vehicles that are few in number. So if there’s a special glass you’re going to be needing, it might be good to go ahead and check out your options and how to go about getting that glass you’ll need before you actually need it. Then there’s the dash glass, where we make the pieces for flat dial restorations on vehicles built from about 1939 through about 1950. There are some really cool dash glass pieces from that era, and absent a full service glass shop, those pieces can be really hard to come by. The tools to make patterns for a wide assortment of glass for the restoration of the older vehicles are also not found in most glass shops. Authentic reproduction and replacement of the flat dash glass on vehicles in this age group is critically important to the finished look. If you’re restoring the antique dials and gauges, make sure you finish that job off with the proper glass pieces. If you’re going to do vehicle glass restoration to any serious degree, you have to have access to the tools and the patterns, and installation techs that really care about the finished product. We’ll talk next month about custom van windows, and window glass for all sizes of motor homes and travel trailers.

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Bob Crager

2010-09-01 13:38:00

Question: The rooms in my house that have a south and west exposure always seem a lot hotter in Summer, and colder in the Winter…what can I do to correct that?

Answer: Let’s talk about those windows in your house. If you have an older home, it’s a pretty good bet that your windows are original to the house. If they’ve been replaced or repaired, you would probably not be having the problems you’re describing to that extent. Windows, as you probably know, bring light, warmth, and beauty into buildings, whether commercial or residential. They also bring a feeling of openness and more space to our living areas. But they can also be the major sources of heat loss in the cold weather months, as well as heat gain in the hot summer months like we’ve been having here in Kansas this summer. When that daytime temperature gets up to around 100+ degrees for a number of days in a row, you will have as much as 30% of your air conditioning’s cooling efforts go right out the windows of your home or office. That’s expensive! In one recent single year, it cost the United States and its residents over $20 billion, or a quarter of all the energy used for heating and cooling our spaces in which we lived and worked that year. That’s why it’s really important to select and install proper windows in our homes or work spaces at the outset. It’s every bit as important as insulation in the walls! Since the conservation of energy has become so important in our lives, it’s important to know some basic facts about our windows and their importance, not only to our creature comforts, but as a way to minimize our own particular footprint in the amount of energy each of us uses. By making better choices, we’ll automatically conserve our energy. There are three major factors which contribute to the overall energy usage characteristics of our windows in use today. First, how they are framed is very important. Secondly, the type of glazing that is used to set the glass panes. And third, the type of fill that is utilized in the air space between the panes. With absent proper sealing methodology, the window frames can be a huge source of air infiltration, and that can literally bleed the coolness and warmth right out of your home, especially with weather like we have here in Kansas. Frames are usually made out of wood, clad wood, aluminum, aluminum with a thermal break, fiberglass, insulated vinyl or vinyl, or hybrid/composite materials. The type of frame used will influence the heat flow through the window, which is measured by the window’s U factor. The lower the U factor, the better the job the window does in reducing the heat flow through the window either way. The frame generally represents about 10 to 30% of the total window area, and the material it’s made of can dramatically affect the overall window performance. Aluminum window frames tend to have higher U factors due to their high thermal conductance. Wood, hybrid/composite, fiberglass, and vinyl are usually your best choices in areas like Kansas, where heating and cooling needs are extreme during the 4 seasons. Let’s talk about the glazing of a window, which is responsible for the majority of heat loss and solar gain. There are ways in which these factors can be modified in order to increase energy and money savings. Glazing refers to the actual glass and coating on the window pane. In the past, single panes of clear glass were the norm, but with many advances, window glazing can provide high-performance and attractive windows. There are many types of glazing systems that control heat gain and loss through windows. These include double- and triple-pane windows with such coatings as low-emissivity (called low-e), spectrally selective, heat-absorbing (tinted), or reflective gas-filled windows, and windows incorporating combinations of these options. Low-e glazings have special coatings that reduce heat transfer through windows and thus improve the window's U-factor. The coatings are a thin, almost-invisible metal, metal oxide or semiconductor films that are placed directly on one or more surfaces of glass or on plastic films between two or more panes. The coatings typically face air spaces within windows and reduce the heat flow between the panes of glass. Windows manufactured with low-e films typically cost about 10 to 15% more than regular windows, but they reduce energy loss by as much as 30 to 50%. Spectrally selective coatings are designed to allow only specified ranges of radiation from the sun through the glass, reducing heat gained from the sun that’s shining into the home. These coatings filter out from 40 to 70% of the heat normally transmitted through clear glass, while allowing the full amount of light to be transmitted. Spectrally selective coatings can be applied on various types of tinted glass to produce "customized" glazing systems capable of providing the desired level of solar gain for the climate region. Computer simulations have shown that advanced glazings with spectrally selective coatings can reduce the space cooling requirements of new homes in hot climates by more than 40%. Another technology uses heat-absorbing glazings with tinted coatings to absorb solar heat gain. Some heat continues to pass through tinted windows by conduction and re-radiation, but inner layers of clear glass or spectrally selective coatings can be applied with tinted glass to further reduce this heat transfer. Heat-absorbing glass reflects only a small percentage of light and therefore does not have the mirror-like appearance of reflective glass. Like tinted coatings, reflective coatings greatly reduce the transmission of daylight through clear glass, thereby reducing the heat gained indoors from the sun. Although they typically block more light than heat, reflective coatings, when applied to tinted or clear glass, can also slow the transmission of heat. Reflective glazings are commonly applied in hot climates like Kansas in the summertime, in which solar control is critical. However, the benefit of reduced cooling energy demands may be offset by the need for additional electrical lighting due to less sunlight entering the home. Gas filled windows reduce the heat conductance of the air space between multiple panes by replacing that air with either argon or krypton gas. Originally, the space between panes was filled with air before it was sealed. In a sealed insulating glass unit, air currents between the two panes of glazing, carry heat to the top of the unit and settle into cold pools at the bottom. Filling the space with a less conductive, more viscous or slow-moving gas minimizes the convection currents within the space, conduction through the gas is reduced, and the overall transfer of heat between the inside and outside is reduced. Argon is inexpensive, nontoxic, nonreactive, clear and odorless. The amount of energy and money you save with higher efficiency windows will depend on the home or building's location, orientation, total window area and the type of glazing on the windows. Your local glass dealer can advise you on what the best course of action will be for your particular circumstances and window problems. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2010-08-01 13:01:00

Question: I have been reading your recent articles on windows fogging up and what can be done. I have another “fogging” problem. My patio sliding glass doors are fogging up. They also bump and drag when I roll them open. What’s the best way to handle this bad situation, and is it going to be expensive?

Answer: The answer depends on how old your sliding doors are, how many times they’ve “jumped the tracks” from ice jams or dirt accumulation on those tracks, and whether the frame was originally built to allow the replacement of the glass panels in the door. Most of them were, but some weren’t. You might want to call a local glass expert to take a look, to determine if your glass is replaceable, and whether the glass can be re-glazed if it is. If so, he’ll then measure your glass for the replacement size you’ll need. After determining this, another consideration is the age and condition of your door and components. It could be such that the rollers, guides, locks, handles, etc are just worn out. Those can all be replaced, bringing your door back into very acceptable condition. Usually that door can be rejuvenated with some new parts for less than the price of a new replacement door. Your local glass expert will be able to clearly advise you on which repairs you might benefit from. If you are not pretty savvy with this kind of construction or repairs, you might be well advised to call in someone who does this kind of work on a daily basis. Sliding glass door replacement or repairs is a project that comes up pretty regularly, particularly in the older homes, although even in relatively new homes, due to the solvents and paints used in the construction process, there can be glass issues that come up before that new home “dries out”. Back before energy efficiency became an important consideration, sliding glass doors were just about the most inefficient aspect of a home, without exception. If you had an older sliding glass door which faced the wrong direction, it was almost like having an opening in the wall the size of that glass door, barely slowing down the heat and cold intrusions. They were very inefficient. With newer technology, however, it’s pretty easy to make some changes that will allow you to not only beautify your home, but also do some amazing things with regard to improving your energy efficiency. There are now quite a number of patio or deck door options you can choose from. Replacing a sliding door unit with either another sliding glass door or a French door unit is not an easy enough process that you will normally be able to complete as a do it yourself project. Over a period of time, the rough opening can dry rot, and the opening can get “out of straight”, needing someone who knows what he’s doing to get that back to “true” before making the attempt to install a new unit. The new sliding glass doors are made with the same energy efficiency standards that you can get with the most cutting edge windows. You can actually get rid of that old drafty feeling around your slider that is now robbing you very quietly from the energy lost to it. You can also choose between just a “sliding glass door”, or one of the new “sliding patio doors” instead. The second option will have wood frames, and deliver all of the beauty and design possibilities that French and swinging doors can bring you. The upgrade to the wood frames is more expensive, but sometimes it is just better to make the improvement and enjoy the better results you will have if you do that. Next month we will talk about other options, as well as effective things you can do to even out the flow of heat and cold temperatures into and out of your living spaces. Bob Crager of Lewis Street Glass is a 35 year veteran in the glass business. Lewis Street Glass is a leading Wichita Glass company, serving the entire Wichita/Sedgwick County area since 1919. They do anything and everything having to do with glass, both residential and commercial. They also do auto glass. They are located at 743 South Market, facing Kellogg on the South, and you can reach them by phone at (316) 263-8259. You can e-mail Bob Crager at bcrager@lewisstreetglass.com.

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Bob Crager

2010-07-01 12:04:00

Question: I am having fogging window problems with some or most of the windows in my house. I hate trying to look through the haze, but even more importantly…it is most unsightly. What causes this situation? Can it be prevented? What does one do to stop it? How much does it cost?

Answer: Foggy windows are more than just ugly to look through. The window condensation reduces the windows’ ability to insulate you from the outside temperatures, whether hot or cold, thereby defeating the purpose of having thermopane windows in the first place. In addition, moisture begins to rot and corrode your wood window components if it’s not fixed. As fog turns into condensation it leaves white verticle drip lines, etched panes, and eventually large patches of white haze, and finally, water bedding at the bottom of the glass unit on the inside and/or the outside of the frame. Dry rot can ensue.

Repairing glass in a thermopane window is much different than repairing single-glaze windows. A thermopane window is made up of insulated units that typically have two or more panes of glass. Instead of the puttylike glazing compound used with a single-pane window, a thermopane window uses a sealing component and a mechanical glazing stop, or glazing bead. A thermopane window is defined by the insulated glass unit. This insulated glass is typically made up of two panes of glass that are sealed to a spacer, which is why the units are sometimes called double-pane glass. The spacer is placed between the panes of glass and is continuous around the edges. When the unit is sealed, no air or moisture can move into or out of the enclosed airspace, giving you a clear look year round. Obviously, a broken glass will let air and moisture move into the space between the panes, occluding your vision through the glass. This also can occur if the seal between the spacer and the glass is broken, either from use, age, or physical damage. Outside air and moisture can then move into the airspace, which, unrepaired or unnoticed, will then cause condensation to form. The moisture will fog on or inside the glass due to the different temperatures inside the house and outside the window, no matter which season you’re in, summer or winter. In severe climates, this condensation can even bead up and freeze. Now, if the glass is broken, the obvious repair is to replace the IG (insulated glass) unit. However, if the glass is fogged, it is not so obvious that the IG unit should be replaced, although normally that’s the repair that will last much longer. A good local glass company can assist you with determining which repair will work best for you. There are at least two methods of putting a hole in the spacer to allow moisture out of the airspace between the glass panes, but if you need to leave you won’t clean off the hazing left behind by the intrusion of moisture. Although these methods may slightly improve the situation in the short term, if the seal is broken on the IG unit, the moisture and fog will return. Replacing the IG unit is probably the best policy. A good glass company can inspect and advise you as to which would be your best solution in your situation. If the window frame has maintained its integrity, the replacement of the unit will usually save you a substantial amount of money over replacing the windows themselves. Typically, an IG unit is "glazed" into the sash frame with a sealant adhesive tape, or a gasket that wraps around the edge. The glass is held in the frame by a glazing stop, which is a thin removable strip that is nailed to the frame or snapped into a groove in the frame. This strip must be removed with extreme care, as it is going to be required for installing the replacement IG unit. If you are going to try this repair yourself, before removing the faulty IG unit, make sure the frame of the window is still in good shape and not compromised with dry rot or excessive moisture over the years. Then, measure the glass width, height and thickness so the local glass shop can build a replacement unit. Also note the sealing feature. It will either be tape, silicon or gasket. That’s so replacements can be obtained with the IG unit. When the replacement unit is obtained, make sure the measurements match the frame, then remove the failed IG unit. Check to make sure that the unit is sealed into the frame continuously on all four sides. Carefully replace the glazing stop. Clean up and repaint if necessary. And remember, this is a job that requires a lot of expertise to get it right so if you aren’t sure you can get it right, and don’t like the thought of a messed up result and a redo, the best thing might be to call your local glass company and let it be done the first time by those who do these replacements and repairs every day more next month. Bob Crager of Lewis Street Glass is a 35 year veteran in the glass business. Lewis Street Glass is a leading Wichita glass company, serving the entire Wichita/Sedgwick County area since 1919. They do anything and everything having to do with glass, both residential and commercial. They also do auto glass. They are located at 743 South Market, facing Kellogg on the South, and you can reach them by phone at (316) 263-8259. You can e-mail Bob Crager at bcrager@lewisstreetglass.com.

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Bob Crager

2010-05-01 14:25:00

Question: I am having fogging window problems with some or most of the windows in my house. I hate trying to look through the haze! What causes this situation? Can it be prevented? What can one do about it? What does it cost?

Answer: We answered some of your question last month. We will try and expand on that.

As you may or may not know, "fogging" and/or windows or mirrors forming condensation droplets can be due to humidity in the air coming into contact with a colder surface, like glass or mirrored surfaces. If there is an abundance of moisture in the air, it can form the fogging on the glass that is irritating to look at. If the moisture continues, the fogging can turn into water droplets through the condensation process, and begin running down the glass and onto the frame and sill of the windows. If that water is allowed to sit there, it will eventually ruin the finish and go on through to the wood. Since this process can be overlooked by our busy selves, it can create a much more expensive "fix" that it should. Nearly all homes will experience the fogging or condensation problem at one time or another. It’s perfectly normal. Keeping in mind that excessive window condensation and/or fogging, frost on the inside of the glass, peeling paint, and even moisture spots on your ceilings or walls can indicate that you might have other moisture problems that you need to address, a periodic walkthrough to look for these problems can help you prevent them from getting into the "worse case" situations we’ve seen. Windows themselves do not normally "cause" condensation or fogging. They are the recipient of the humidity in the air that collects on them due to the fact that they’re non porous and the moisture cannot enter below the surface of glass. When you have the glass replaced, and the seals are good again, sometimes you will need to adjust your humidifier to accommodate for the fact that the new glass is tighter than the old glass was. The old glass probably allowed the humidity to escape, whereby the new glass won’t. The condensation can actually be caused by anything and everything that you do inside your home that involves water. Heating and air conditioning, humidifying the air, mopping the floors, running the washer and dishwasher, taking showers…all of these things can bring that extra moisture into your interior spaces and cause fogging and condensation on your glass and mirrors. During the winter months, you can adjust your humidity levels to the following percentages to correct it if the levels are too high, creating fogging and/or condensation on glass: •At minus 20 degrees outside -15 to 20% relative humidity •At minus 10 degrees outside -15 to 20% relative humidity •At 0 degrees -20 to 25% relative humidity •At +10 degrees outside -20 to 30% relative humidity •At +20 degrees outside -30 to 35% relative humidity The relative humidity can be measured by a humidistat, which comes with most commercial humidifiers, or a psychrometer. Make certain that all of your vents to the outside are working as designed and not plugged up by a bird’s nest. Don’t over water indoor house plants, a common mistake. Periodically you can air out your home by opening the windows to let the dry outside air in. Just a few minutes a day can accomplish this result. You can even let some excess moisture escape by opening your fireplace dampers. These are just a few tips that can give you a higher degree of comfort during those cold winter months when the windows can tell you that there is a moisture problem somewhere in your house. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2010-04-01 13:31:00

Question: I am having fogging window problems with some or most of the windows in my house. I hate trying to look through the haze, but even more importantly…it is most unsightly. What causes this situation? Can it be prevented? What does one do to stop it? How much does it cost?

Answer: Let’s talk about the causes first. Multiple paned windows that have been in place for a number of years will, at some point, begin to lose their seals, and that’s when the "fogging" problems due to condensation formation begin. There is no "magical age" for windows to begin having this particular problem. However, if your windows are original, and are much over 10 or 15 years old, you could begin to experience more and more of this type of condition. Sometimes it’s sooner than that, sometimes later, due to the fact that some windows are just manufactured better than others, and that process brings widely divergent results to the window building and delivery marketplace. The "fogging" window problem has been around as long as multiple paned windows have been around, and prevention of the problem completely is unlikely in the face of the evidence to the contrary. Windows that "fog" are normally located in areas that receive direct sunlight during some part of the day. That explains why some of the windows in a home begin this fogging problem, and some others, same make and model, go for years longer before having the same issues start showing up. When this condition begins, some of the "handyman" types will start to try to re-seal their glass in one way or another. I haven’t ever seen anyone be successful at this for several reasons, not the least of which is the inability to remove the moisture from between the panes without removing them. The window glass units will nearly always need to be removed and replaced by someone who has the tools and knowledge to do that job. This requires removing the glass panes from the window frame, along with the "spacer" between the existing panes, and replacing the panes and the spacers with new components. You won’t likely get rid of the "fogging" without replacing the glass itself. The glass panes must be cut precisely, and the new unit installed correctly in the frame. If the reinstallation of the new glass and spacers is not done correctly, you’ve wasted your time and money. It is critical that you have this work done by a company that has a reputation for standing behind their workmanship. Some do, and some only say they do. Do your homework, and know who you’re dealing with before you say yes to anyone. Well done windows should last you a long time before needing further care. Make sure you get a written warranty on the windows you have "re-glassed." A good and reputable company will have no problem with this request. We’ll talk about "fixing the problem," and get into the difference in cost between replacing the glass, or replacing the windows, next month.

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Bob Crager

2010-04-01 13:08:00

Question: The warmer seasons are upon us...what can I do to improve my existing windows so that they’re more efficient? Can I do this cost effectively?

Answer: Technology is advancing rapidly in the glass industry. Right now, there’s a new breed of glass that outperforms just about every window on the market. A double-pane window of this new "super glass" loses up to 42 percent less heat than a standard double-pane window. It’s even better than a triple-pane window because it weighs less, costs about the same, and can save as much or more energy. Most major manufacturers have promoted the super glass in storm windows, as well as patio doors and skylights. It’s sold under a lot of different brand names, but it’s known generically as low-emissivity glass. A low-emissivity window or patio door looks like an ordinary window or patio door with double pane glass in it, but there is one key difference. The inside face of the outer pane has a metallic coating that’s only a few hundred atoms thick. This microscopically thin coating can barely be seen, but it stops radiant heat loss by not emitting it to the cold air outdoors. Hence, the higher R-value of low-emissivity windows. Not only will your heating bills notice this improvement, but you should, too. In winter, your thermostat may be set at a warm 70ºF, but you’ll feel chilled sitting near an ordinary window. Some of that chill may be due to air leaking through its cracks, but some is also due to the radiant heat loss of your warm body to that cold glass. If your windows are skinny single-panes, the room-side surface of that glass is only 14ºF when it’s 0ºF outside! If you have ordinary double-pane glass, the room-side glass temperature will be about 41ºF. But with low-emissivity glass, the room side surface will be 51ºF. For all its benefits, super glass doesn’t cost much more than standard windows. Winter or summer, you’ll notice sizable advantages with this glass. Another type of super glass is known as Heat Mirror. It’s based on the same principle of reducing radiant heat loss, but in this case the metallic coating is deposited on a clear plastic film, which is then suspended between two panes of glass. You get a window with two benefits: (1) the insulating value of a triple-pane window, and (2) the low-emissivity coating for an R-value of about 4.2. Heat Mirror was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s, partly with federal funds, and has been in production since 1981. It is sold to various window makers, who incorporate it into their lines. When shopping for super glass, look for the longest warranty and the lowest U-value. Window literature generally rates energy performance in terms of U-value. The U-values of super glass vary, depending on the glass manufacturer and the type of coating. The coating can be applied to glass in two ways: by a "pyrolitic" method, while the glass is still molten, and by a "vacuum" method, once the glass is hard. The vacuum method results in a better U-value, but creates handling problems for window manufacturers, and cannot be placed in storm windows. Stop by your local glass dealer for more complete information about how to make your home more efficient, cost effectively. Some information was researched on the world wide web. Enjoy more good stuff next month…

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Bob Crager

2010-03-01 08:47:00

Question: I feel pretty smart about “smart glass”, thanks to you. You wrote 2 or 3 years ago about military bullet proof glass, and I started to think about bullet proof glass…my son was in Iraq, and is now in Afghanistan…any improvements I should know about since then?

Answer: As a matter of fact, there are some improvements you should know about, and thanks for the question. Let’s start with the heavy Humvees used in Iraq for patrolling the roads. The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) is a military 4WD motor vehicle created by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles formerly served by smaller type vehicles in previous wars and skirmishes. In those humvees, I wrote that the windows were being built of a “one way bullet resistant glass that allowed the troops to return fire through the glass while being protected by that same glass from hostile enemy fire from the outside. It’s called “unidirectional” armor. It’s unconventional, and is well suited for unconventional warfare, (ied’s) as well as uncommon tactical situations. In some situations, there is just no other option but to shoot back at the attackers through the one way glass in order to make the chance for survival a little better. Today, in places like Afghanistan, where there is a lot more mountainous terrain where the fighting is taking place, our soldiers have begun driving vehicles that offer more protection than ever before, with highly protective windows for what is actually a military patrol all terrain vehicle, or ATV. The Defense Department awarded a contract to an American company in Indiana to build the windows for the lighter weight armored windows in these vehicles. Sometimes it appears that the government awards these kinds of contracts to companies overseas, but sometimes the contract is awarded to an American company on the soil of the homeland. Refreshing, huh? There are actually over 1500 Indiana companies that are engaged with agencies such as the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, as well as the aerospace programs managed by NASA, with contracts totaling more than 5.1 billion dollars. Not bad for our Indiana friends. A lot of these workers have family and friends serving in the military overseas right now, and they feel good about being involved in making products to help keep them safer. The mine resistant, ambush protected ATV’s are being built by a Wisconsin company, which was responsible for selecting the companies to build the component parts of the vehicles, such as the windows, which are transparent glass-ceramic products, offering the highest protection for the troops with the lowest weight. Weight is a critical factor for the M-ATV’s. Mine resistant and ambush protected, humvee vehicles were first developed for U.S. troops in Iraq, however, the 40,000 pound vehicles were difficult to maneuver in the rugged, mountainous landscape of Afghanistan. As a result, the lighter, 25,000 pound M-ATVs were developed, which required all parts of the vehicle to provide high performance at a lower weight, including the windows. The people inside the vehicle can, obviously, see out, but also be protected from whatever type of bullets, IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) or other kinds of threats the enemy could be using against them. Another innovative feature that helped this company’s transparent armor stand out from competitors is its compatibility with soldiers’ night vision equipment. The materials used in other transparent armor filter out infrared light, so the night vision systems aren’t useful from inside the vehicles. “But this transparent armor is highly transparent at the infrared range, so you can see what’s going on outside the vehicle using night vision equipment. And that is a really big step forward.” These specialty windows also filter out UV light, which can severely damage window systems in a short amount of time. This is especially important for the M-ATVs to withstand Afghanistan’s desert climate, greatly prolonging the windows’ lifetime and durability. The company manufacturing the M-ATVs originally received orders for about 5,200 M-ATVs, but recently announced an additional 1,000 orders. Some industry analysts believe, with conflict in Afghanistan intensifying and the likelihood of increasing the number of U.S. troops, orders for the M-ATVs could eventually approach 10,000. Time will tell that story. The US Army and Marine Corps are receiving the new vehicles, and they will hopefully protect the lives of U.S. soldiers in the line of danger. A little off the subject of “smart glass”, but interesting none the less…some information was researched on the world wide web…More next month…

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Bob Crager

2010-02-01 08:42:00

Question: Can I get smart window glass in my commercial building or my home without actually replacing all of my existing windows?

Answer: There’s a good chance you can do that. If you missed last month’s article, go back and re read that so you’ll be up to speed with us this month. There are some companies around that have the ability to upgrade existing windows with “suspended particle device” glass, where you would have the technology within your grasp to control, with remote, or other automatic devices, the “powering on” of your windows for a clear view outside. You might wonder how energy efficient it could be to have to “power on” your windows to get a clear view outside. Well, it’s been said that you can power about 15 or 16 large suspended particle device windows in your home, for example, for less electricity than it takes to provide the power to run a simple night light. Photocells and other sensing devices can be used to control the level of light automatically. These SPD’s (suspended particle devices) can also be used for a lot of other consumer products, like sun visors, sunroofs, rearview mirrors, and flat panel displays for your computers. SPD technology isn’t the only smart-window technology on the block. Liquid crystals have been in use for years, and electrochromics essentially performs the same functions as suspended particles. Let’s look briefly here at these two technologies. Windows are undergoing a change the likes of which haven’t been seen since the horizontal mini-blind was developed 50 years ago. Soon, curtains and window blinds could be obsolete. SPD technology is certainly one of the reasons for this window revolution, but other competing technologies like liquid crystals are responsible, too. You are probably familiar with liquid crystals, which are found in many of the products you use every day. Portable computers, calculators, digital clocks and watches, and microwave ovens all use liquid crystal displays (LCDs). In these displays, electricity is used to change the shape of the liquid crystals to allow light to pass through, thus forming figures and numbers on the display. The technology behind an LCD is similar to the polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) used in some smart-window applications. In these windows, the liquid crystals respond to an electrical charge by aligning parallel and letting light through. When the electrical charge is absent, the liquid crystals in the window are randomly oriented. With liquid crystals, the glass is either clear or translucent. There are no intermediate settings. PDLCs are not a developing technology. In fact, they can already be found in offices and homes around the globe. Because it can achieve a translucent setting, PDLC technology is great for homes and offices -- you get privacy without sacrificing all light. PDLCs and suspended particle devices require power for their smart windows to be transparent. A different smart window technology is in development that would reverse the process. So what else is in store for the future of smart windows? The future is really bright for the smart window technology, both commercially and residentially, due simply to the amazing array of applications for these relatively new windows. For example, the electrochromic windows darken when voltage is added and are transparent when voltage is taken away. Like suspended particle devices, electrochromic windows can be adjusted to allow varying levels of visibility. They are not an all-or-nothing technology like liquid crystals. Electrochromic windows center around special materials that have electrochromic properties. Electrochromic” describes materials that can change color when energized by an electrical current. Essentially, electricity kicks off a chemical reaction in this sort of material. This reaction (like any chemical reaction) changes the properties of the material. In this case, the reaction changes the way the material reflects and absorbs light. In some electrochromic materials, the change is between different colors. In electrochromic windows, the material changes between colored (reflecting light of some color) and transparent (not reflecting any light). At its most basic level, an electrochromic window needs this sort of electrochromic material and an electrode system to change its chemical state from colored to transparent and back again. There are several different ways to do this, employing different materials and electrode systems. Like other smart windows, electrochromic windows are made by sandwiching certain materials between two panes of glass. Here are the materials inside one basic electrochromic window system and the order you will find them in: 1) Glass or plastic panel 2) Conducting oxide 3) Electrochromic layer, such as tungsten oxide 4) Ion conductor/electrolyte 5) Ion storage 6) A second layer of conducting oxide 7) A second glass or plastic panel In this design, the chemical reaction at work is an oxidation reaction -- a reaction in which molecules in a compound lose an electron. Ions in the sandwiched electrochromic layer are what allow it to change from opaque to transparent. It’s these ions that allow it to absorb light. A power source is wired to the two conducting oxide layers, and a voltage drives the ions from the ion storage layer, through the ion conducting layer and into the electrochromic layer. This makes the glass opaque. By shutting off the voltage, the ions are driven out of the electrochromic layers and into the ion storage layer. When the ions leave the electrochromic layer, the window regains its transparency. Interesting, huh? Some information was researched on the worldwideweb…More next month...

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Bob Crager

2009-12-01 10:17:00

Question: My husband and I recently inherited an older home from his aunt. It is a beautiful, older home but is in need of repair. We are deciding what to do about the windows. He thought he remembered an article you wrote some years ago on things to do and to watch for. Can you run that by us again?

Answer: Thank you. It is always a good feeling when people read my articles, but when they remember them…it’s even better. Replacing cracked window panes in an older home can be tricky, especially if you’re trying to preserve the integrity and look of a home that was built, say, around the turn of the last century. But it is possible to tackle this job and win. The key is to be very careful in removing the old panes so that you don’t destroy the wood. Sometimes the wood is less than pristine. You should determine that the wood frames are solid and worthy of being retained. If they are, then you can use a knife to remove the old glazing around the glass, and take the pieces to your local window glass dealer, and have the new panes cut to fit. If the panes are totally broken out, measure the dimensions carefully from side to side, then up and down, to determine the size of panes you will need. With summer heat just around the corner, now is a good time to fix leaky window panes, and the frames, unless they are deteriorated beyond repair. A lot of heat and cool air goes right out the leaky frames of windows and doors of older homes. These are the weakest link in your home’s energy loss chain. Vast amounts of your energy loss goes right through the windows of your home. Sometimes we get requests for changing out the old single pane glass windows with new double pane insulated glass. Using your existing frames, this can be a tall order, because the original windows were made to accommodate a single pane of glass, normally an eighth of an inch thick…whereas an insulated glass component is normally about a half inch thick, and would require mortising out the frames to receive the thicker insulated unit. Typically, absent a lot of experience at doing this kind of retrofit job, a novice can mess it up beyond repair. Clear insulated glass usually runs in the neighborhood of $10 per square foot, whereas the upgraded insulated “low-e” glass runs on up into the $14 per square foot range or higher. The alternative is to replace the entire window unit with a new insulated unit…the downside is that you normally will lose the original look of the turn-of-the-century architecture of the home. It all depends upon the outcome you desire. Sometimes saving money wins out over preserving the look…sometimes it’s the other way around. Your local window glass dealer can assist you in deciding what is best for your particular situation, and will provide the expertise to get the job done right for whatever outcome you want for your home.

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Bob Crager

2009-11-01 15:55:00

Question: Last winter I had lots of water running and dripping on the inside of my windows...what is the cause of that?

Answer: There are several things that can cause that condensation of water on the inside of your windows. First, everyone who has lived in a cold climate has, at one time or another, seen this moisture situation develop. Sometimes, it’s even in the form of frost or ice. When warm indoor air cools below its dewpoint, then liquid water will condense on the glass. Normally it starts out looking like the glass is fogged over, but left unchecked, it will complete the cycle and evolve into water droplets, sliding down the glass. It usually develops around the edges of your window glass, because that’s where most of the multiple pane glazing is held apart by conductive spacers. The material the spacer is made from has an effect on the rate that heat moves through the edge of the window. A lot of window makers now offer “warm edge spacers” as standard equipment. Aluminum spacers are not as acceptable. The best windows use less conductive materials, such as thin stainless steel, plastic, foam, or rubber. Warm edge spacers can improve the U value of a window by 10%, while boosting the edge temperature by around 5 degrees Fahrenheit, thereby reducing or eliminating that condensation from your glass. On the older wood windows, it’s very important not to allow condensation to run down and accumulate on the sill or the window frame all winter long. Wood rot doesn’t care where it lives, and it will live at your house if you don’t pay close enough attention to this advice. Vinyl windows have been around since being introduced in the 1960’s. Originally, these windows were actually vinyl clad, meaning that they were wood windows with a vinyl covering. As manufacturing processes developed, the true vinyl window came about. Vinyl windows today are formed from dies, and cut and welded together. The frame and sash components are completely vinyl. The vinyl can be dyed during the manufacturing process to produce a virtual rainbow of colors, although the most common ones are white and tan. Good vinyl is very weather resistant and lasts years longer than the aluminum or wood models. Replacement windows can also offer some substantial savings in your energy usage. As always, you get what you pay for, and your local glass dealer can help instruct you as to what glass or windows will accomplish your goals for your house. Ask your glass dealer about the ratings that you need to be aware of so you can be sure to get the right windows. The U factor of a window indicates the heat loss of that window assembly. The lower the U factor, the better the insulating value. On the other hand, SHGC stands for the solar heat gain rating, and indicates how much solar energy passes through the window. Again, a lower number is better. Vinyl replacement windows can achieve up to three times better ratings than standard wood windows. Vinyl is energy efficient, durable, rot proof, insect proof and weather resistant. It’s made with chemicals that inhibit UV-degradation. Vinyl is colored throughout and requires no painting. If you choose vinyl frames, specify light colors and heat-welded corners. Heat-welded corners hold up best over time. The pigments that are used in paint are almost identical to those used in vinyl, but vinyl’s color goes all the way through. It can still fade a little, but a little rubdown with Soft Scrub or one of recommended cleaners will bring vinyl back to its original brilliance. Fiberglass-frame windows are showing up in a few product lines. Fiberglass is extremely strong, and because it is made of glass fibers, the frames and the glass expand at the same rate. Fiberglass must be painted and is more expensive than vinyl. Owens Corning, Andersen and Marvin are three major manufacturers that produce fiberglass windows. Owens Corning is the only manufacturer that makes fiberglass windows with insulated frames. But before you get too excited, the whole-window U-value for a low-E argon-filled casement window carries the same 0.32 rating for both an uninsulated vinyl and an insulated fiberglass unit. Aluminum-frame windows are durable, requiring little maintenance. However, they are energy siphons and shouldn’t be used where energy efficiency is a consideration. Another cause of condensation on the window glass can be your humidifier. You can’t just turn some older humidifiers on in the fall and let them run without attention. If you have a water supply valve, controlling the flow of water to your humidifier, you might have to adjust that water flow to slow down the condensation on the glass surfaces in your home. Too much water flowing through the unit can add to the condensation you’ll see on your windows. Also, there are filters in some humidifiers that require some maintenance or replacement. The range of window options available today is staggering. But a working knowledge of the terms and these few guidelines should make choosing windows a little less intimidating. See your local glass dealer for help in buying and installing the best windows for your home or office building. Happy Holidays! More next month...

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Bob Crager

2009-10-01 15:50:00

Question: We have followed your suggestions of the last couple of months in getting our home’s windows sealed up and ready for winter. We are at retirement age. Is there a list of additional things we can do now so as to be ready for other unexpected cold weather events and their repercussions?

Answer: Good question! Can you believe how quickly summer ended and fall weather and temperatures started this year? Overall we had a relatively moderate summer, but this early cold snap in the latter part of September could be the precursor of some chilly things to come. Unless of course that you believe in “global warming”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that... I’ve always believed that it is better, if possible, to prepare for events in advance of their occurrence, rather than having to try to react quickly to something that caught me unawares. So if your windows and doors are in good shape, and before it gets so cold that you want to stay indoors most of the time, here are some things that might help you to “be prepared” a little in advance! I would take a little trip to the hardware store and pick up some ice melt, or alternatively, rock salt, for melting ice that might accumulate on your porch, driveway, and/or sidewalks. Remember last year how everyone was “sold out” of ice melt, right when you needed it the most? A few bags of sand on hand for improving traction on ice can also be helpful. Check your snow shovel supply to see if you need to replace that old shovel. A snow blower in the Wichita area is possibly “overkill”, but if we get a few deeper than normal snows, in hindsight, you might be very glad you bought one prior to that happening. Also, if you recall, not so very long ago, we had winter ice storms that isolated a lot of Wichita area residents in their homes for several days in some instances. Make sure you have stored up some alternative heating fuels in the event that normal fuel sources get cut off. Do not fail to take the necessary safety precautions regarding alternative heating sources, or you’ll find your name popping up in the papers and on television news reports as a fire victim. You don’t want that! Store up a good supply of dry seasoned hard firewood for your fireplace or wood burning stove. If you’ve done a good job of winterizing your home against the elements, you’ll actually extend the life of your alternative fuels supplies by eliminating the loss of the heat you paid to heat passing through your walls or windows. Check out and correct the amount and condition of your attic insulation, and if you don’t already have storm windows, you might want to consider installing those right now, so they can begin paying for themselves through energy savings! Clear your rain gutters, repair any roof leaks, and cut back low hanging tree branches that may be rubbing on your shingles or siding, or are in a position to fall onto your house or vehicles if they break under the added weight of snow or ice. If you have a back yard building, you might consider winterizing that so that it could provide emergency shelter for extra members of your family, neighbors, livestock, or equipment. Check your freeze plugs on your exterior faucets for leaks, and install new washers if you discover that they leak. Insulate exposed pipes, and install heat tapes on those that have a propensity or even a possibility to freeze up in cold weather. Check out your fire extinguishers, and conduct an exercise with your family members in their proper use. Winter house fires pose additional risks to your family, as the alternative heating sources are used. Learn where your main water shutoff valve for your house is, and make certain it is operable, in the event that you have a waterpipe burst. Go ahead and ascertain now what you might need to do to assist a family member, neighbor, or disabled friend or any other disabled person living near you if they’re in need of your help in brutal cold weather. Have your car made ready by having a mechanic check out your antifreeze fluid levels and make sure it won’t freeze up. Check the battery and ignition system, brakes, and exhaust system. Know that carbon monoxide is very deadly and usually gives no warning to a victim. Check your fuel and air filters, heater and defroster, do a complete light check, pull the oil stick and make sure the weight is right on that, and make sure the thermostat is working properly. Windshield wipers and fluid are important in the winter time. Make sure you have all weather radial tires with good tread on all, and that they are properly inflated. Make sure you always have at least a half tank of gas during the winter season. Place a winter emergency kit in each of your cars that includes the following: a shovel, a windshield scraper and small broom, flashlight batteries, battery powered radio with extra batteries, water, snacks, food, matches, extra hats, socks and mittens, first aid kit with pocket knife, necessary medications, blankets, a tow chain or rope, road salt and sand, booster cables, emergency flares, fluorescent distress flag. If you must go outside in brutal cold weather, make certain you call someone in your family and tell them what you’re doing and where you’re going. Wear several layers of loose-fitting, warm clothes, rather than one layer of outer heavy clothing. The outer garments you do wear should be tightly woven and water repellent. Mittens are warmer than some gloves, wear a good hat, and cover your mouth with a scarf to protect your lungs. If you complete this group of preparation items, you should be in pretty good shape for the upcoming cold weather season. Thanks for the question, and we’ll have more good info next month...

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Bob Crager

2009-09-01 14:47:00

Question: Last month we talked about answers to the question: “My house is an older house and I’m starting to think my windows are my biggest problem! The AC is running full blast, and it’s HOT in here...what should I do?” Let’s continue!

Answer: We told you last month about the first 3 of the 4 major ways that the windows in your home gain and lose heat…in other words, how you gain or lose heat through the glass of your home to the inside or to the outside. They are conduction, convection, and radiant heat transfer. This time we’re going to cover the 4th way this transfer of energy happens, air leakage. Air leakage siphons about half of an average home’s energy, used for heating and cooling, to the outside, mostly through the windows. Well designed windows have durable weather stripping and high quality closing devices that will normally block air leakage. Hinged windows, such as casements and awnings, clamp tighter against the weather stripping than double hung windows. However, the difference is slight. Well designed and constructed double hung windows are more than acceptable. Air leakage is also affected by how well the pieces of the window unit are joined together. Glass to frame, frame to frame, and sash to frame connections must be tight. When you’re replacing your windows, technical specs should list values for air leakage as “cubic feet per minute” per square foot of window glass. You should look for windows with certified air leakage rates of less than 0.30 cubic feet per minute/ft2. Lower values are best. In the colder part of the year, we welcome the sun’s heat and light most of the time, and once we are able to capture that heat, we don’t want to give it up. In a warm climate, we might not want the heat, but we do want the light. Recent advances in window technology have let us have our cake and eat it too! Only a fraction, less than half of the sun’s energy is visible to us. Longer wavelengths, those beyond the red part of the visible spectrum, are known as infrared, which is felt as heat. Shorter wavelengths, those beyond purple, are known as ultraviolet, or UV. When the sun’s energy shines on a window, visible light, heat, and ultraviolet light rays, are either reflected, absorbed, or transmitted into the interior of the building. There are windows that “selectively” block fabric or upholstery fading ultraviolet light, which as we said is felt as heat. Windows that block most of the UV and infrared rays while admitting visible light work well in the cooler climates. In hot climates, we have low-e glass coatings, which are transparent metallic oxides that reflect up to 90% of the long wave heat energy, while passing shorter wave, visible light on through. This helps keep your house or building cooler in the summer months. So remember, in cold climates, the coatings we’re speaking of reflect the long wave radiant heat back into the house while admitting visible light. The floors, walls and furniture absorb the shorter wavelength visible light, and then reradiates from them as long wave heat energy that the reflective low-e coating keeps inside the building. Low-e coatings work best in warm climates when you apply them to the internal surface of the interior panes. Conversely, in colder weather climates, they work better when applied to the inter pane surface of the exterior panes. Low-e coatings improve the insulating value of a window just about equal to adding an additional pane of glass. When you combine low-e coatings with low conductance gas fillings, like argon or krypton, you can boost your energy efficiency by nearly 100% over clear glass. Those inert gases will leak from the window over time, usually about 10% over 20 years, but they are “inert”, and not dangerous to you. And that reduction of gas only reduces the U value of the unit by only a few percentage points. The initial added cost for low-e coatings and low conductance gas fillings is only about 15% of the window’s overall cost…not much of a decision at all. Let’s talk briefly about VT (visible transmittance) of windows. Windows with higher “visible transmittance” are very easy to see through, and admit natural daylight. They can also save your energy because with windows like these, you need less artificial light in the room. Some of the tints and coatings that block heat also reduce visible transmission, so you want to be careful in these selection combinations. Some manufacturers list the “VT”s of windows as comparisons with the amount of visible light that would pass through an open hole in the wall the same size as the window. Sometimes they refer to “VT” as a “whole window” value, including the effect of the frame. Since it’s important to be able to see through the glass and not the frame, be sure the “VT” in residential glass windows extends from a shady 15% for some tinted glass up to about 90% for clear glass. To most people, glass with “VT” values above 60% looks clear, where values below 50% begins to look dark and/or reflective. It can even make a difference if you look through glass at an angle, which can change the way it looks to you. It’s best to look at a sample of the glass outdoors before you decide to order the window. See your local glass dealer for specific information about all of the considerations in buying your next window replacements. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2009-08-01 12:16:00

Question: My house is an older house and I’m starting to think my windows are my biggest problem! The AC is running full blast, and it’s HOT in here...What should I do?

Answer: This time of year is really brutal with the 100 plus degree heat, but what you don’t recognize as much is that those same windows, if not properly maintained, are hurting you the same way in the coldest part of the winter too! You see, the windows in your home, or even in your commercial building, are like “thermal holes”. On average, you can lose over 30 percent of your heating and/or air conditioning through those openings called windows! That’s a lot! There are some great alternatives to your situation, such as completely replacing with some new energy efficient windows. That’s a move that will begin immediately to save you money nearly every single day. New windows can be “net energy gainers”, and the average payback period for replacing with these new windows is between 24 months to as much as 120 months. If you were building a new home, the higher initial investment can usually be offset due to the fact that you’ll probably need a smaller, less expensive heating and cooling system. In any case, more durable windows could cost you less in the long run because of lower maintenance and replacement costs. To say nothing of the elevated creature comforts you’ll enjoy while you live there. When you’re considering new glass windows, appearance and initial cost are the two considerations you’ll want the information on first. In other words, which window that you like the style of costs the least? It’s pretty certain that if you could visualize your energy losses for the year the same way you can see colors and shapes, your first consideration would be the window’s energy performance. That would top your list of considerations. You see, your windows gain and lose heat by four ways. Those are conduction, convection, radiation and leaking! Let’s talk for a minute about those. Conduction is where heat moves through a solid material. Touch a hot skillet, and what you feel is heat conducted from the stove through the metal skillet. Heat flows through window glass in much the same way. You can impede the heat flow with less conductive material. For instance, multiple glazed windows trap low conductance gas, such as argon, between the panes of glass. The edge spacers and window frames are thermally resistant components, and reduce conduction as well. Convection is another way that heat moves through glass windows. When your furnace is running in the cold part of the year, your heated indoor air comes up against the interior surface of your window glass. The air cools, becomes more dense, and falls toward the floor. As this air drops, warmer air rushes in to take its place on the surface of the glass. This cycle, known as a “convective loop”, is self perpetuating. You feel this movement of air as a “cold draft”, and turn up the thermostat. The bad news is that each degree of increase in your thermostat setting increases your energy use by 2 percent! Multiple panes of glass, known as “thermopanes”, separated by the low conductance gas fillings and warm edge spacers, when combined with thermally resistant window frames, raise your inboard glass temperatures, slow down the convection, and improve your creature comforts! Radiant heat transfer is the movement of “long-wave heat energy” from a warmer body to a cooler body. This transfer is the “warm feeling on your face” when you stand next to a wood stove. Conversely, your face feels cool when it radiates its heat to a cold sheet of window glass. Radiant heat loss is more than just a “perception”. Clear glass absorbs heat and re-radiates it to the outdoors. There are some things that can be done to greatly reduce these losses. We’ll talk next month about the 4th method of heat transfer, which is air leakage, and some methods of helping your situation in all of these circumstances. This time of year, you just cannot afford to not pay attention to how much of your money is flowing right out of your glass surfaces and disappearing into thin air! Thanks for your attention…more next month.

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Bob Crager

2009-07-01 12:05:00

Question: I’m restoring an antique truck, and wondered if replacement glass is available for that kind of job?

Answer: The short answer is…usually, one way or another. When you’re restoring an antique truck or automobile, whether for competitive car shows or just for a “driver” that glass work can help determine whether you’re in the winner’s circle, or just another “pretty nice old truck or car” The glass is usually available for most of these vehicles, as we said, one way or another, and making sure you have the proper glass can give your car or truck that final touch you’re looking for. Let’s talk about a couple of terms used in the vehicle restoration game. In automotive terminology, O.E.M. means original equipment manufacturer. This would be the manufacturing company that produced the part for the car originally. An O.E. supplier would reference a manufacturer of a part for original equipment use, but not necessarily on a “particular” car. Example… LOF/Pilkington, which was the main OEM and supplier of glass in the corvette, but also, PPG (Pittsburg Plate Glass), established in 1883, being an OEM supplier of other GM cars and trucks, could be used and would be considered an OE supplier. Therefore a PPG windshield in a Corvette is considered original equipment glass. N.O.S. is “New Old Stock” This would be an original part produced for use on a vehicle of that vintage, and usually carries the O.E. part number such as a dealer would use. N.O.S.R. is “New Old Reproduction Stock” These are parts reproduced for use in vehicles that original parts (N.O.S.) are in short supply or not available at all. Vehicles from about 1920 to about 1965 will normally have a lot of “flat glass” which is either laminated and/or tempered. Beginning in about 1948, through the ‘80’s, you’ll have a lot of “curved” or “bent” glass windows. From about 1939 through 1950, the dash glass for the instrument panels was usually “flat” glass. And the T tops utilizing glass were produced from about 1973 to sometime into the 1990’s. There was a lot of flat glass used in the early years, and as we said, it was sold and advertised as “laminated safety glass. Then as you got on into the ‘60’s and into the ‘70’s, the manufacturers moved mostly into what was known as “tempered glass.” Tempered glass was available in either clear, or a standard green-tinted glass color. When you get into the antique vehicles that utilized a lot of “curved glass” for the windows, you begin to find that these windows are getting pretty rare and hard to find. When you need replacement glass for these, you’ll see that it is becoming pretty much in short supply, due to the fact that the glass manufacturers who make reproduction glass like this produce very little of it because they don’t have a lot of calls for it. Supply and demand controls the market there. A good local full-service glass dealer just may be able to help you locate that unique piece of glass you’ll need to fully restore that antique vehicle. So go ahead and take those fenders and bodies down to the bare metal, have them powder coated, primed, and layer on those finish coats of paint or lacquer. But don’t stop after you’ve chromed all the brake lines, carburetors, and other parts and re-covered all the interior surfaces. Make a stop by your local full service glass dealer’s location, and order those new window glass replacements and dash instrument flat glass. Finish that job up right! Some information researched on the world wide web…More next month.

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Bob Crager

2009-05-01 11:45:00

Question: My office is located in downtown Wichita, in a pretty tall building…with lots of glass windows and doors. How can I protect myself from broken glass if a tornado hits downtown Wichita?

Answer: First things first…there is an old Indian “myth” that the 2 rivers, the big and little Arkansas Rivers, that are located in Wichita will prevent a tornado from hitting the downtown area of Wichita. Do not, and I will repeat, do not, use that as your guide, because if you do, you’re going to be putting your life at risk at some point, and I don’t think proving or disproving a “myth” is a good choice. If there is a warning that a tornado is on its way to your location, don’t wait for its arrival to learn that you should have made your getaway much sooner. And let me just tell you that there is no glass window or door that I am aware of that can stand up to a powerful tornado’s wind! Most well constructed buildings that are considered low risk for high wind cannot stand up to a tornado. So, it stands to reason that if the integrity of the building itself is at risk, the windows and doors are certainly at risk as well. The damage caused by an Oklahoma/Kansas tornado can be devastating, as evidenced by the storms that have hit the Wichita and surrounding area numerous times in the last 5 or 6 decades. Haysville, Andover, and McConnell AFB have all been bulls eye targets of some pretty powerful tornadoes in recent times, with people being killed and injured seriously in all of those storms. Broken glass shards and other flying debris that is being thrown through the air at speeds up to and above 200 mph are deadly to anything living that is in the path of these windstorms. Cattle, domestic animals, horses, and people are killed just about every time a tornado strikes a town or city, and even as it makes its way across what appears to be open countryside, or pastures out on the farms. All of these things happened recently in the Greensburg tornado that totally and completely wiped out that town and the surrounding rural areas. Evacuation in advance of the approaching tornado is the best option. If you elect to stay in your office building, you are taking unnecessary chances with your life, and the lives of those in your care. A great video of the tornado from the upper floors of your office building isn’t worth your life, so don’t do that! There are lots of relatively recent innovations that are designed to help the glass windows and doors resist the high winds of hurricanes and/or tornadoes that are somewhat effective to prevent flying glass shards. A process of “layering” helps hold window glass together during these events. Powerful inter layers, laminated between two pieces of glass under heat and pressure give a resulting piece of glass that looks and functions like a single piece, or ordinary glass, but is stronger and tougher than even standard laminated glass. It’s a convenient and cost-effective application for architects and building owners who demand the highest level of protection from very high windstorms. A tough building standard known as ASTM E 1996 Level E was designed to protect buildings and the people inside them down in Florida when evacuation, in advance of a Hurricane, is not an option. The standard requires a glazing system to withstand impact by a nine-pound 2x4 fired at 80 feet per second, which is a step up from what’s called “standard large missile”, or Level D, which requires material to resist a 9-pound 2x4 fired at 50 feet per second. Having said this, if you are located anywhere in “Tornado Alley”, the best idea is for you to run, don’t walk, away from your office building, to an actual tornado shelter that can save your life, when the first hint of a tornado heading your way is broadcast. Lives are lost every year by people not taking these storms seriously enough, soon enough. No matter how strong any man-made structure is, there have been lots of examples that nature and her wrathful storms can completely destroy anything we can build. Winds, either twisting or the straight line variety, water, hail, any and all of these weather components can devastate nearly anything in the path that they’re traveling. Due to the unknown predictability of some weather elements, such as the direction of high winds relative to their approach to a particular structure, any building can be destroyed to some degree by the storms that pass through the area. Since a house or a single building will normally be blown apart in even an indirect hit from a tornado, the winds upon approaching that structure will have much the same appearance of a straight line wind, as opposed to a “twisting” effect. If you’ve ever had the experience of living through a tornado personally, you’ll know that you never want to be inside one of those again...they’re scary enough at a distance. We’re coming into the new tornado season in Kansas, so get armed with the information that can save your life now...and don’t fail to get yourself and your loved ones into an adequate shelter when those storms are approaching...if concrete, wood, and steel will be destroyed, glass windows and doors will too! More next month...

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Glass

Bob Crager

2009-05-01 11:45:00

Question: Can our building be secured if we install new front commercial glass doors for a new look to our business?

Answer: From security and ease of access, to aesthetics and first impressions, interior and exterior commercial glass doors play an important role in the success of business operations. Commercial glass doors not only provide the public’s first impression of your business, but they also serve such purposes as managing traffic flow, securing your work environments, and climate control. With regard to security in the workplace, the risks to your business, resources, people, and other assets need to be properly assessed to determine exactly what those risks are, and how to address them and their importance in the pecking order. Having said that, actual security involves many more different aspects today than just the materials your building is constructed from. There are many, many commercial and other business structures that utilize lots of glass components in their construction, and it works out just great in nearly every case. In fact, glass has become one of the most desirable ways to enhance the workplace environment for many business owners in recent years. The type of business and what the possible losses might be would necessarily have to be an integral part of the risk assessment process we mentioned before. For example, in the case of a retail store, the hours of operation, and whether it is a 24/7 operation as opposed to just being open part of the day or evening, as well as the type and number of employees and customers on-site and when, are all questions to be asked and answered. If the location is closed parts of the day or night, and the premises locked down and secured, then the problem of security includes all the ways that a possible perpetrator might attempt to compromise your building or other assets. If your business is always open, then the interests shift to other areas of importance. In an office building, there are so many different ways to accomplish the security of the people and the property that they can’t be effectively conveyed in an article such as this. In today’s world, commercial glass doors and windows have been designed to make up some very attractive atrium style entrances and interior spaces for many buildings, bringing the outdoors inside, and making the interiors feel so wonderful! Banks and other financial institutions normally utilize lots of glass in their buildings. Glass can be made into significant building components, including ballistic glass, bulletproof glass, and even the layered glass that effectively prevents glass shards from a high wind being blown into people, animals, and anything else in its path, causing grievous injuries or death, as we mentioned last month. Tints in many different colors, low e glass for ultra violet protection…the list goes on and on…so in answer to your question, your local glass dealer is the place for you to begin your process of assessment to dramatically change and improve the commercial work spaces for you and your people. As far as security goes, glass, as it is installed today, will not compromise your security in any meaningful way…In fact, I believe you’ll enjoy all of the benefits that installing more glass will give you in your workplace! More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2009-04-01 14:39:00

Question: We have the old aluminum 6’ sliding glass doors in our house...how hard would it be to take that out and put in a new set of French doors?

Answer: Oui Oui...it’s done all the time! French doors historically appear to have originated in France, as you might have guessed, at the latter end of the Renaissance period of art and architecture, with a growth of popularity rising in France and then in Germany. Today those French doors have become a design element in America second to none...well, maybe second to granite countertops in the kitchens! A French door is also known as a French window, and refers to a door that has multiple windows set into it, for the full length of the door. These windows are also known as “lites”, and are rather popular in both new and existing homes for allowing the maximum amount of light to enter and permeate throughout a home. French doors not only look wonderful in all rooms, but add value to your home. They allow you the option of closing off a room from the rest of the house, but still allow you to have extra light coming into a room. This is a nice and acceptable compromise between the open floor plans that people want, and the need for quiet areas in the home. Traditionally, French doors are constructed with multiple individual sections of glass and mullions. Mullions are the dividing bars between the window lites, or panels. French Doors are also known as true divided lite French doors, or a TDL. A true divided lite means that each pane (lite) of glass that is used in constructing your door is built in separately. This means that if you order a ten lite door it will be built with ten separate lites inserted independently into their own mullions. Some manufacturers use a single lite, covering the entire length of the door, and then add a cheap snap in or glue on ornamental grid trying to pass it off as a true divided lite door. They’re not the same, so don’t be fooled with the imitations. Back to your question. By all means, update your home with the newer décor elements. The French door upgrade is certainly a wonderful addition to your home, and if you do doors and windows right, those could be the very sound reasons why someone would decide to buy your home over several others. At a minimum, the upgrades on windows and doors will give you a lot of additional comfort while you live there. The older sliders are usually a maintenance issue if they’ve been there any time at all, like since the 70’s or 80’s. The rollers become worn, the door starts to drag, and it gets harder and harder to make enough adjustments to allow the door to run open and closed smoothly anymore, to say nothing of the lost energy from the old door not fitting properly anymore. You usually can’t slide the screen open and closed easily either. When the door gets to this condition, it’s time to do something different. And if your door is indeed one of the older type sliders, most of them lose their seals along the way, causing the fogging you see on the glass, and it’s not really very efficient to try to make a repair by replacing the glass and insert, plus the roller mechanisms with new parts. Either a new sliding glass door, or a French door would be a better choice. Many times, when you start noticing that the slider is in bad repair for all the reasons they get in bad repair, you should probably spend a little time checking out your windows too. Windows have a “lifespan”, just like sliding glass doors, and whether the weather is ice cold outside, or it’s a sweltering dawg days of summer period, the windows are the single biggest source of loss/gain of heat, assuming you have sufficient insulation in your attic and walls for the job at hand. When the windows begin to loosen up, dry rot can set in, and you can end up with an expensive energy loss problem, and not be aware of it if you’re not paying attention to it. Window replacement, with good high quality windows, is just a smart thing to do all the way around. Keeping your home in top condition will make a huge difference in the event that you need to sell your home at some point. If you’re not sure about that, go out and tour some open houses conducted by Realtors on Sunday afternoons, and see what a difference new, or like new, windows make in your overall perception of the home. If the windows and sills are not in great condition, it has a very negative effect on the potential buyers that view that home. Whether you need residential or commercial information, your local glass dealer can give you some good direction and guidance with regard to repairing or replacing your windows and/or doors for you. They’ll advise you about things like Low e glass, tinted glass, double or triple paned windows, French doors or sliders...all kinds of your glass questions will be answered. Springtime is now upon us, and you should make a call to find out if you need to be concerned about your windows and doors this year! Some info was researched on the worldwideweb… More interesting glass stuff next month...

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Glass

Bob Crager

2009-02-01 14:22:00

Question: I’ve been hearing about “flat glass” for windows that is also “smart glass”…what do you know about it?

Answer: About 5 years ago, the estimated flat glass market was to be in the range of about $40 Billion per year…not a bad range at all when you think about it! Of that, the window market for homes and businesses, whether new builds or replacement windows, was estimated to be about $15 Billion in just the United States. Worldwide, the window market is about $30 to 45 Billion dollars a year. The worldwide glass market for all automotive and truck type vehicles combined was estimated to be about $4 Billion a year. Sunglasses and ski goggles make up a market of about $9 Billion a year. Now, as you might imagine, the energy consumption issue is becoming more and more important as the years go flying by, and the industry is constantly developing newer technology to try to address those issues. Recent studies show that energy consumption from lighting the interiors of homes and businesses can be reduced by 50 to 80% by the use of properly designed and installed “day lighting” glass. In Commercial applications/buildings, lighting typically accounts for 30 to 50% of the total energy consumption. Building owners and occupants are actively looking for ways to cut their rising energy costs due to not only lighting, but the facts of uneven heating and cooling of the interior spaces. Reducing the energy loads during peak hours through energy efficient designs and technologies can result in significantly lowered energy costs, due partly to the ability to qualify for rebate programs that are available. A side benefit is that worker productivity has been shown to increase by as much as 15% by utilizing some of the newer energy efficient building designs. Since some companies annually spend, on average, 70 times as much money per square foot on salaries as on energy, an increase of only 1% in productivity can result in an increase to the bottom line that exceeds the company’s energy bill! When you look at the current residential architectural trends toward greater numbers of windows, as well as larger window surfaces, it’s easy to determine that this movement toward more energy efficient homes is what is driving the demand for high end glass, such as solar control glass. In the retail market, a study comparing “day lighting” the interiors of the buildings to those being lit by artificial lighting showed that the “day lit”, natural light stores had more than 40% higher sales. If you notice, a number of large retail stores, including the newer Wal-mart stores are using “day lighting” in response to the fact that those daylit areas of the stores had significantly higher sales. The “smart glass” you mentioned actually integrates two concepts, photovoltaics, and electrochromics, which produce a self powered, self dimming window, skylight, eyewear, indoor signage, etc. Smart windows can be incorporated into all types of buildings, both commercial and residential. Skylights, interior partitions, as well as indoor signs or displays can all be outfitted with “smart glass”. This new technology is really kind of interesting. Electrochromic windows consist of up to seven layers of materials. The function of the device results from the transporting of hydrogen or lithium ions from an ion storage layer through an ion conducting layer, injecting them into an electrochromic layer. This layer is typically tungsten oxide. The presence of the ions in the electrochromic layer changes its optical properties causing it to absorb visible light, which has the result of the window darkening. In this arrangement, the central 3 layers are sandwiched in between two layers of a transparent conducting oxide material. To protect the aforementioned 5 layers of materials, they are further sandwiched between two layers of glass. All of the layers are transparent to visible light. To darken, or color the windows, a voltage is applied across the two transparent conducting oxide layers. This voltage drives the ions from the ion storage layer, through the ion conducting layer, and into the electrochromic layer. To reverse the process, the voltage is reversed, driving the ions in the opposite direction, out of the electrochromic layer, through the ion conducting layer, and into the ion storage layer. As the ions migrate out of the electrochromic layer, it lightens (or “bleaches”), and the window becomes transparent again. Complicated? A little, yes, but you did ask the original question about “smart glass”…! Some information was researched for you on the internet…More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2009-02-01 11:16:00

Question: If I do a remodel on my business façade, and use glass extensively, will that benefit me with my customers, or will it just raise my heating and cooling bills?

Answer: You didn’t say what kind of business building you’re referring to in your question, so let me just address your question in several different arenas. First of all, if you’re running a business that is retail in nature, where you have lots of “walk in” traffic, I would have to say that you probably cannot overdo what you do with glass. There’s nothing physically or architecturally that I know of that can compete with beautiful glass for allowing great visual access to your products or services. For display purposes, having the option of putting your product line right out front for potential customers to be able to see for themselves has an amazing impact on their buying decisions. Just the ability to get their attention by seeing what you are doing for a living is powerful stuff! And with all of the glass products that are available today and designed to prevent heat gain and loss, sunlight control, and many different shades of tint or color, you just cannot believe how much of a competitive advantage you can have over the competitor who has decided to stay back in the 50’s with his business exposure. Also, you’ll be happy to know that there are many types of glass panels produced today that address any security concerns you might have for your business operation. Your concern with the high cost of energy is a point well taken, and I’ll address that for you. In a properly designed and installed glass application as the front of your business, you will enjoy many more positives than you will negatives. There are many different glass products available that will nearly eliminate any measurable heat gain or loss for your business via the glass. The direction your business faces can have some effect on that statement, as direct sunlight on any surface over a long period of time can saturate your installation and make somewhat of a difference, but most folks I know who have re-designed their business entrance utilizing lots of glass would never go back to the closed in dark spaces they had before. There are also many different ways to keep direct sunlight from your glass, if that is desirable. A good full service glass dealer can address all of these issues for you prior to you making a final decision on the project. If your business is an office facility, and you make glass an important part of your office building, you will also be pleased by another, often overlooked side benefit of lots of glass. That is the improvement in the attitudes of your employees, when they’re able to enjoy the natural daylight inside their offices, rather than just sitting and working in artificial light conditions. The difference is dramatic in many ways! So, to summarize, if the display of your products or services directly to the public could make a difference to your consumers, then I would say that a decision to get a re-design plan started today might make some sense. If higher production levels and higher spirits from a staff of office employees would be of benefit to you and your operation, then I would say that you might just want to get that project started right now today. On the other hand, if sitting inside a closed-in building, using lots more energy burning all those lights while every day goes passing by, and the advantages I mentioned here are not really that important to you or your people, then it will probably make more sense to just continue with the status quo. I’ll leave that decision in your capable hands. More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2008-12-31 10:25:00

Question: I own a large retail and office building and am concerned about what I can do to help prevent possible deaths or injuries from the glass in my building being broken or blown out by bombs, accidents or even the weather…how can I accomplish this with my existing windows and doors?

Answer: Whether it’s a 9-11 terrorist attack, a police car chase, a storefront business or office with display windows in a shopping mall, or a stand alone building with employees and consumers who enter and exit the facility, it’s pretty clear that nearly everyone in law enforcement or public works knows that unprotected glass poses a number of severe dangers considering these, and all of the other applications of glass in our lives. An explosion or even violent weather, such as a tornado, high straight line winds, or a hurricane, can catapult razor sharp glass up to 150 miles per hour or more. Sometimes much more! During the World Trade Center terrorist attack, there were many, many deaths and injuries that resulted from the shards of glass from the buildings that were struck, eventually coming down, causing the broken glass to fly up to a half a mile away from the collapsing structures. You don’t want to be in the vicinity where broken glass is falling! In the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, more than 50% of the injuries sustained were the result of flying glass from the blast! Property damage to the interior of buildings was also a costly consequence, as shattered and fallen glass left dozens of adjacent buildings vulnerable to looters, as well as much water and weather intrusion damage. There are also some safety issues to consider. Many experts on glass fragmentation retention advise law enforcement officials and security directors to safeguard their buildings and vehicles by adding protection to the glass windows in addition to their current security measures. Many business owners and operators are now making the investment in specialty glass, not only for security reasons, but also to head off liability issues from the possible accidental breaking of glass windows and doors, sometimes causing life threatening injuries to people in close proximity to their business or office locations when something goes wrong. In today’s world, things happen…unexpected things that can be devastating to the bottom line of a business. Looking ahead to those possibilities and doing something to prevent them is not a bad thing to consider in a litigious world. Some of the products to accomplish this are made from a raw polyester compound that transforms ordinary glass into a super-strength invisible barrier. This unique glass retention film minimizes the risk of bodily injury and property damage by holding the dangerous razor sharp shards together within the window frames, preventing the flying glass from becoming deadly weapons. New windows or doors with glass retention film can be installed in a new building during construction, or the film can be installed to existing windows as a retrofit safety measure. The chief of security for the Carter Presidential Center says, “Because the architecture of the center contains a great deal of glass, we chose glass retention film to protect the former president and all the others who work here.” “We would have liked bulletproof glass, but it was much too costly,” so we chose the lower cost, but effective, glass retention film. Regarding law enforcement applications, in ballistic tests involving a variety of weapons fired at 25 feet, it was shown that the glass retention film successfully slowed down the bullet, and in some cases even eliminated glass penetration. While using this film does not guarantee that a bullet, Molotov cocktail or small explosive device will not penetrate the glass, it does significantly diminish the overall risk by reducing flying glass that would happen with regular glass. In the last decade or so, it was realized that there would be a tremendous future need and a multitude of applications for this incredibly strong, yet simple polyester film used with glass. The product was originally developed as a defense against bomb blasts and explosions, and there was then a market developing for a number of different variations of the original product. By changing the thickness of the polyester, the type of adhesive used, and in some cases, adding color, such as tinting, new products were brought to the market. With those modifications and others, the industry began targeting specific applications and new market segments began to develop. Facing growing threats from terrorism, rioting and other armed assailants, many law enforcement and terrorist fighting agencies worldwide were looking for cost-effective ways to increase vehicle security. Instead of installing expensive ballistic glass in their vehicles, many local, state and national law enforcement agencies have opted to have the less expensive glass retention film installed. Glass is one of the weakest points in any physical structure’s security program, and the most secure facilities are generally the ones with the least accessible glass. Glass is often chosen by intruders as an entry point because it normally breaks easily. Even the most sophisticated alarm system sounds only after the burglar or other intruder has entered a home or business. And a burglar knows that he needs only a minimal amount of time inside to wreak havoc and carry away some valuable merchandise. According to the FBI’s Unified Crime Report, almost 70 percent of all burglaries involved forced entry through a window or door. Law enforcement agencies across the board credit glass retention film applications in preventing “smash and grab” crimes against businesses and private homes. While a criminal may muster enough force to shatter the window, it will require repeated and attention getting blows to break through glass protected with properly applied glass retention film. Generally, a burglar cannot risk the time needed to break through this product, and will usually, very quickly, abandon the attempt. Vandalism and burglaries have been an increasing problem in many areas of the country in recent years. As mentioned earlier, natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes can strike anytime, anywhere, sometimes without much advance warning, catapulting flying glass, debris and water at lightning speeds through the air. Some glass retention films are intended for strong wind loads that may create excessive wind load pressures for extended periods of time. In some cases, glass retention film can eliminate the need to board up windows prior to a violent storm as you’ve seen folks do on the coasts in advance of an approaching Hurricane. There are now companies that offer consulting services for law enforcement agencies, security directors and facility managers on blast protection preparedness. Since the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, these companies have been inundated with appeals from both the private and public sectors requesting immediate installations and threat assessments. When evaluating the risks, they have to look at the height of the buildings, the direction of the glass, the type and age of the window frame, how it is secured to the building, among other things. Flying glass is a danger not only in internal areas, but also zones such as windows facing a parking lot or a walkway where the public may be at risk. The type of glass also dictates what type of protection is needed. While safety glass or ballistic glass are exceptionally high quality and can also be used against acts of terrorism and explosions, they are very expensive and not practical for most non governmental or military facilities. If the owner of a facility is concerned with terrorism and budget is not a concern, the choice will be the higher cost ballistic glass installation over the less expensive film applications every time. A call to your glass dealer can provide you with good information on what you can do right now to protect your business and its glass! Some information was researched on the internet. More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2008-12-01 14:19:00

Question: It must have been kind of lonely out on the prairie when folks first settled in these parts. What did they do for entertainment, if anything?

Answer: To conclude the series from last month, the wandering doctors finally started coming through the pioneer towns presenting the medicine shows. They traveled through the country in gaily painted wagons, emblazoned with the name of their particular panacea, often with several riders on horseback being part of the entourage. They would stop at the towns or villages or at cross roads, and then depend on passers by to herald them to the entire community. Most of them claimed to sell Indian remedies: “Many years ago my father saved the life of an Indian Chief. In gratitude the chief told my father the secret of Hopoya, the Jackapoo Indians unfailing remedy for everything from falling hair to fallen arches. Good for man or beast. It cures kidney ailments, stomach troubles, consumption and every ill to which man is heir.” Some of his horseback riders might have been Indians, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, and they rode and pranced about, giving folks a feeling that the doctors were selling “authentic” Indian cures. Others were blackface comedians and performed on the banjo and guitar and sang the songs of the day. At night, the camp was lit by kerosene flares. All came to see the “free” show and many bought, from year to year, over and over, the priceless nostrums sold, and used them with great success...or so they said. I have made mention of the lack of roads in the early days. Perhaps I should more correctly say impassable roads. Any amount of rainfall would turn the roads into an impassable morass, except for empty wagons drawn by four braced up animals, or for riders on horseback. Often up until fairly recent days, many residents of outlying areas found it impossible to come to town more than once or twice a year for their necessary trading, both because of bad roads and because of a lack of cash, which was in hand but once a year, in the fall, after the harvesting and disposal of their money crops. So one certain trip into town was staged each fall to coincide with the visit of one or another of the circuses or Wild West shows which worked the territory each fall. This trip to town was for the annual buying of supplies - staple groceries, bolts of cloth for making garments, home medicines and all other household needs. The more affluent folks among them drove to town in buggies or wagons and put up at one of the wagon yards, which were the tourist camps of the day. There they could get stalls for the horses and mules and, if they desired, a hut to live in temporarily, complete with cook stove and beds. Or people could stay in their wagon and cook on open fires. The majority, for reasons of necessity or economy, put up at one of the several camp grounds around town. These campgrounds were open space on the edge of town and there, the people fixed up a place for their family and lived for a few days, just as they did at the old time church camp meetings described earlier. From whatever spot they put up at, they operated from there as their headquarters during their stay in town. Rounds were made of the stores and purchases made, to be picked up in the wagon on the start back home. The children were given a little small change to spend as they liked. One old timer once told me that he, as a small boy one fall, had a whole nickel to spend. He walked about town for a couple of hours before deciding to blow his pile on a bottle of soda water. Then he found out he had the choice of white or red soda water and it took him several minutes to decide which he wanted. That was quite different from today, with so many colors and flavors of soft drinks to choose from. And then came the great event of the year, the circus! Starting with the mammoth free street parade in the morning, with the wagons painted with pure gold, and beautiful women and handsome men riding the wagons, the stentorian cry of the parade master, “Hold your horses, the elephants are coming,” the clowns, the steam piano, which purists would term a calliope, even to pronouncing it calliope, and of course the band with its shining brass horns, the lions and tigers and everything! How exciting for one and all! Then came the anti-climax of the show itself, with the man on the flying trapeze, the pink lemonade, goobers, and, if finances permitted, the “after concert.” And then that bumpy ride back home to dream their dreams, and wait for another year to pass by. As time passed and the country became more settled and the early citizens became better off, life became easier and more pleasant. The kitchen was moved from its separate room in the backyard and its open fireplace into the house proper, with a modern cast iron cook stove, often with a hot water reservoir on the back. A reed organ was sometimes bought, and the family gathered around the organ while one, generally the wife or a daughter, worked the foot bellows and made music for all. There would be family singing on Sunday afternoons where friends would gather for an afternoon of song and music. Churches were built at convenient locations and regular services held at least once a month and with Wednesday night prayer meetings and singing of psalms and hymns, the folks felt like they got what they needed spiritually. People were able to buy horses, especially to pull buggies, travelling farther and more conveniently than the slower wagon teams, and so were enabled to take in more pleasurable activities. As the community grew, so did the schools, which were at first either non-existent or very small and poor. The schools provided a lot of pleasure to the scholars and the parents. The spelling bees were not only intramural, between different classes, but were also between the boys and the girls, or sometimes held by selecting leaders, who in turn picked their side for the competition. Sometimes there would be one school spelling team visiting another school and vying with their best spellers, which afforded teachers, trustees, scholars and parents much pleasure. Much pleasure that is to all, except the poor pupil who had to memorize and recite as best he or she could some tear jerker such as “Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight” or Mabel, Poor Little Mabel With Her Face Pressed Against the Pane” or some such. For some reason our early citizens believed in demonstrating some gloom. But all in all they lived reasonably good lives. They came here with little except the desire to create homes and leave a better world in which their children would live. Their aim in life was achieved abundantly and if we live more easily today, it is in large measure due to the privations and hardships these early settlers endured cheerfully in their honest and sincere efforts to leave a better world than they found. In conclusion, I must say that the more I learn of our early citizens, the more I admire their courage, their resiliency and their ability to make the most of what their opportunities were at the time. I think they are entitled to say with Paul: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” I hope you enjoyed this discourse on a people we seldom think about in today’s modern world. Where we take something a simple as “glass windows” in our homes for granted. Here’s a salute to the ones who came before us... the early pioneer family...More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2008-10-01 15:56:00

Question: Grandpa said that “people were built of a stouter stock” when he was a boy…What the heck did he mean by that?

Answer: Telling you a story dealing with the past activities of our fore-fathers entails, necessarily, a good deal of hearsay, repeating some of the old legends, and some lifting and adapting from the writings of those who have made a serious study of pioneer life. Some of the material here presented has been researched from the world wide web, and some from other sources. I’ve always loved stories about the “olden days”, especially when the stories come from those who were there…who actually lived the life they’re talking about! I particularly loved the part where they talked about not having any glass windows in their cabins to look out of. “Stouter stock” meant that your Grandpa and his contemporaries had to endure a pretty tough life, and were able to stand up to it and survive it. It is difficult for us today, living in the land of plenty, to imagine the hardships endured by the original settlers who pioneered this part of the country. Raising their own food, just enough for their own family’s sustenance was a terrific job. Today, even the poorest of our citizens enjoy an ease of life which was wholly beyond the reach or even the thoughts of the richest of the early settlers to this area, and the poor of the time. Why are there so many more poor folk, who lived a life of very rigorous hardship and deprivation. I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have wanted any part of it! But that’s all they knew, so they accepted it…had to do it! They came west by the thousands, hauling everything they owned in the back of a covered wagon, or an open buckboard wagon, with the livestock walking along beside. They stopped along the trail before the sun began to set, or at the site of a stream or river where life-giving water was available for them and their livestock, to bed down for the night. They were early on the trail before the sun came up the next morning. They were a hardy lot. Today we take for granted fancy stereo radios, surround sound, big screen and flat screen televisions, automobiles, trucks, natural gas and propane fuel, hard surfaced roads, theatres, digital sound systems, stores selling every need and nearly every luxury item you can imagine. Right down to something as common today as the glass windows and doors we all have in our homes and businesses. We can still see some of the evidence today of the way of life in the 19th Century, and even into the early 20th century. The rural countryside in many areas is traversed with the old short telephone poles & lines and the rural electric power wires, but in recent years, the functionality depended upon by the people who built those has all been replaced with modern digital fiber optic network cables, wireless transmission systems, satellite dishes, and the like. Railroads and truck lines still bring in wares from other places and take our farm produce out to the markets of the world. Yes, I believe you could say we’ve got things pretty good today, comparatively. Most folks living today would probably not be living today if they’d had to endure the lives the early settlers had to face every day and night. Not only fighting off the attacks and burn downs by roving nomadic bands of Indians, but just surviving the weather conditions was an ominous task. One hundred years ago, large areas of the country were sparsely settled, with neighbors living, except in the towns and villages, far apart, dependent on their own resources for a livelihood and entertainment. I doubt if these sturdy, self-reliant folk gave much thought to the lack of what we today feel absolutely necessary for living our lives. For one thing, most of our modern aids to ease, comfort and provide for our well being were not even thought of. I expect if some prophet in the 1880’s or even in the early 1900’s would have foretold some of our modern inventions, he or she would have been derided as insane, or as having imbibed just a little too much whiskey. Today, when we have a cold spell, we have double and triple paned insulated glass windows and doors keeping the cold and wind out, gas heaters, space heaters, floor furnaces, central heating systems, all well designed to keep us warm and comfy. Well built houses, often with insulated walls, double floors, tightly fitting windows and doors keep the cold outside. Our early settlers lived in log cabins, or flimsily constructed houses of rough sawn planks. Roofs were of loosely laid shingles, the floor, either broom swept earth, or planks with wide cracks. The windows and doors were makeshift at best. In short, the houses were drafty and cold. The only heat was that thrown out by the fireplace, or “chimney “ as it was called, and was never very warm. The open fire, though cheerful to look at, served to roast the front and freeze the rest of the person. So it was the custom to throw a quilt over the chair and wrap this over the shoulders to keep warm by the fireside. The only light was that of coal oil lamps, tallow dips, or a lit up rag in a bowl of lard. Yep…that’s right! Lard! In the summers, not only were there no electric fans, evaporative water coolers nor air conditioners, there were also no glass windows or screens. Flies, mosquitoes and other insects made themselves right at home inside the house. “Cooling” was when you sweat enough that you could get in front of a nice breeze and feel like you were standing inside a meat cooler or dark cave. Speaking of dark, due to the lack of “after dark” home comforts, as we know them, folks went to bed with “the chickens” and there was little nocturnal social life in the early days. There were the occasional sociables, and infrequent square dances held at night. But the social life, as we know it, was non-existent. For one thing, it took a lot of hard work just to live, especially for the women folk, and by nightfall all of them, and most of the kids and men folk were tired and ready for sleep. The pioneer woman, especially, had a hard life. Bearing and raising a large family, cooking for all of them, doing the wash in the good old fashioned way with tubs, washboard and an iron boiling pot, using lye soap she had made herself, making clothes for all the family, even in the early day spinning and weaving the cloth, putting up preserves and the various sorts of pickles needed to spice up the monotonous diet, making a garden, often cutting the stove wood and then working “in her spare time” in the fields alongside her husband and older children, and milking the cow morning and night, made for a full life that did not crave nightly or daily amusement. The early settlers were, in the main, deeply devout, sometimes bordering on the rim of fanaticism. Therefore, most of the early entertaining centered about and was dependent on the religious culture of the time and place. Many of the pioneers were members of the more militant evangelical sects and these frowned upon most secular entertainment as being Satan’s handicraft, and the members were forbidden, upon pains of eternal exclusion from the ranks of the blessed, of attending any public gathering unless it be educational in nature. As legend has it, circuses added the menageries of wild animals to their shows so as to be able to come under the “educational” category. Likewise, it is a well documented fact that the reason theatres were all called “opera houses” was to circumvent the ban on theatres. I am sure many older folks could recall the old Opera Houses, and could further recall that there was never an opera sung in them. But many fine theatrical performances were given, and those who would could still say they had seen the opera. So, in the early days the church services were the greatest social event. Possibly because the people lived far apart and were lonesome, seldom seeing even the nearest neighbor, and the church afforded not only spiritual strength, but afforded an opportunity to see and visit with friends and neighbors. As ministers were scarce, regular preaching services were had on an irregular basis. Some churches maintained circuit riders who followed a fairly regular schedule over an established route. Other denominations had missionaries in the field who covered as much territory as they could. But in the summers, when the weather was warm, the crops laid by and there was plenty of time, there were held the great religious gatherings of the year. The protracted meeting, or the camp meeting. I am not familiar with the exact distinction between the protracted and the camp meeting, but think the protracted meeting was held at some locality where the settlers were thick enough so all could attend from their homes, both daily and nightly sessions. On the other hand the camp meeting ministered to the spiritual needs of those who lived more widely apart and so a central spot was selected, preferably in a grove of trees, with water available. In this spot the men folk would erect a rude shelter made from posts with pole stringers to support a roof of tree limbs or brush. There was once a community called “Brushy Arbor”. The brush roof of the arbor afforded shade and made it cool and comfortable for the listeners. And maybe it was well that it was cool and comfortable, because often the sermons delivered treated the listeners to great heat generated by “fire and brimstone” preachin’ for the unwary sinner. At these meetings there were, in the early days, no pews or seating arrangements. People sat on the ground, or brought their own chairs. In some places, where the tree growth was sufficient, logs were cut and rolled under the arbor for rude seats. In later days lumber was borrowed or rented from lumber yards to make benches. When the camp meeting started all the people in the vicinity in a radius of, say 15 or 20 miles, would pack food, bedding and other necessities of life in their wagon and drive to the meeting. There they would each select a camping place, generally in family or friendly groups, unload the wagon and set up housekeeping for the duration of the meeting. Some brought the family cook stove, others cooked over an open fire. There was a lot of trading of food, recipes and gossip. The women and children generally slept in the wagons and the men and boys underneath the wagons. Isn’t this fun stuff? If you like this, let us know and we’ll continue with more of the story next month…

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Bob Crager

2008-10-01 08:48:00

Question: Grandpa said that “people were built of a stouter stock” when he was a boy…what the heck did he mean by that?

Answer: Continuing the answer from last month’s question, where we were talking about the “camp meeting revivals” of old, these camp meeting revivals lasted from a week to a month. Preaching was held several times a day, with often four or five ministers sharing in the sometimes “hellfire and brimstone” preaching. There were seldom any musical instruments, pianos or organs at these meetings, and the singing was done under the auspices of various song leaders. Some leaders had voices strong enough to carry the congregation with them as they led off with some familiar and well liked gospel hymn. Others “lined out” or had another singer line out the songs. To digress a little, we still have a group of singers who follow the old style of singing, the “Sacred Harp” or Fifth Sunday singers. Anyway, these protracted and camp meetings were enjoyed by all, not only for their religious benefactions, but because it was the only time of the year when there was a free opportunity to see and visit with hundreds of people. To the young it was the time of courtship. It was an understood axiom that the fall after each revival camp meeting saw many weddings occur. Funerals also were the occasion of gatherings, and because of the sadness and finality of death, always caused a great ingathering of friends and acquaintances. Of course when death followed a spell of sickness, the countryside was aware of all that went on, and friends were helpful during the sickness, as well as after the death. Neighbors took over the work of the sick and ill informed, providing food, cutting and hauling wood, sitting up with the sick ones, and in general doing good and helpful deeds for the affected family. In cases of accidental or sudden death, the grapevine telegraph passed the word of the calamity and again, friends and neighbors came in to help out. Oh…our pioneers had their superstitions, just like we do now. No doubt theirs were a blend of those brought from the old country, blended with those of the new country, those of the Negroes, and the Indians, with whom they had come in contact. Superstition decreed that when death came to a home, the clock or clocks must be stopped at the time of death and not started until after the interment of the deceased. Any mirrors must be shrouded and kept covered until after the funeral. All pictures had to be turned to the wall or laid face down on the bureau or table. There were other, at least to us, odd customs in connection with death. The country was full of harrowing stories of body snatchers, or of cats, rats and other carnivore animals awaiting an opportunity to sneak in and mutilate the corpse. There were also blood curdling accounts of someone being buried alive over in the next county, and horrible details were related to all who would listen, about the agonized efforts of the poor persons’ vain efforts to free himself from the coffin and grave before dying the second time. Therefore, it was necessary to have a corps of watchers to sit by the corpse to defend it from the depredations of the animals and to observe closely for any sign of the corpse coming back to life. I rather suspect, had the corpse made any movement of any kind, there would have been a general and immediate unruly exodus from the scene. There generally being no undertakers available, close friends often took over and performed the necessary preparations for burial. Friends laid out the body. If it were possible to get a store bought coffin, then that was done. But if a store bought coffin was not to be had, some one would volunteer “I have some nice, smooth boards I laid back for this sort of thing.” A burial box would be framed by the men, and then the women would line it and pad it. If a preacher could be found to hold services, then he was sent for. If not, then some of the elders preached the funeral and most did that well. Superstitions also decreed various decorations at the grave. Many graves were marked with shells, pottery, bottles or other decoration, which I think was either an Indian or Negro custom. As the cemeteries grew enough in population, another social event grew up. This was the annual “cemetery working.” On an appointed day, generally in the summer, all who had relatives or friends buried in the cemetery met in an all day “gathering.” The entire plot was cleansed of brush, grass and other growth. The graves were re-banked, flowers were planted or growing plants were trimmed. All brought lunches, and an all day social gathering was had. In election years the various political candidates attended these cemetery workings, as it afforded them the chance to meet many voters with small effort. While woman suffrage was not even thought of yet, the wily candidates wooed the women’s influence by bragging on their cakes and pies, and especially their children, knowing that the women, if won, would cast their votes through their men folk. One of the best entertainments the pioneers had was the occasional visit of itinerant merchants, beginning with pack peddlers, who walked through the country from house to house with an unbelievable weight of merchandise strapped in a bulging bag carried on the man’s back. Many of these pack peddlers were errant knaves who lied, cheated and stole. Others were high class men who built up a great reputation for honesty and fair dealings and were welcomed back again and again. One set of the latter class of pack peddlers were the Sanger Brothers. Some ancestors often told of living as neighbors to the Sanger clan at Calvert, Texas, with five of the brothers working the country with packs, while the sixth brother stayed at home doing the buying and attending to the business. This was about 1872. By the time the H. & T. C. Railway reached Corsicana, they had prospered enough to open the first Sanger Brothers store in Calvert, on the corner where the State National Bank now rears its skyscraper. After the railroad reached Dallas, the Sangers moved there, selling their store in Calvert, Texas to Col. S. S. Freedman and his brother Rueben Freedman. One of the main attractions of the pack peddler in his day was his value as a news carrier. Going from house to house, and working out of a town, he had all the news of the day, and served to carry messages from one house to the next. He was the radio of the day, known as a troubadour. As the country developed and roads became somewhat better, the pack peddler was succeeded by the wagon peddler. This man could not only carry a far more extensive assortment of merchandise, but he was also in shape to trade or barter his goods for whatever of value the farm had that was possible to transport in the wagon. So the wagon peddler would swap calico or pots and pans for eggs, butter, chickens, goose down or whatever he could get and dispose of at his headquarters. He even traded for calves and other livestock, trailing them after his wagon at the end of a rope. This man too was generally welcome as the bearer of news, or often as a guitar or fiddle player, leading his customers in old time songs and hymns. Among others of the itinerants of the day were lightning rod salesmen, wandering “doctors” and eye glass sellers. Some of these were good people but many left bad reputations for over-zealousness in selling, or for plain, down-right chicanery. But all were welcome, at least on the first visit, and were known for giving the monotonous drab existence in the out of way places a break. Many times we talk about how lucky we are today to have the best of everything in our modern lives…nice cars to drive on good paved roads…weather tight homes with lots of great window glass to see out of and get sunlight into…stores conveniently located so that we can provide for our families without having to actually go out and kill something to eat…we have it pretty good in today’s world, and sometimes I don’t think we give that situation enough thought, and or thanks! Maybe you can agree that we’re blessed in no small part by all the ones who came before us and made our lives possible. Next month we’ll talk about the meanderings of the wandering doctors in the old west and their involvement with the new form of entertainment… “The Medicine Show”.

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Bob Crager

2008-09-01 15:06:00

Question: Is the glass in my windows solid...or does it “flow”? This came up at a party, and I would really like to know.

Answer: Recently, a number of scientists have made a breakthrough discovery regarding the bizarre properties of glass, stating that glass, yes, the glass we look at everyday and night of our lives, behaves at times like both a solid and a liquid. Amazing stuff! This finding could lead to aircraft being designed and built that look like Wonder Woman’s plane. Such planes could have wings of glass, or something called metallic glass, rather than being totally invisible. I don’t think I’d get on a plane if I couldn’t see the wings pretty clearly. This breakthrough involved solving the decades-old problem of just exactly what glass is, or is not. It has been known for some time that despite its solid appearance, glass and gels are actually in a “jammed” state of matter…somewhere between liquid and solid…that moves very slowly. It’s even been stated that even if we lived to a hundred years, the glass in our windows could have moved somewhat during that period of time, but we wouldn’t know it, because we can’t see it. It’s too slow! Just like cars in a gridlocked traffic jam, the atoms in a piece of glass are in something similar to suspended animation, where they’re unable to reach their destination, because the route they’re attempting is blocked by their neighbor atoms. So even though glass has the appearance of a hard substance, it never quite becomes a proper solid, according to the definition used by chemists and materials scientists. The scientific work so far has concentrated on trying to understand the traffic jam, but now a group of these scientists have shown that glass fails to be a solid due to the special atomic structures that form in glass when it cools. Some materials actually crystallize as they cool, arranging their atoms into a highly regular pattern called a lattice, but although glass “wants” to be a crystal, as it cools, the atoms become jammed in a nearly random arrangement, preventing it from forming a regular lattice. In the 1950s, Sir Charles Frank in the Physics Department at The University of Bristol in the UK, suggested that the arrangement of the “jam” should form what is known as an icosahedron, but at that juncture in time, scientifically he was unable to prove it. An icosahedron is like a 3-D pentagon, and just as you could not tile a floor with pentagons, you cannot fill 3-D space with icosahedrons. That is, you can’t make a lattice out of pentagons. Now, when it comes to glass, there is a competition between crystal formation and pentagons that prevents the construction of a crystal. If you were to cool a liquid down and it makes a lot of pentagons, and the pentagons survived, the crystal cannot form. It turns out that Frank was right, and his team proved this experimentally. You can’t watch what happens to atoms as they cool because they are too small, so the group of scientists used special particles called colloids that mimic atoms, but are large enough to be visible using state-of-the-art microscopy. The team cooled some down and watched what happened. What they found was that the gel these particles formed also “wants” to be a crystal, but it fails to become one due to the formation of icosahedra-like structures. Happening just exactly as Frank had predicted. It is the formation of these structures that underlie jammed materials and explains why a glass is a glass and not a liquid — or a solid. Knowing the structure formed by atoms as a glass cools represents a major breakthrough in the understanding of meta-stable materials and will allow further development of new strong yet light materials called metallic glasses, already used to make some golf clubs. This stuff is generally shiny black in color, not transparent, due to having a lot of free electrons (think of mercury in an old thermometer). Metals normally crystallize when they cool, however stress builds up along the boundaries between crystals, which can lead to metal failure. For example, the world’s first jetliner, the British built De Havilland Comet, fell out of the sky strictly due to metal failure. When metals are made to cool with the same internal structure as a glass and without crystal grain boundaries, they are less likely to fail. Metallic glasses could be suitable for a whole range of products, beyond golf clubs, that need to be flexible such as aircraft wings and engine parts, he said. You just never know what science will turn up next! There is a group of scientists who think that if you wait long enough, perhaps billions of years, (ok, I’ll wait) all glass will eventually crystallize into a true solid. In other words, glass is now known to be not in an equilibrium state, as when you look at windows in your home or business, although it appears that way to us during our limited lifetimes. That’s slow movement, no matter how you measure it. We’re all happy we don’t have to know all of this scientific stuff to be able to take care of replacing the windows and doors in your home or business, but it’s pretty interesting stuff just the same! Some information was researched on the worldwide web…More next month…

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Bob Crager

2008-08-01 09:35:00

Question: Are my old windows costing me a lot more for heating and cooling?

Answer: Windows can be one of your home or business’s most attractive features. Windows provide views, day lighting the interior spaces, ventilation, as well as solar heating advantages in the wintertime. Unfortunately, they can also account for 10 to 25 percent of your heating bill. And during the summer, sun exposed windows will make your air conditioner work two to three times harder. If you live in the Sun Belt, you should look into the new solar control spectrally selective windows, which can cut the cooling load by more than half. Also, if your home has single-pane windows, as almost half of the homes in the U.S. do, consider the advantages of replacing them. New double-pane windows with high-performance glass (e.g., low-e or spectrally selective) are available on the market today. In colder climates, you should select windows that are gas filled with low-emissivity (low-e) coatings on the glass to reduce heat loss. In warmer climates, select windows with spectrally selective coatings to reduce heat gain. If you are building a new home, you can offset some of the cost of installing more efficient windows because doing so allows you to buy smaller, less expensive heating and cooling equipment, thereby having a much lower run time on that equipment to achieve the inside temperatures for your family’s comfort, winter or summer. Also in the warmer climates, you can install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Close curtains on south- and west-facing windows. Install awnings on south- and west-facing windows. Apply sun-control or other reflective films on south-facing windows to reduce solar gain. Now, if you decide not to replace your windows, there are some less costly measures listed here that can improve the performance of your existing windows. In cold climates, you can install exterior or interior storm windows. These storm windows can reduce your heat loss through the windows by as much as 25 to 50 percent. Storm windows should have weather stripping at all the moveable joints, and should be made of strong, durable materials. They should have interlocking or overlapping joints. Low-e storm windows can save even more energy, cutting your costs of operating your mechanical systems. Repair and weatherize your current storm windows, if necessary. Install tight-fitting, insulating window shades on windows that feel drafty after weatherizing. Close your curtains and shades at night, and open them during the daytime. Keep the windows on the south side of your house, facing the sun, clean to maximize your solar gains in the cold. Speaking of colder climates, you should know that double-pane windows with low-e coating on the glass reflect heat back into the room during the winter months. In the summertime, the sun shining through your windows heats up the room. Windows with spectrally selective coatings on the glass reflect some of the sunlight, keeping your rooms cooler. New windows are long-term investments that have a large impact on your home’s energy systems. Today, there are many new window technologies available that are worth considering. Glazing materials now come with a variety of selective coatings and other features. Window frames are available in aluminum, wood, vinyl, fiber glass, or combinations of these materials. Each type of glazing material and frame has advantages and disadvantages. In temperate climates with both heating and cooling seasons, select windows with both low U-values and low solar heat gain co-efficiency (SHGC) to maximize your energy benefits. So, whether you upgrade to new state of the art technology windows, or try to get by with the ones you have now, pay close attention to your windows, because they could be costing you substantially in energy losses. You can stop those losses by having someone come out and make recommendations for repairing or replacing your windows, whether it is in your home, or your business. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2008-07-01 15:11:00

Question: What kind of commercial class doors should I buy?

Answer: Let’s talk for a little bit about the things that are going to be important to you and your business going forward. Such as the aesthetic appearance, the look of the business that the customer gets as a first impression of who and what you and your business are trying to project. Is security an issue for you? Do you need light or heavy security, during what hours of the day? Are you a 24-7 business, or do you have “open” hours, and then remain closed during the rest of the day or night? Do you have “walk-in” trade, or are you an office/warehouse facility? All of these questions should enter into your plan for the entrance of your new facility! Will you have an outside “lobby” arrangement, or will the customer walk directly into the interior of your retail or office rooms? If a lobby is in the plans, you’ll want to use some very high grade commercial glass & metal doors that are well designed and built to hold up in the face of all of the changing weather conditions and higher than normal winds experienced here in Kansas. Intense heat, and brutal cold will take a toll of some kind on the most well built exterior doors and windows. The lobby will be, more than likely, heated and cooled to some degree, which will help to stabilize the temperatures of the metals and the glass, extending the useful life and durability of these fixtures. When your customers drive or walk up to the front of your building, is their first impression of your company important to you? There are many different designs, different combinations of materials that will assist in that first impression…tinted glass, Low-E coated glass, many different colors and shades of tint can give your customer a great feel for walking inside your front doors. Sometimes an “airlock” arrangement which controls the inflow and outflow of air is incorporated into the design. The direction the front doors face should be considered when deciding the answers to a lot of the pertinent questions about commercial doors for your business. There are commercial glass doors, commercial steel doors, impact commercial doors, roll-up commercial doors…an amazing list of choices for your consideration! The choice for your own business should be important to you if, for no other reason, you’ll be looking at your choices for quite a period of time, and you don’t want to feel bad every time you see it because you tried to cut a corner when you installed whatever you installed. In Commercial windows and doors, it’s pretty important not to try to save money in that area, unless there are no other choices for you. Some recommendations that might help you are: choose the strongest, most secure commercial doors. The material make-up of a commercial door will impact the level of security it can provide as well as the maintenance and upkeep it will require. Commercial steel doors offer the most security, but many business owners find wood doors and commercial glass doors more aesthetically pleasing, depending on the particular application. From security and ease of access to aesthetics and first impressions, interior and exterior commercial doors play an important roll in the success of business operations. Remember, commercial doors not only provide the public’s first impression of your business but they also serve such purposes as managing traffic flow, securing work environments and climate control. Automatic sliding commercial doors provide ease of access for some needs. Consider the benefits of automatic sliding commercial doors in environments where customers have to push shopping carts, or carry items inside and out. Automatic doors also cater well to handicapped patrons. Revolving doors can keep your lobby climate controlled and can also control traffic by limiting the number of people entering the building at once. Commonly used in the restaurant industry, impact commercial doors swing both ways to allow traffic to flow in and out easily. These swinging doors also make a good choice for commercial entry doors for loading docks. There are about as many different choices for commercial doors as there are designs of new buildings. If you have a chance to do it from scratch, do it right the first time. If you’re retrofitting the entrance area of an existing building, you can pick and choose from a wide array of materials, glass and metal, wood, and many more. A meeting with your local glass dealer who specializes in commercial doors and windows might just be a good first step, and could take the brain damage out of the process for you. Some information was researched from the worldwideweb… More next month…

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Bob Crager

2008-06-01 13:45:00

Question: How can I protect myself from flying glass in my home or office during a tornado?

Answer: Having a shelter, or a safe room, built into your house can help you protect yourself and your family from injury or death caused by the dangerous forces of extreme winds. It can also relieve some of the anxiety created by the threat of an oncoming tornado or hurricane. Should you consider building a shelter in your house to protect yourself and your family during a tornado or hurricane? The answer depends on your answers to several important questions. Such as, do you live in what is considered a high risk area of the country for these storms? How soon can you get to a safe shelter when the siren sounds? And what level of safety do you want to provide for yourself and your family? Now is the best time to address those questions, not right after the sirens have sounded…agree? During any windstorm, such as a tornado, hurricane, cyclone, or even straight-line winds of high velocity, everyone is at risk from flying everything! Glass included! If that storm is powerful enough to blow houses away, it’s a pretty good bet that your windows, no matter how good they are, are they going to break and blow out too. Flying glass and all the other debris in a windstorm can be, and many times is, very deadly. Standing on a street downtown in a high windstorm can break the windows out of high rise office buildings and shower the sidewalks below with a deadly rain of glass shards. Get inside immediately in that situation, before the glass starts falling. You’ve all heard that if you don’t have a basement in your home, you should go to the middle of your home and get into a closet or a bathtub. I understand the logic of saying that…and getting more walls between you and the outdoors, but I still believe that you’re at very high risk of death or injury if you follow that instruction. I would only do that as a very last resort! High winds, whether twisting or moving across in a straight line can totally destroy most residential structures, and they’re especially deadly to inhabitants of mobile homes, etc. That evidence is pretty clear, at least to me. Absent a basement, there are companies that sell in-ground storm shelters that can be installed in the floor of your garage, allowing you to get into them without going outside the house. Absent a garage, those same shelters can be installed right outside your door allowing only a few steps from your door to the door on the shelter. That’s better, in my opinion, than staying inside the house in a bathtub or closet. During a storm, if the winds get high enough to break or blow out your windows, the hope is that with today’s radar and weather technology, you’ve had sufficient warning to move yourself and your family to a safe shelter to wait it out. Most tornadoes move laterally at around 20+ miles per hour and some of these monster storms even achieve a lateral speed of over 40 mph. Outrunning an erratic, fast moving tornado in a vehicle is risky at best. Many have tried, and many have failed to get away. Right now, while the weather is not threatening, it’s a good time to prepare in advance for what you and your family are going to do if that tornado siren sounds. If you’re at home or in your office or workplace when it happens, what’s the first thing you’re going to do? How much time do you have before it actually hits your home, office, or workplace? Where are the children and pets? Where is your spouse? In the absence of having thought out the answers to these and other questions, and then preparing a plan with each member of your family, you could end up with a terrible result from a storm. Flying glass and other debris can become a reality for you in seconds. Especially if you’re home is in “tornado alley”. Lately, tornados have been popping up in places not normally known for this storm. Ideally, if you have a basement, start now and prepare a room down there where there are no windows, and try to have this space where there are 2 or more concrete basement walls right around you, as in a corner. If this space is a small space with walls surrounding you, and is equipped with a steel door with multiple deadbolt locks to hold it closed, your chances of avoiding death or injury are much improved. Go ahead and put an axe and/or battery powered saw, some fresh water in plastic jugs, some non perishable foods, a cell phone, a battery powered radio or television, and anything else you can think of to allow you to be in a survival mode for the next several minutes or even hours until someone can get to you for rescue operations. There are some new, wind resistant type materials that are being sold for windows and doors in homes and businesses that can resist many of the day to day things that happen, and even some wind events, but if the wind is strong enough to cause debris such as cars and trucks, concrete or wood landscaping materials to go flying around toward you, it’s a good bet you’re going to need to think first of living through it, and getting those windows replaced after the storm has passed you by will be a thought for another day…The good news is that the vast majority of homes have never seen a tornado or a hurricane, and hopefully, yours never will…more interesting stuff next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2008-05-01 13:20:00

Question: Would you describe some of the different types of glass we see in our everyday lives and their use?

Answer: Wow…there are lots of different types of glass, used in many different applications in our modern lives. I’ll just describe a few of them for you here in alphabetical order. There are many more, but here are just a few of them for you. Acrylic sheets of glass, also known as Plexiglas, Lucite, Acrylite, Optix, etc., are optically transparent, not affected by moisture, and offer high strength-to- weight ratio. Acrylic sheets also offer high light transmittance and can be easily heat-formed without losing their clarity. Acrylic is an economical and multi-purpose material, and is 17 times stronger than plain glass. The most common uses? Windows and window replacement glass, displays, and picture frames. Annealed glass is glass that is not heat treated (strengthened or tempered). It is the most common glass used in ordinary windows. Annealed glass is also what is known as float glass. When you go to the glass shop, this is normally what is used for window pane replacement. Bent glass is flat glass that has been bent by heating the glass and then shaping it into a cylinder or other curved shapes. It looks “bent”. Beveled glass is glass that has the edge cut off at an angle. Grinding off of the edge of flat glass makes the bevel, and there are several bevel sizes and edge shapes available. Polished and shaped edges are used for glass furniture as well as mirrors, tabletops, and shelves, and is very attractive glass. Bullet resistant glass is made up of multiple laminations of glass with tough tear sheet plastic. These laminates are designed to stop bullets from a variety of small arms and rifle fire, as well as impact-induced spell. These products have a range of physical attack and/or ballistics resistance capabilities. The selection of the appropriate glazing materials should be based on a careful look at your specific security needs. It is sometimes used in banking facilities. Coated glass is glass with a chemical film applied to the surface providing such characteristics as privacy, solar or mirrored effects. It’s pretty commonly used. Dual Pane & Thermo Pane are also known as IGU’s, or Insulated Glass Units. Dual Panes and IGU’s are two panes of glass, (kind of like a thermos bottle) hermetically sealed against moisture vapor, with an air space in between, insulating the outside air from the inside air. It keeps the hot air out during the summertime, and the warm air inside in the wintertime. IGU’s make your home safer and more secure. They also cut down on outside noise by 80%, as well as helping to reduce your year round energy costs. Heat strengthened glass is glass that’s cut to size, then heated to a high temperature, and then cooled back down to room temperature. It is two times stronger than ordinary annealed glass. Laminated glass is safety glass and is made of two or more lines of glass bonded together under heat and pressure with a polyvinyl butyral (PVB) inner layer. When broken, laminated glass tends to keep the glass in place. Laminated glass has excellent anti-accident and anti-burglary properties. Typical applications include impact, blast, sound control windows, curtain walls, entrance doors, sliding doors, office partitions, schools, sports stadiums, hotels and windshields. Lexan is also known as Polycarbonate. It is highly impact resistant & has a special coating to help optical clarity and abrasion resistance. It is ideal for many functional parts requiring exceptional toughness and surface hardness. It has the clarity of glass, while being exceptionally resistant to weathering. It blocks out harmful UV rays, resists hail, wind & vandalism. It has 20 times the impact resistance of fiberglass and over 40 times the impact resistance of glass or acrylic. Low-E glass maximizes window performance in hot climates, where air-conditioning costs are significant. This Solar Control Low-E glass is designed to block direct solar heat (year-round) while providing improved thermal comfort in the winter. Plate glass is annealed glass which comes in thicknesses ranging from 1/4” - 1/2”. Most commonly used in storefront windows, residential picture windows, tabletops and shelves. Reflective glass is window glass that is coated with a reflective surface film. This is to reduce the heat and light that is transmitted. Sandblasted glass is when compressed air forces an abrasive material (resembling sand) through a nozzle on to the surface of the glass. This process removes the surface of the glass, which gives the sandblasted area a frosted look. Spandrel glass is usually made as a fixed opaque colored glass on buildings in front of floor slabs and columns. Spandrel glass is available in a wide variety of colors. Specialty glass is a window that is not of regular standard shape or size. Examples of specialty glass are triangle, rounded or curved window applications, etc. Tempered glass is a type of safety glass. Tempered glass has been created through a heating & cooling process. Tempered glass is 5 times stronger than normal glass. When broken the entire piece of glass shatters into tiny pieces without sharp edges. Common uses for tempered glass are patio doors, storefront doors, bathrooms, showcase doors, shelves, shower doors, partitions, and automobiles or other vehicles. Tinted glass has a material that is added to give the glass a light and/or heat reduction, depending on the color added. Triple pane glasses are windows that are made of three different individual glass panes with dead air space between them. The spaces are filled with argon or other gases for better energy efficiency, thus enclosing two separate individual air spaces. They are similar in construction to dual or thermo pane windows Some info was researched from the world wide web. I hope this is helpful to you for your particular needs, and we will bring you more good and interesting information next month. Thanks for all your good questions each month.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2008-04-01 12:10:00

Question: Were windows installed in sod houses in the 1800’s?

Answer: I believe that we are some of the luckiest people in the entire history of the world! And a lot of why I believe that centers around the fact that we’ve had glass in our lives! Glass of every description…from triple paned windows to French doors, from bullet proof glass to military bomb-proof glass, from skyscraper buildings to space shuttle windows, from jetliner windows to glass for telescopes that look into deep space! Our lives have been truly blessed by glass! Now to the question at hand…did they have windows in the sod houses built out here on the plains back in the 1800’s? The answer is: sometimes they did! Sometimes the pieces of glass survived the trip out to the plains in a covered wagon, and sometimes they didn’t. I imagine that the “soddie”, or even stories handed down from those who actually lived that life, are now pretty much a distant memory for even the oldest living survivors of the lifestyle of the settlers who came to settle this land. Back in the 1800’s, life here was so brutal that only the hardiest souls were able to come to this country and stay. Many folks who tried it, ended up gathering up what little they had left and heading on back east, back to the civilization from whence they came. For those who were able to “tough” it out, life here was certainly no “bowl of cherries.” The weather was one of the first of the brutal facts of life they encountered. From the unbelievable cold, snows, blizzards, and freezing conditions of the long lasting winters, to the nearly unbearable heat and drought, winds, and baking sun of the summers, to stay out here year round took an amazing toll on the spirit, to say nothing of the physical drain on the bodies of those pioneer settlers. The dreams and promises that lured most of them to leave the known for the unknown must have been pretty strong, to cause them to pick up everything they owned, load it into a couple of wagons, and take their families into an uncertain future where marauding Indians could end it all in just a few short and bloody minutes. And when they arrived upon that 160 acres of land that the government promised them the deed to if they would live on that plot of ground for a designated period of time, many of them looked around and said… ‘let’s build the house right over there!” Have you ever seen a sod house? Most likely not in person, although there are still some around that are being preserved by different interested groups. You may not have actually seen one, but you have probably seen a historic photograph of one, with the owners standing or sitting proudly in the foreground, or even read about life in a sod house in the childhood classic, On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She wrote with such word pictures that you could almost see the wildflowers growing and hear the brook running past the old cottonwood grove. You could nearly smell the grassy pastures nearby. In the course of identifying and documenting historic and cultural resources in the state of Kansas, there have been a record number of sod houses, or the remains of old sod houses discovered, with over fifty sod homes found in this state. People turned to the sod house because it was extremely inexpensive to build and took advantage of the materials under foot: the land. One sod builder estimated that his 1872 dugout cost $2.78, which included lumber, $1.79; latches and hinges, $.50; stovepipe, $.30; and nails, $.39. In 1894 a sod house with two windows and a wooden door cost $3.74. Most who had windows in their sod houses brought them with them when they came from the east. Besides low cost, another advantage of the soddie included the fact that it was cool in the summer and easier to heat in the winter. On the Great Plains it also provided protection from cyclones and prairie fires. Due, however, to the disadvantages, the structures were generally intended strictly as temporary quarters until after the farm or ranch could be established and a conventional home, with lots of windows, afforded. Regarded as temporary dwellings when constructed, many “soddies” returned to the earth after their owners either moved into wood-frame houses or left the area and abandoned them. If the owners moved up to a frame house, the soddies were often used for storage or as prairie hay barns. The basic construction of the soddies was simple and relatively consistent from house to house. In most cases, the sod was cut in the bottomland areas where the soil and vegetation were thicker, making for a better packing “brick.” A sod cutter was used to harvest the sod: it flipped over a strip of sod approximately eighteen to twenty-four inches wide which was then cut into “brick” size lengths. The sod bricks were stacked in alternating fashion with the grass side down and laid two bricks thick, flaking the walls up to two feet thick, and more in some areas of the country. Depending on the owner’s resources, the exterior walls were often mud plastered or stuccoed for protection. Inside they were typically covered with a mud or lime plaster and then whitewashed. Just imagine the style of life afforded by this type of construction. A good roof was essential to the life of a sod house, for in addition to protecting the inhabitants, it was also important for keeping rainwater off the exterior walls. Many soddies started out with low pitched sod roofs, difficult to maintain, sure to leak, and home to a variety of creatures, including snakes. When economically possible, the homeowner moved up to wood-shingle roofs. The sod roof, six to eight inches thick, was built on a timber frame of ridge poles laid with thrush rafters. A green, living roof was desirable because the active root system made the roof more water repellent, but this meant replacing it each spring. To minimize outward thrust and concentrate weight equally on the sod walls, the shingle roofs were steeply pitched and hipped; the resulting interior space created by the roof structure was sometimes used as an attic. Compared to their frame house counterparts, soddies had a low, bulky appearance, due in part to the relative shortness of their exterior walls. Within these earthbound structures soddie dwellers described them as feeling very snug and safe. “Warm in winter, cool in summer” was a phrase often used to describe the efficiency of their insulation. Splayed window wells are the one feature of the sod house that might be considered decorative but even they were designed principally for function. The unusual curve of the splayed wall allowed natural light in and gave the plaster a better chance of lasting because rounded corners were less easily chipped. Separated from the roof by an extra thick header of sod bricks, the window sills remained dry in an otherwise moist environment. The window itself was usually set at an angle to encourage water runoff. This construction provided an important place in the house for protecting dry goods, rising bread, and even babies from the rain. In relation to the many that were built, a few sod houses have resisted returning to the earth and are living long lives in this modern age, providing some a place to live and the rest of us a glimpse into another time when things were rough and low- income housing had a different meaning. More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2008-03-01 09:38:00

Question: My husband and I built a brand new home a couple of years ago and we requested that our builder install Low-E glass for each and every window in our new house. We thought that by doing that, we were protecting our hardwood floors and our furniture from all of the fading we see all the time. It hasn’t helped, even a little bit. All of the curtains, chairs, whether the wooden ones in the dining room, or the material covered ones in the living room and family room, have all faded out and lost their color and finishes considerably. I have reason to believe that my windows may not actually be Low-E glass…could we have paid for that and been cheated?

Answer: What we need to do first is clear up a misconception about Low-E glass, and that is that it is not supposed to block the ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. These are the rays of light and heat which are responsible for your color-fading problems. Low-E glass does an unbelievable job of blocking heat out, using a thin metallic coating on the inside surface of those insulated-glass panels. To protect the possessions inside your home that you speak of, you would have wanted to have covered the windows with a film designed specifically for that purpose that does stop UV radiation. Window films are plastic sheets of varying thickness that perform a lot of different functions. Some window films stop UV rays, some stop infrared (IR) rays, which cause things to heat up inside your home on a summer day. If you have ever walked in front of a window where the sun is streaming in without interruption, you can instantly feel the IR radiation on your skin. Other window films do double or triple duty. Some thicker window films will not only block UV and IR rays, but will also stop large objects from coming into your home. Some of these thicker window films are used to attempt to stop windows from being blown out during hurricanes or other large windstorms. You can often see the ultra-thin metallic coating of Low-E if you look at clean windows on a sunny day at an approximate 30 or 35 degree angle. The glass will often appear to have a bluish or even light green cast to it. Regular glass that has no Low-E coating never has this kind of coloration. You may have to look at your windows at different times of the day to be able to detect this coloration. It is not readily apparent. You might even want to buy a piece of regular glass to help you determine if you have Low-E glass. If you have someone hold the regular piece of glass next to your windows, taking pains to ensure that the glass is parallel and in the same plane as your pane of window glass, you might see that the regular glass looks very different from your windows. In summary, it’s unlikely that your builder intentionally sold you Low-E glass and installed regular glass, because if he did, he owes you the complete replacement of those windows, and you would want to pursue your remedy completely and as soon as possible. But before you go there, do the testing to determine for certain what kind of glass you have installed in your home. Also, remember that the Low-E glass will not prevent the loss of color or fading of your woods, because it’s not designed to do that. Your local glass dealer can give you all the information you need regarding window glass, whether specialty glass, commercial glass for business or industrial installations, or any other kind of glass making your life more comfortable. Imagine life without glass! Not a pretty sight, huh? Some information researched on the world wide web…More Next Month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2008-02-01 11:16:00

Question: Was glass around back in biblical days? I think I’ve heard that it was!

Answer: There is a special human relationship with glass of every description that has enjoyed an unbroken history for thousands of years. Ever since our earliest ancestors figured out ways to manipulate different objects in their world, enabling them to work better and have better lives, human progress has depended upon our relationships with tools, and the various materials that make them. Glass happens to be one of the most versatile and useful materials to have been first, forged by nature, and then improved by human ingenuity. We’ve used glass to hunt, cook, construct buildings, protect us from some of the elements of nature, and beautify our bodies and homes. From eyeglasses to microscopes, to telescopes and windows, glass has given us a brighter and better perspective on the world around us. Along the way, a few myths have evolved. For example, many people believe that a glass window pane will very gradually grow thicker at the bottom as the glass window pane flows downward. And thanks to cartoons and comedy routines, other folks think that a certain pitch of the human voice can break glasses. Neither of these is true. Glass is a complete solid that will flow only when liquefied at temperatures of hundreds of degrees centigrade. An opera singer can warble all over the musical scale if she likes, but it will take the sound of a pretty large explosion to shatter glass. So, it’s time to shatter a few myths about glass, with a brief history of this wonderful substance, which is an essential, and mostly taken for granted part, of all of our daily lives. The first glass erupted on the scene millions of years ago…literally. The very first glass known to prehistoric peoples, which was used to craft utensils, weapons and decorative objects, was obsidian, or black glass. Obsidian was formed naturally from volcanic lava which cooled too quickly to revert to stone. It comprised the same core elements found in glass today, which were and are silica (quartz sand), soda and lime. Archaeologists and anthropologists have found ancient obsidian artifacts all around the world. Our ancestors discovered deposits of shattered obsidian which they crafted into a range of usable items. In the Western hemisphere this included Apache arrowheads for battle and hunting, as well as for implements that were used by the Aztecs in their human sacrifices. Cuneiform tablets were clay tablets, cones, and brick fragments inscribed using the ancient writing system known as cuneiform. The Sumerians invented this writing system, which involves the use of a wedge-shaped reed stylus to make impressions in clay. These tablets contained glass-making recipes indicating that glass was probably first manufactured by the people living in Syria, Babylonia (Iraq) and Mesopotamia (Iran), sometime around 3,000 BC. They also likely discovered the process by accident. In its earliest form, glass was made from impure ingredients, which resulted in a green tint. It was primarily decorative. A few thousand years would pass before glass possessed the clarity and transparency for making window panes. However, as time progressed, several compounds were introduced to create a range of colors for the purpose of mimicking precious and semi-precious stones. Some of these colorants were cobalt, copper, silver, chrome, iron, gold, manganese, nickel, selenium and cadmium. Glass was core formed or rod formed. Core formed objects were made by molding molten glass around a removable core or center, usually a combination of dung and clay mixed with water. In the rod forming technique, beads and other small items were made by manipulating a glob of molten glass on a long rod which was thrust into a kiln until the glass was malleable. In the third millennium BC, Phoenician trading vessels carried glass and glass-making to Egypt where it was used as decoration by the aristocracy, and as far away as the Celtic cultures of Britain. The Egyptians used glass beads as trading collateral in their dealings with other African peoples, who didn’t have access to the secrets of glass-making. The Romans, and other Europeans after them, continued using glass beads and other objects to trade in exchange for African valuables. Now, in jolly old England, early environmentalists were crying out that deforestation was becoming a problem as early as the 15th century. After 1615, glass-makers were required to use coal instead of wood in their furnaces. Then, in the late 17th century, the English discovered that adding lead oxide to the glass making process resulted in a substance which was solid, heavy and durable. Also, right about this time, the French perfected grinding and polishing techniques and produced the first plate glass, but only the very rich nobles could afford it. Then, in the 18th century, there was a political revolution in France and the start of an industrial revolution in England, and a revolution in glass production. Compressed air technology created flatter and better glass panes. Cooling air was blown into a large glass cylinder in controlled amounts. This cylinder was then split lengthwise. It was re-heated, and then allowed to flatten under its own weight. Large, relatively inexpensive panes of glass became available, and by 1860 flat glass prices had dropped, making glass affordable in all building construction. Transportation, communication and architecture have all benefited from more modern breakthroughs in glass production throughout the 20th century. Machines were developed that produced endless sheets of flat glass for window glass. New processes strengthened glass by thermal and chemical tempering. Tints were applied to glass to reduce heat transmission and glare, and glass coated with metal oxide films reflected heat or conducted electricity. But it is probably the motorcar that motivated the most important changes of all. Before 1919, windshields were made of ordinary plate glass, and were therefore highly dangerous when broken. The auto magnate, Henry Ford, created the new process of glass lamination, and laminated windshields became mandatory. The cellulose in the originals has since been replaced with polyvinyl butyral, known as PVB. Polyvinyl butyral resins are employed in a wide array of industrial and commercial applications. These unique resins have offered impressive performances, as well as outstanding versatility in such products as the manufacture of auto glass. Now, in the 1950s, side and rear windows were replaced by tempered glass, which breaks into small pebble-like pieces when broken, and normally do not cause injuries to passengers involved in a car crash. Fibre-optics and the first photo-sensitive glass came into being in the 1940s. In 1959, float glass replaced flat glass as a preferred material for residential and commercial windows. The most exciting recent development is Low-E glass, with a low-emission coating that improves the energy efficiency of windows. From early on to pretty recently, that’s part of the story of glass. A subject very near and dear to our hearts! Some research taken from the internet…More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2008-01-01 14:23:00

Question: With all the shootings and other terroristic happenings lately, how can we feel secure at church or school with the loose fitting, usually unlocked glass doors, and hardly any security on the place?

Answer: For the millions of students who enter school facilities hundreds of times a year, and the folks attending church activities each and every day, there’s usually not much reason to think about the doors they use to get into classrooms, university lecture halls, or church entrances and sanctuaries. They open, they close, and you move on inside the facility. Lately, however, the headlines are shouting otherwise. Not just at school or church, but even at the big shopping malls! We need to be paying attention to what’s going on around us at all times! Education administrators and church leaders should all know that beyond their basic function, doors can be a major factor in a building’s security, as well as the energy efficiency and accessibility. Most people interested in harming someone in any of these venues will make an attempt to enter through an existing door. Sometimes the doors have been in place for a number of years, and through wear and tear, or improper or inadequate maintenance, they’ve become saggy, and in some cases, totally unfit for their intended purpose. Absent some pre-planning, the folks inside can be sitting ducks for this kind of an unstable person. Schools, universities, and/or church facilities that want to provide students and/or their staffs with safe, comfortable and welcoming learning/teaching environments should pay close attention to maintaining their doors and windows, and be prepared to replace defective door or window systems with upgraded equipment. As door systems age and get battered from weather conditions, continual use and abuse, defects can develop. Hinges can become loosened, frames can get bent, latches sometimes don’t snap into place when closing. The flaws in a faulty door can allow leaks that can undermine a building’s heating and cooling systems. It can also turn what was supposed to be an attractive, accessible entrance into the building into a barrier for someone with physical disabilities. Moreover, a defective door also can lead to security breaches that enable intruders to enter a building more easily. Replacing defective doors is a lot better than ignoring it and hoping that nothing bad happens. Caulking and weather stripping can help in preventing energy leaks, but preventing someone from doing acts of violence, and/or other unwanted intrusions is a much greater challenge. Both school and church officials often make comments about their feelings of insecurity when there are large numbers of people present, and the door security is usually considered by them to be marginal at best. There are several strategies for improving door security at these facilities, which can include access control systems operated with cards or keypads. There are also electronic door systems that can alert administrators when a door remains open too long, and can be locked down from a central administrative location. Metal detectors and video camera surveillance systems are being utilized more and more in today’s unsafe world. Many schools and churches are reducing the number of doors, especially those that can be opened from the outside, and those situated in less visible parts of a school or church campus. With fewer doors to monitor and maintain, security resources can then be utilized much more effectively. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in its “Primer to Design Safe School Projects in Case of Terrorist Attacks,” encourages schools that are upgrading their facilities, to limit the number of doors that are used regularly for entering and exiting a building, while still providing sufficient numbers of emergency exits. Many churches are, in light of recent developments, installing newer technology doors for entering and leaving their facility, and some are even adding security personnel during services. You don’t like to think of a place of worship being a target of those wanting to commit mayhem, but the evidence is clear about that possibility. The FEMA report also recommends that schools use hollow steel or steel-clad doors with steel frames and even consider blast-resistant doors for high risk facilities. The strength of the latch and frame anchor should equal that of the door and frame. The weakest part of most door assemblies is the latching component. Exterior doors should open outward, and hinges should be on a door’s interior. Schools should replace externally mounted locks and hasps with internally locking devices. Most all of the facilities mentioned in this article will utilize some type of glass door system for the front entrance to the buildings. The commercial glass doors of today are well suited for appearance, as well as most security considerations. Short of “blast proof” glass, someone determined to gain access to the interior of a building will probably succeed. The key is to provide a deterrent that is strong enough to delay them, and to discourage them from selecting you and your building as a target in the first place. Your local commercial glass dealer can assess your building’s door systems and estimate what your needs might be for correction of existing conditions in all respects. More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2007-12-01 10:04:00

I never really feel secure in my home with either my sliding glass doors or my nice new French doors. How can I improve the security for these?

Answer: Glass doors and windows are the design elements that make our homes and offices so bright, nice and comfortable. And with proper planning, they can also be made fairly secure to all but the boldest of intruders. In addition to installing a well designed home security system which would have contacts on all outside doors, and glass break devices on all areas where there are outside wall windows, plus motion sensors and possibly outside security cameras, you should know that if a thief wants to get into your home, and is willing to risk it all to do that, he’ll probably be able to find a way into your home. You can make yourself less of a target for thieves by making certain that your overhead garage door is kept in the down position anytime you’re not moving a vehicle in or out. In addition to that, most thieves are not interested in getting into a home or business where the element of time is not on their side. To deter a thief is to deny him/her immediate and quick access…any way to create a delay for them is desirable, and you need more than the usual standard window or patio door latch. An additional consideration is that you may, in an emergency, need to exit through a locked door or window yourself, so you should keep your door key near the lock, but hidden from outside sight. When you can, you should buy all latches from the same manufacturer so that your door keys are all interchangeable with one another. If the local fire code allows it, you can further enhance security by replacing all single glazed windows with polycarbonate or wire-embedded glass. Additionally there are also available security shutters, a window grill, or even a security gate to prevent intruders from entering. Sliding windows pose a different kind of problem from casement windows, or double hung windows. The sliding window,many times can be lifted up out of its track and removed...not much security there. However, you can install a screw, or other device into the top of the upper track to keep this from happening. To keep the window from sliding at all, just put a screw through the track horizontally. On one type of device commercially available, a stop slips over the window track. Then you just turn the level one way to lock the window, and turn it the other way to allow it to slide. Other locks use a thumbscrew instead of a lever. A key track stop is a locking stop that you can attach anywhere on the track. You can position it to lock the window shut, or so that the window opens only a certain amount, to allow for ventilation and safety. On casements, you can install a door bolt like device that would operate with a key...you just screw the lock to the window, and then slide the bolt into a metal cup that you can mount into the sill of that set of casement windows. Several companies make locks for sliding windows. On double-hung windows, you can install a locking pin that goes through one sash and into the next to keep intruders from lifting the sash. Some pins screw through a hole you drill, while others drive in and out with a special key that comes with them. Now, regarding patio doors, French or otherwise, the best thing you can do is to install a set of storm doors to cover the patio doors completely. This is a really good strategy, because it tells a potential thief or burglar that this house is not going to be a real quick pushover to gain access to. In addition, you can reinforce the lock on a patio door with a good well designed security bar. Screw the hinged side to the doorjamb and the locking saddle to the other jamb. Swing the bar into the saddle to lock the door. Then just lift it out to allow the door to open. You can also set the bar so that the door will open part of the way, but not all of the way open. A keyed patio door lock screws to the side or top of the door frame. When you want to lock the door, put the bolt into a hole you’ve drilled into the door frame. Unlock and lower or pull out the bolt to open the door. These ideas should help you in making your home less of a target for would-be thieves who wish to come into possession of your stuff...More next month...

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Glass

Bob Crager

2007-11-01 10:18:00

I’m now responsible for the maintenance of several commercial buildings for my company. What do you recommend that I put on my checklist, just in case I’ve forgotten something?

The components of a commercial building envelope are as varied as its occupants and uses. Brick and glass, bitumen and composite panels, many metals, marble and stone, can be, and all are, used for the interior and exterior construction of today’s commercial buildings. And, all exterior building materials respond differently to the forces of wind, rain, snow, and ice. Ideally, the envelope of the building ensures that the weather stays on the outside, where it belongs, and that the people and property inside are protected. One of the best ways to minimize a building’s risk of water damage is to develop, maintain, and follow a systematic operations and maintenance inspection routine that includes all interior and exterior elements of the building envelope.

Anywhere the wall meets the ground can be a notoriously high-risk area for damaging water intrusion. Building components such as hose bibs, roof drains and landscape irrigation systems can put a lot of water in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even a small leak can turn into a major headache like a flooded basement or parking garage. It’s important that you schedule and make regular inspections, if you’re the one responsible for maintaining the building or buildings for the owners that employ you.

Each month, you should have on your schedule to inspect all at-grade plumbing systems, all at-grade drainage systems, be sure to test any basement flood control and sump systems. You should also replace any leaking fittings or drains immediately, even if those leaks are small. Check to see if the irrigation system sprays water right against the foundation or exterior walls. Check out roof drain outlets, making certain that they are clear of any debris that can collect there. Some maintenance people have found out too late the importance of making sure that any water elements present are not at risk for vandalism. A flooded building due to this kind of prank is not fun to find in any building you’re responsible for. Make certain that any downspouts are directing the runoff water away from the foundation or perimeter of the building, and find the source of any standing water you might discover. Keep in mind that below-grade building elements are a significant part of the building envelope. Basement walls and floors play crucial roles in protecting the building from water intrusion, and can provide important warnings of water problems above. Also check for signs of effervescence, a condition where moisture boils up through the surface of the concrete, evidenced by flaking of mortar or concrete. A landscape irrigation line leak may first manifest as mold on the basement walls.

About every quarter of the year, you should check any basement floor drains and the basement drainage system. Check all basement walls for signs of water staining or damage. If found, do not ignore, but track the source of the water or moisture and repair immediately.

Windows and glass doors are also areas that you should give considerable attention to in order to properly maintain them against breaking, cracking, movement, wear and tear, and/or vandalism. Your glass dealer can give you additional advice as to the particular situation and its appropriateness to an application in your building. Keeping all of this in mind, you should know that even the most carefully operated and maintained commercial building will likely experience a water or wind damage event at some time during its lifetime. The building staff charged with this area of responsibility should have a well-practiced emergency response plan. Just like the fire drills that your children do in school, everyone hopes they never need to use these plans. However, they can be helpful to ensure a more rapid recovery from a major roof leak, flooded basement, or soaked office carpets. Often the speed of response to a high wind or water damage event is the most vital key to getting back to normal day-to-day operations. A water emergency response plan includes quick shut down of the main water supply lines, safe and quick shut down of electric and gas supply lines, if appropriate. Keep tools you might need in these circumstances accessible, as well as emergency phone numbers for fire, police, and emergency personnel. You’ll also want quick access to companies who do water extraction, window and door glass replacement, heating and air conditioning, and plumbing specialists. Now that’s a plan you can use! More next month…

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Bob Crager

2007-10-01 11:09:00

Am I imagining things, or am I seeing more mirrors or mirrored walls in offices or businesses I go into today? Am I being watched?

Many large Corporations, and many more smaller companies than in the past, are moving into the current century with their attempts to reduce or eliminate losses from pilferage, theft, or downright fraudulent acts, committed by customers, or even employees. Honest folks don’t normally even think about this, but companies lose billions of dollars each year from this activity…which drives the prices up on the products they sell for all of the rest of us. Hence, many of these entities are taking pro-active steps to stop their losses. When a company is moving in this direction, they will enlist the services of any number of specialists in the field to survey their business location, and make recommendations as to the steps that can be taken to begin to reign in the situation. Security surveillance, where discreet observation is required, sometimes requires the installation of everything from small obscure one way mirrors, to complete walls of reflective mirrored glass. In the world of security, the video camera and attendant recording devices make the prosecution of offenders pretty simple, and recovery a piece of cake. Part of this process involves the installation of very visible camera locations, where the sight of them will normally deter someone thinking about doing something wrong from completing the act. In addition, many companies know that there are locations and situations where discreet observation is necessary. This is where the mirrored reflective glass comes in. This can provide additional security in commercial settings, like the many stores where you shop, correctional institutions, hospital observations in surgical suites, worker monitoring in any number of areas of just about any workplace. Remember, cutting losses is the bottom line result being sought by the business owners, and they’re taking steps to achieve this. A mirrored surveillance glass, whatever the size, requires that the subject room, where the ones being observed are located, is well and evenly lighted over the walls and furnishings. The light should not be directed toward or directly on the mirrored glass. Colors and furnishings should be bright and light in color. Importantly, people on this side of the reflective glass should be kept at some distance from the glass surface. The light ratio from the subject side to the observer side should be about 8 to 1. This will provide the best light conditions for optimal results. The room on the observation side must be much darker and the walls uniform in color. Patterns should be kept to an absolute minimum, and colors that contrast avoided altogether. Low light is necessary on this side of the glass to prevent the ability to see through the reflective mirrored surface from the other side. Opaque lamp shades are recommended in this space. This reflective mirrored glass was created for simple aesthetics, sometimes to camouflage office areas, wet bars and entertainment centers, and is additionally used now worldwide as an unobtrusive observation method in many interior applications for security and loss prevention. Interesting, huh? More Next Month…

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Bob Crager

2007-09-01 09:59:00

I’ve heard, and want to know if it’s true, that really, really old window glass starts to flow towards the bottom of the window sash after a while?

That’s a good question, and, believe it or not, one we’ve heard before. For years people have looked at 12th century, medieval-glass windows, and due to the age of the glass, determined that the reason some panes are thicker at the bottom is that over time, gravity causes the glass to “flow” towards the bottom of the frame. Although glass may “flow” if heated to a high enough temperature, the idea that there would be any recognizable flow at room temperature after a few hundred years is completely and totally untrue. Physicists and others who have put this theory to the test say it would take millions, not just hundreds or thousands of years, for there to be any type of noticeable change in the physical properties of glass that is kept at room temperature or below. A study published in the American Journal of Physics went so far as to say that the period this phenomenon, glass flowing, would require is “well beyond the age of the universe.” So, the short answer to your question is no. That is not the answer to the why of how this strangeness occurred. The variations in thickness in these windows can, instead, be attributed to how they were originally manufactured. Apparently, and/or obviously, it wasn’t easy making truly flat plates of glass several centuries ago. Sometimes molten glass would be poured into molds. Other times glass blowers would make a sphere and then spin it vertically, very quickly, to flatten it out. Neither of these techniques, as you might imagine, resulted in perfectly flat panes of glass. Either way, it would make sense to us that a window maker, when finding that a piece of glass was not the same thickness all the way from one end to the other, would install the thicker end of the glass at the bottom of the frame, if for no other reason than appearance. In today’s world, glass is manufactured in very large factories to such wide ranging specifications that it’s just amazing, all the uses and applications that glass fills in our lives. We get to enjoy sunshine and light year round due to the manufacture of window and door glasses. The com mercial use of glass has expanded to the point that entire skyscraper type buildings have glass as one of their primary construction components. Glass has become one of the most important considerations when designing and building doors and windows for new homes and every kind of commercial building. We’re truly blessed by those pioneers in the glass making industry over the last few centuries, who came before us, and made our world a better place to live. Some information was researched on the world wide web...More next month…

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Bob Crager

2007-08-01 11:27:00

What should the term “green building” mean to me?

Answer: Many consumers seem willing to pay more for a product labeled “green.” The achievement of a claim to environmental friendliness, as judged by an independent agency, can do wonders in the marketing of energy efficient windows. The “green buildings” movement is based on a presumption that energy efficient buildings are good for the environment. Of course if the number of buildings increases more than their efficiency, the net impact on the environment is negative. On a hypothetical basis at least, it is clear that by saving energy, a building would be responsible for less air and water pollution at the power plant, less depletion of fossil fuels and those attendant consequences, or reduced adverse consequences of nuclear power production, and reduced emissions of certain gases. No matter how good the window, if it faces east or west and is not adequately shaded, it can produce serious glare, peak A/C loads, and localized over-heating problems inside the building. This localized over-heating can make the areas affected very uncomfortable for residents, which is the reason that the use of shading devices has been discussed so extensively. Exterior shades are more effective than interior ones. Shades located on the room side of the window heat up when the sun shines on them, even if they reflect some of the incident sunshine back out through the window. In consequence, they can still admit a lot of heat into the building, making the room less comfortable and causing the air conditioner to work harder. Shades located outside, however, release nearly all of the solar heat absorbed by them to the surrounding air and outside objects. For this reason, it is much more effective to block incident solar heat before it reaches the window. Interior shades are most effective if they have high reflectivity over the whole solar spectrum on the outward-facing side. This means that the outside appearance of such shades will be either bright white or shiny. The inward side can be just about any color, texture, and/or pattern you might want. If the outside appearance of the shade is mirror-like or excessively shiny, this can be an aesthetic problem to some people, so it is probably best to have a “duller,” diffusely reflecting white shade. Some shades offer a partially or fully trapped air space between the outward- and inward-facing sides, and should better keep the heat that is absorbed by the shade’s outer surface away from the interior air. This reduces the load on the air conditioner and makes the shade more comfortable to sit near. For the best results with such shades, the edges should feather seal to the edges of the window, trapping the warm air between the shade and the window. In this case, the heat so trapped has a better chance of being conducted through the window to the outside. Managing heat transfer through window glass correctly can save you a lot of your hard earned dollars...More next month…

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Bob Crager

2007-07-01 16:13:00

Cracked window panes in older houses…how do I replace them?

Replacing cracked window panes in an older home can be tricky, especially if you’re trying to preserve the integrity and look of a home that was built, say, around the turn of the last century. But it is possible to tackle this job and win. The key is to be very careful in removing the old panes so that you don’t destroy the wood. Sometimes the wood is less than pristine. You should determine that the wood frames are solid and worthy of being retained. If they are, then you can use a knife to remove the old glazing around the glass, and take the pieces to your local window glass dealer, and have the new panes cut to fit. If the panes are totally broken out, measure the dimensions carefully from side to side, then up and down, to determine the size of panes you will need. With summer heat just around the corner, now is a good time to fix leaky window panes, and the frames, unless they are deteriorated beyond repair. A lot of heat and cool air goes right out the leaky frames of windows and doors of older homes. These are the weakest link in your home’s energy loss chain. Vast amounts of your energy loss goes right through the windows of your home. Sometimes we get requests for changing out the old single pane glass windows with new double pane insulated glass. Using your existing frames, this can be a tall order, because the original windows were made to accommodate a single pane of glass, normally an eighth of an inch thick…whereas an insulated glass component is normally about a half inch thick, and would require mortising out the frames to receive the thicker insulated unit. Typically, absent a lot of experience at doing this kind of retrofit job, a novice can mess it up beyond repair. Clear insulated glass usually runs in the neighborhood of $10 per square foot, whereas the upgraded insulated “low-e” glass runs on up into the $14 per square foot range or higher. The alternative is to replace the entire window unit with a new insulated unit…the downside is that you normally will lose the original look of the turn-of-the-century architecture of the home. It all depends upon the outcome you desire. Sometimes saving money wins out over preserving the look…sometimes it’s the other way around. Your local window glass dealer can assist you in deciding what is best for your particular situation, and will provide the expertise to get the job done right for whatever outcome you want for your home.

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Bob Crager

2007-06-01 09:43:00

In planning and building my new office building, how can I accomplish the control of radiant heat gain and loss without going overboard on costs?

Answer: Window and door glass, commercial or residential, comes in all sizes, shapes, tints, can have multiple panes, and many other configurations, and are all important to levels of satisfaction of the occupants of the buildings, as well as some security considerations. Reducing the energy costs associated with windows while increasing the human comforts, without excessive price increases, is a real challenge to the designers of new office buildings. Achieving an acceptable design depends upon many factors, all of which can contribute to the comfort levels, or lack thereof, experienced by the building’s occupants. Such as: • Which way the window faces relative to the prevailing directions of the mid-day sun. • How much outside shading is planned or is present for the building’s windows. • How bright the exterior scene is to the eye, causing sometimes unbearable glare. • How dark the interior is (the brighter the interior surfaces, the less the window glare). • The building owner or occupant’s willingness to operate shading devices to achieve their best performance in controlling light and heat. • The building owner’s desire for impact resistance, whether from storm-blown objects or vandals. • How critical it is to maintain an unobstructed view to the outside (gorgeous vistas shouldn’t be permanently blocked by window shades or other add-ons, although temporary blocking for privacy or solar heat rejection may be desired at times) • The building owner’s desire for acoustic isolation in noisy environments. • Whether the window can meet aesthetic desires for appearance and quality. There are some basic principles to keep in mind when selecting windows for buildings located in the Midwest areas of the country. The winter space-heating season is from short and mild, to long, severe, cold, and brutal. The summertime cooling season can start in April, and run all the way through mid October in some years. Thus, there is a strong need to insulate a window, as well as to protect it from direct solar radiant heat gain. It is true that insulating the window with multiple panes, insulating glasses, and a special coating can reduce the size of the air conditioner needed to meet peak loads, and that this smaller size will reduce both heating and cooling costs as well. Reduced heating and cooling equipment size could save enough construction dollars to pay for the extra cost of the window insulation, but this should be proven through calculations before being taken as the truth. For retrofit applications, such as replacing windows in an existing building, there is seldom the chance to save dollars on the air conditioner, unless it just happens that the building owner needs to replace the air conditioner at the same time that the windows are replaced. If the owner decides to install insulated windows, for whatever reasons that make sense, a few extra comfort benefits can be expected too. For example, there will be less transfer of sound through the window, an advantage in urban settings with frequent road or aircraft noise, but a possible disadvantage for rural sites where the occupant might enjoy hearing the sound of the wind or the chirping of birds. Insulated windows have less of a tendency toward condensation, and/or the growth of mold and mildew. On the cold winter nights and excessively hot summer afternoons, an insulated window will be far and away more comfortable to sit near. In trying to prevent unwanted solar radiant heat gain during summer months in Kansas, it is best to minimize window exposures toward the east, southeast, south, southwest, and west. This can be accomplished by the design and orientation of the building and by utilizing some shading techniques for the windows. During hot summers, it is far better, for heat gain prevention, to block the sunlight before it reaches the window, thereby dissipating the absorbed heat outside, where it can be carried away by the wind and air currents. This means that simple shade trees and other exterior shading methods can be very effective, both in saving air cooling energy, and in blocking the strong glare, which direct sunlight can produce if allowed inside. In the winter time in the Midwest, the trees lose their leaves, allowing the sunshine and radiant heat through the trees and into your windows, thus helping to heat the interior of the building. If the owner and building designer cannot avoid windows facing the wrong directions, then the use of exterior operable shading devices could be considered to protect the windows from the sun in the summer. In many cases, darkening shades can be pulled down to reduce solar radiant heat gain along with its glare and higher energy costs. They can be opened when the sun is not shining directly on the window, or on overcast winter days, to provide both good exterior views and interior daylight illumination to the extent possible. A variety of exterior or interior shading devices are available. Proper planning can save big bucks in energy usage for just about any commercial or residential window application. Some information was researched on the world wide web…More Next Month…

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Bob Crager

2007-05-01 11:11:00

Question: What can you tell me about commercial glass?

Answer: As a matter of fact, with modern glass-making technology, there are many more glass applications being utilized in commercial buildings than ever before. Whether you’re talking about Commercial Buildings or private residences, in the Wichita area, you can drive around in many parts of the city where there is an abundance of different windows in many different architectural styles. These run from some of the original homes built in Wichita and viewable in old Cow Town, to the Riverside area, to the College Hill areas, to the original two story Victorian homes that were all the rage in early Wichita. The folks living here at that time who owned businesses and/or ran the banks, farmed the fields, pastured cattle, and liked the idea of raising a family in the Arkansas River Valley. There are still many of these older homes in the downtown urban areas of the city. Through the growth of Wichita over the years since its incorporation as a village in 1870, then its incorporation as a first class city in 1886, we’ve seen many new commercial buildings built to support this growing metropolis over the years. Hundreds of subdivisions built as residential additions to the city and based upon the time frame of those subdivisions, you’ll see a wide variance of the types and prices of the homes that were being built. In prosperous economic times, there were many homes and business buildings built that said money is not the object here, folks. We’re making a statement about our family, or our company and our successes. During other times, such as right after a period of war, there were many low end homes built to satisfy the need for cheap, no frills homes for those returning from the war who basically were starting over. They just needed a place to raise their family, nothing fancy necessary. And in those down turned economic times, commercial companies that were doing well continued to build expanding facilities, looking forward to the day when their businesses would be rolling along again. The number of windows used in private home construction during those periods was also affected, and the larger high end homes used an abundance of great windows to allow the outside light inside, as well as offering views of the outside to the occupants. The placement and size of those windows was important to the family that was planning to take up residency there, and so the builders made sure that they would offer many options to the customer for their new home. Most of the windows were of the double hung variety, utilizing the ropes and weights inside the window frames to allow the mostly smooth operation of the window sash. With no air conditioning in those days, it was kind of important that you be able to raise the windows to get whatever breeze that was available through your house. If you drive around in some of these neighborhoods today, you’ll be able to see from the windows that were included whether we were in prosperous economic times when those homes were constructed, or whether we were in a downturn economically. In today’s world, whether we’re talking commercial or residential construction, there are so many choices, from a design standpoint, that you can have just about anything you might want in your residential or commercial windows. The windows that are available today have thermo insulating qualities built into them so that you can lose or gain virtually nothing in the way of heat transfer through the glass panes. You can have windows custom designed for just about any architectural idea you might come up with, and the glass can include many different kinds of tinting or darkening features so that you don’t have to further deal with ultra violet light and other related problems. The bottom line is that if you are not enjoying the windows in your home or business to the full extent, with the visibility or image you desire, there are lots of ways to change or update them so that you get the full benefit you should be getting from modern window technology...Yes, glass is being used much more in the construction of both homes and commercial buildings than ever before...more next month!

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Bob Crager

2007-04-01 09:11:00

How many windows are too many in a home?

ANSWER: Of course that depends upon the particular home, but if you’ve ever had to live in a place that was built without enough windows, you’ll probably say there isn’t any way to have too many windows. It used to be said that “windows are little more than holes in the insulation.” It’s true to some extent that poorly insulated and drafty windows in certain climates defeat the purpose of wall insulation. However, modern high performance windows are almost as good as opaque insulated wall sections, at least in terms of total energy savings over lengthy periods of time. In some cases, they can be shown to actually out-perform insulated walls, believe it or not. Of course, they have the priceless additional benefits of providing views to the outdoors and natural daylight illumination indoors, which are considered important issues of quality and comfort. The main purpose of a building and its windows is to provide comfort to the occupants. As the sun moves across the sky, as the outdoor air temperature and humidity vary, and as the wind and rain come and go, windows provide amazing creature comforts if they’re properly designed for the work they do for us. If comfort can be achieved while reducing the building’s energy use, and lowering monthly utility bills, so much the better. There are a number of well thought out guidelines for choosing window options for residential buildings in hot and/or or cold climates. Many of the principles we mention here apply as well to non-residential buildings. However, there are major differences in the types of windows available for these two building classes, and there are normally major differences in their building occupancy schedules. This is important because unoccupied buildings don’t normally need illumination. Nonresidential buildings are most generally occupied during daylight hours. This provides a greater opportunity for the use of day-lighting, as in light tunnels and/or skylight applications in these buildings to displace electric lighting, saving energy in the process. Residential buildings are usually less occupied during daylight hours, due to the occupants being at work, out shopping, or perhaps performing amazing feats at the local golf course. So, in residential situations, there is less chance to save energy by using daylight to displace daytime electric lighting. With its relatively higher fraction of retirees; however, places like Florida, or other sun belt states offer numerous exceptions to this general rule. Proper selection and placement of windows for daytime lighting of residential building interiors can displace the electric lighting that might otherwise be needed. You see, windows are not directly energy-consuming devices. Sometimes they cause the building to use more energy than would be the case without them, and at other times they actually reduce the building’s need for energy. When windows let heat escape on cold winter nights (causing the heating system to use more energy) and when they admit solar radiant heat on hot summer afternoons (causing the air cooling system to use more energy) they increase the building’s energy costs. How can they reduce energy use? One way is to admit solar radiant heat into the building on a cold winter day. The solar radiation directly heats the building’s interior, and this heat is used to displace energy that would otherwise be purchased for heating the house. When daylight illumination enters through a window, it directly illuminates the interior of the building. If this daylight displaces electric lighting which would otherwise be on, there are energy savings from not having to turn on the lights. Windows are seldom selected by consumers on the basis of their energy performance alone. Instead, appearance, the operating mechanisms, color, and price dominate selection features. Energy impacts have been less important, due primarily to a lack of objective information about the window itself, or available at the sale site, regarding energy performance. Here in the Wichita area, there is sufficient change in climate throughout the year that the selection of properly built and placed windows in a home can really make a difference in the energy necessary for the occupants to remain comfortable year round. And if you think about it, what might be more desirable than looking out of a wall of beautiful insulated windows upon green grass, shade trees, and flowers? Those are things we have an abundant supply of here in the middle of the US. With great window upgrades, you can bring the outdoors inside! And with springtime upon us, let’s enjoy all the good things we can see through our windows each and every day…more next month…

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Bob Crager

2007-03-01 12:52:00

How do I replace a broken window pane in my aluminum frame?

ANSWER: Let's suppose you still have those old aluminum single pane windows in your house, and one of the neighbor kids throws a ball through it (one of those accidents that every kid in the yard denies knowledge of or personal involvement in). Depending on where you live, you can pay anywhere from $75 to $150 to get it fixed. Well, if you're willing to spend an hour or two, and have the know-how, you can get the window fixed for somewhere around $20 to $40. I'm not going to try and explain how to cut your own glass. That’s better left to the pro at the glass shop, who can also do the remove and replacement for you if you’re not confident you can do it. I am going to explain how to get the old glass out, measure for the new glass, and install the replacement glass. So, let's use this article to explain the most common type of aluminum frame window. That would be the sliders. If you have a sliding window, one of the panels will be stationary, and the other will slide back and forth. If the slider is the one broken, you simply lift up and swing the bottom out. If the bottom won't come out, check for rollers up on top of the frame. Sometimes the top rollers are adjusted up so the slider can't be removed. Just loosen the screw holding the roller in place and lift up with a little force. That should push the rollers down, allowing you to remove the panel. Lay the panel on a flat table and measure the width and height of the glass only. Take this measurement and add 1/2" to both the width and height. This is the size of the new glass that you need to order. Measure the thickness of the old glass. It will either be 1/8" or a little less than that. The thinner glass is called single strength and is actually about 3/32". The 1/8" glass is called double strength glass. Be sure to order the right one. If you order double strength glass because you figure it's stronger than the old single strength piece, you are going to have a devil of a time putting the frame back together. That tiny 1/32" difference can be a real pain in the neck. Trust me on this. You want to replace single strength with single strength. Now, it's time to take the frame apart and remove all of the old glass. Make sure to put on a heavy pair of gloves to avoid getting cut. You will find a screw in each corner of your frame. You want to remove two of these screws in opposite corners. So, if you remove the bottom left screw, you need to also remove the top right one. Now, take a rubber mallet, slide one of the corners off the table that has the screw removed, and tap the frame to separate it from the glass. Set that half of the frame aside, and then do the same thing to the other half. Now you should have two halves of the frame, a piece of rubber, and lots of glass. Throw away all the glass. Now, clean out the rubber, making certain to get every piece of glass out of there and into the trash can. Now, head out for the glass shop. When you get the replacement glass home, lay it on the table with one long and one short side hanging over the edge. Put the rubber on those two overhanging edges. Put one half of the frame (it doesn't matter which half) against the glass and tap the corner on first. Then tap the long edge onto the rubber until it seals. Then do the short edge. Now, put the other two edges over the table and do the same procedure. Finally, install the screws in the corners. Put the panel back in and you're done. If the broken pane is the stationary portion, there is a little extra work involved to get the glass panel out. You need to take out the slider first, and then remove the two screws holding the center bar in place. Tap the center bar away from the panel until it is off the side of the panel. Set it aside. Then tap the frame edge to pull it out of the channel attached to the wall. Once it's away from the side channel, you can lift it up and out like you did with the slider. You remove and install the glass in the frame just like you did with the slider, put the frame back in the opening, tap it into the side channel, install the center bar and screws, and install the sliding panel. That's it! You're done. If this sounds like something you don’t want to tackle, just remove the window and take it to the glass shop, and they’ll have it looking like new for you in short order. In the alternative, they are happy to come out to your home and remove the broken windows for you. Sometimes what starts out as a “do it myself” project turns into a “I don’t think so” project, and a call to the glass shop. In any case, cracked or broken window glass looks bad, and will not get better with time. Broken glass can’t heal itself…least not yet…More next month…

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Bob Crager

2007-02-01 14:25:00

How Is Stained Glass Used In Buildings Today?

ANSWER: Last month we visited about stained glass, and its uses in homes and/or commercial buildings such as churches. In these earlier periods of time, stained glass became a fashionable addition to residences , public buildings and churches. Heraldic glass showing detailed shields and coats of arms on simple, transparent backgrounds, was becoming common. Much of what stained glass was earlier became forgotten. The 18th century saw the removal of many medieval stained glass windows, which were destroyed as hopelessly old fashioned, and replaced by painted glass. England, in the mid 1800’s, saw a revival of interest in Gothic architecture. Several amateur art historians and scientists rediscovered the medieval glass techniques. Pieces of glass were tested and their color secrets were unlocked. Glass studios in England made their versions of medieval windows for Gothic Revival buildings. The Bolton Brothers, English immigrants, established one of the first stained glass studios in America. These Gothic style windows enhanced churches, and simple ornamental windows and painted figural windows were the norm, until the development of a distinctive American style. John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany were two American painters who began experimenting with glass products. These men were contemporaries, but working independently, they were trying to develop glass that possessed a wide range of visual effects, but without painting it. They soon became competitors. LaFarge developed and copyrighted opalescent glass in 1879. Tiffany popularized it, and his name became synonymous with opalescent glass and the American glass movement. LaFarge and Tiffany used intricate cuts and richly colored glasses within detailed, flowing designs. Plating, or layering glass, achieved depth and texture. Both made windows for private homes as well as churches. The process of using thin strips of copper as a substitute for lead allowed for intricate sections within windows. Tiffany adapted the technique to construct lampshades, and capitalized on the brand new innovation: electric lighting. Tiffany’s customers were the wealthy, turn-of-the-century families, including the Vanderbilts' and Astors. The Tiffany style prompted many imitators, and opalescent windows and shades remained popular through the turn of the next century. Tastes changed after WWI, and a revival of archeological accuracy in architecture called for new gothic glass windows for the NeoGothic churches. When LaFarge died in 1910, interest in opalescent glass waned, and Tiffany remained its last defendant until his death, in 1933, and the subsequent bankruptcy of his studios. New craftsmen such as William Willet, Rambusch, Charles Connick and Nicolai D’Ascenzo, made windows for churches all across the American continent. Except for church windows, stained glass remained in decline until the post WWII era. The abstract and expressionist movement in painting influenced a new group of artists to explore artistic expression in the medium of glass. Contemporary church windows may in some ways be closer to those of the early Gothic period. Not easy to identify scenes, they again create a pure atmosphere of light and color, inspiring a contemplative attitude through the transformation of the ordinary into the mystical. Stained glass, or more appropriately, art glass, is all around us today. An explosion of interest in the last 30 years has given rise to many new and imaginative forms of this art. The rise of the individual artist, new technologies and the growing interest in stained glass as a hobby craft have all lead to what is being called a new golden age in glass. New homes are frequently embellished with spectacular beveled glass entryways, stained glass bathroom windows and Tiffany style lampshades. Decorative panels are purchased just to hang in a sunny window. Marvelous hot formed glass pieces adorn tables, walls, shelves and fill windows. New artists are combining, creating and developing unique new forms and styles every day. See your local glass dealer for answers to your window or glass questions. Some of the information was researched from the worldwide web...More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2007-01-01 14:58:00

Is Stained Glass Practical For Home Windows?

ANSWER: The origins of the first stained glass windows are lost in history. The technique probably came from jewelry making, cloisonné and mosaics. Stained glass windows as we know them seemed to arise when substantial church building began, and wasn't then, or now, common in homes. By the 10th century, depictions of Christ and biblical scenes were found in French and German churches and decorative designs that were found in England. There is a mystery to glass. It is a form of matter with gas, liquid and solid state properties. Glass is most like a super-cooled liquid. It captures light and glows from within. It is a jewel like substance made from the most ordinary materials...sand, which is transformed by fire. Before recorded history, man learned to make glass and color it by adding metallic salts and oxides. These minerals within the glass capture specific portions from the spectrum of white light, thus allowing the human eye to see various colors. Gold produces stunning cranberry, cobalt makes amazing blues. Silver creates yellows and some golds, while copper, makes greens and brick red. Techniques of stained glass window construction were described by the monk Theophilus, who wrote a how-to for craftsmen about 1100 AD. It describes methods little changed over 900 years. He wrote…"If you want to assemble simple windows, first mark out the dimensions of their length and breadth on a wooden board, then draw scroll work or anything else that pleases you, and select colors that are to be put in. Cut the glass and fit the pieces together with the grozing iron. Enclose them with lead canes and solder it on both sides. Surround it with a wooden frame strengthened with nails and set it up in the place where you wish." The Gothic age produced the great cathedrals of Europe and brought a full flowering of stained glass windows. Churches became taller and lighter, walls thinned and stained glass was used to fill the increasingly larger openings in these openings. Stained glass became the sun filled world outside. Abbot Suger of the Abbey of St. Denis rebuilt his church in what is one of the first examples of the Gothic style. He brought in craftsmen to make the glass and kept a journal of what was done. He truly believed that the presence of beautiful objects would lift men's souls closer to God. Who are we to argue that? Stained glass windows are often viewed as translucent pictures. Gothic stained glass windows are a complex mosaic of bits of colored glass joined with lead, into an intricate pattern illustrating biblical stories and Saints lives. Viewed from the ground, they appear not as a picture but as a network of black lines and colored light. Medieval man experienced a window more than he read it. It made the church that special, sacred dwelling place of an all powerful God. We see that medieval craftsmen were more interested in illustrating and idea than creating natural or realistic images. Rich, jewel colors played off milky, dull neutrals. Paint work was often crude and unsophisticated. A dark brown enamel, called grisaille, was matted to the glass surface to delineate features, not to control the transmission of light. In the 15th century, the apex of high Gothic, the way stained glass was viewed changed. It became more a picture and less an atmosphere. Paler colors admitted more light and figures were larger, often filling the entire window. Paint work became more sophisticated, more like easel painting. The rediscovery of silver stain allowed the artist to realistically depict yellow hair and golden garments. Stained glass artists became glass painters as the form became closer and closer to panel painting. Lead lines that were once accepted as a necessary and decorative element became structural evils to be camouflaged by the design. The Renaissance brought the art of stained glass into a 300 year period where windows were white glass, heavily painted. They lost all their previous glory and it seemed the original symbolism and innate beauty of stained glass was forgotten. Only more expensive construction will likely include elements of stained glass today. Most homeowners of today are much more concerned with energy saving elements than the beauty of stained glass…More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-12-01 09:28:00

What Should I Consider If I'm Replacing My Old Windows In My House?

ANSWER: Whether you're replacing windows in an older house, or choosing windows for a new house, your decisions on what type of windows to buy will be among the most important decisions you will make in terms of energy use. Because of the impact windows have on both heat loss and heat gain, proper selection of products can be troubling. To add to the confusion, window glazing technology has changed tremendously in recent years. The best window glazings today insulate nearly four times better than the best commonly available windows from twenty years ago. Window technology has improved very dramatically in recent years, and the net result is the lowering of your energy bills. Let's discuss some of the most important energy features of windows that are used in both replacement and new construction today. Until the 1980s the primary way manufacturers improved the energy performance of windows was to add additional layers of glazing, or panes. Double glazing insulates almost twice as well as single glazing. Adding a third or fourth layer of glazing results in even further improvements. Some of these windows use glass only, but others use thin plastic films for the inner glazing layers. With double-glazed windows the air space between the panes of glass has a big effect on overall energy performance. A very thin air space does not insulate as well as a thicker air space because of the conductivity through that small space. Many window manufacturers have increased the thickness of the air space in their double-glazed windows from ¼" to ½" or more. If the air space is too wide, however, convection loops between the layers of glazing can occur. Beyond about 1", you don't get any further gain in energy performance by virtue of thicker air spaces. It's a point of diminishing returns to go thicker. By substituting a denser, lower conductivity gas such as argon for the air in a sealed insulated glass window, heat loss can be reduced significantly. Most major window manufacturers offer argon-gas fill as an option in their most popular windows. Other gases that have been or are being used in windows include carbon dioxide, krypton, and argon-krypton mixtures. Tinted glass and tinted window films have long been used in commercial buildings to reduce heat gain through windows. Improved, lightly tinted windows are becoming more common for the residential market in southern (cooling-dominated) climates. These newly implemented glazings can reduce the solar heat gain, without reducing visibility as much as the older tinted glass and films. More than any other single improvement, the invention and commercial development of low-emissivity (low-e) coatings in the 1980s revolutionized window technology. Thin, transparent coatings of silver or tin oxide permit visible light to pass through, but they effectively reflect infrared heat radiation back into the room. This reduces heat loss through the windows in the wintertime. A variety of low-e windows are now available for different climate zones and different applications in any particular location. Low-e windows with high solar heat gain coefficients are appropriate for northern climates, where passive solar heating is advantageous, while "southern low-e" windows with low heat gain coefficients are appropriate in milder climates where summer cooling is more significant than winter heating. The edge spacer is what holds the panes of glass apart and provides the airtight seal in an insulated glass window. Traditionally, these have been hollow aluminum channels, usually filled with desiccant beads. Aluminum has extremely high conductivity. That didn't matter when the glazing did not insulate very well, but as better performing glazings were developed, proportionately more heat was lost through the edges. Since about 1990, a number of improved edge spacers have come onto the market. Some are made of thin-walled steel and have a thermal break. Others are made of silicone foam or butyl rubber. Generally, better edge seals are a low-cost option when changing out windows, and well worth considering. Interesting, huh? More next month...

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-11-01 16:01:00

How Can Older Folks Get The House Ready For Winter Weather?

ANSWER: Your ability to feel a change in temperature decreases with age, and older people are more susceptible to health problems caused by the cold temperatures. If you are over 65 years old, place an easy-to-read thermometer in an indoor location where you will see it frequently, and check the temperature of your home often during the winter months. Insulate any water lines that run along your exterior walls so that your water supply will be less likely to freeze. To the extent that it's possible, weatherproof your home by adding weather-stripping, insulation, insulated doors and storm windows, or thermal-pane windows. Although periods of extreme cold cannot always be predicted far in advance, weather forecasts can sometimes provide you with several days' notice. Listen to weather forecasts regularly, and check your emergency supplies whenever a period of extreme cold is predicted. Take no chances, as a mistake can be fatal. Windows that leak air just have to be fixed or replaced. If you think you can't afford this, I can assure you that you cannot afford the costs associated with not taking care of the problem of leaky windows. On a day when there is a little wind blowing outside, light a candle, and hold it still in front of your windows and watch the flame. If it is blowing around, you have leaks. You're losing a lot of your high cost energy right out the windows, doors, or the ceilings. If you plan to use a fireplace or wood stove for emergency heating, have your chimney or flue inspected each year. Ask your local fire department to recommend an inspector, or find one in the yellow pages of your telephone directory under "chimney cleaning." Also, if you'll be using a fireplace, wood stove, or kerosene heater, install a smoke detector and a battery-operated carbon monoxide detector near the area to be heated. Test them each month, and replace the batteries twice each year. You can't afford weak batteries! If you have pets, bring them inside. If you cannot bring them indoors, provide adequate shelter to keep them warm, and make sure that they have access to unfrozen water. It's just as important to have plenty of fresh drinking water in the cold weather as it is in the hot ole summertime. More Next Month..

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-10-01 10:54:00

QUESTION: Low E Window Glass…Can It Save Me Heating Dollars?

ANSWER: We spend millions of dollars every year to heat our homes and businesses. That is why it is so important to understand the role that windows play in how buildings use energy. One of the best ways to measure the effect of windows on building energy use is known as a U-factor rating. Windows are not like walls and insulation. The high prices for natural gas, electricity, and home heating fuel that followed the first oil embargo in the early 1970s made energy a high profile, pocketbook issue. Many consumers became aware of R-values, which is a measurement of a product’s resistance to heat loss. They learned that materials with higher R-values (floors, walls, and roofs) are more energy efficient. R-values are still used by many building material companies , especially insulation. As we said earlier, windows are very different from insulation in walls and ceilings. Windows let the light in and allow people to see out, and they interact with their environment in ways that insulation does not. They react to outside air temperatures, sunlight, and wind, as well as indoor air temperatures and occupant usage. Windows are strongly affected by solar radiation and the airflow around them. R-value does not accurately reflect this interaction. Therefore, the window industry measures the energy efficiency of their products in terms of thermal transmission, or U-factor. U-factor measures the rate of heat transfer through a product. Therefore, the lower the U-factor, the lower the amount of heat loss, and the better a product is at insulating a building. The biggest difference between U-factor and R-value is that U-factor measures the rate of heat transfer (or loss) while R-value measures the resistance to heat loss. R-value is a measure of conductivity. A product with high conductivity will transfer heat quickly, like a hot pan on the stove or a single pane of glass on a cold day. U-factor, on the other hand, takes into account more than conductivity. It also is affected by the airflow around the window and the emissivity of the glass. Emissivity is the ability of a product to absorb certain types of energy, specifically infrared and radiate that energy through itself and out of a room. A product with high emissivity, such as one pane of clear glass, will transfer over 84 percent of the infrared energy from a warm room outside to the cold air. The lower the conductivity and emissivity of the glass, the lower the rate of heat loss and the lower the U-factor. There have been significant technological developments over the last 10 years involving low emissivity (low-e) coatings on the glass. There are now many glass products available with these low-e coatings, which are typically used in dual pane windows and insulating glass units. Let's button it up for Winter! More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-09-01 16:04:00

QUESTION: What should we do to our house to get ready for fall & winter weather?
 

ANSWER: Regarding windows and doors specifically, there are a number of things to check out to insure that you go through the cooler season without difficulties. You should seal up drafty doors and windows by checking out the thresholds and weather seals. If you added up all of the small cracks where the heating and cooling escapes from a home, it would be just the same as having a window open all the time. Not good! Replace all the broken window seals as needed, as thermo-pane windows that lose their seals are hard to see through, and they don't do the job of insulating for heat gain or loss. See your glass shop for replacement panes.The roof vents, chimneys, and any skylights should be checked out for leaks, and be certain to give special attention to the rubber boots around the vent stacks. These can deteriorate over time and allow rain to penetrate your home's interior, causing damage to sheetrock and interior décor. While you're at it, check the attic vents, which should be closed in the winter to conserve heat, and opened in the summer to promote ventilation. Clean your gutters and downspouts of leaves and debris and make sure they drain rain water away from your foundation...and don't forget to take off your hoses if there is freezing weather coming. This prevents to prevent freezing your freeze plug in the outdoor hydrants, causing them to leak lots of water into your basement.Clean the fireplace chimney and flue to prevent soot buildup and unwanted fires caused by failure to maintain these areas properly.Remember to clean or replace furnace filters once a month, or as needed. Check and clean the dryer vent, air conditioner coils, stove hood and bathroom fans. Keep heating and cooling vents clean and free from furniture and draperies, promoting good circulation of the heated or cooled air. It's also thought to be a good idea to put a cover over the air conditioning units in the off season to prevent the elements from having a negative effect on those. Have your furnace serviced in the fall, and the ac in the spring to avoid problems that can be avoided by proper maintenance. Sometimes it is a good idea to drain the hot water heater, and remove sediment from the bottom of the tank. And finally, ensure that all smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers are in good working order. Replace the batteries in appropriate devices as needed, or at least twice each year. If the siding is in good shape, you should be able to go through the cooler months of the year without too much difficulty. I hope this checklist helps you, and I'll have more next month...     

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-08-01 09:43:00

QUESTION: Can people die from broken windows in a storm?
  

ANSWER:  Conventional window glass used in homes and business applications normally was not designed to resist wind-blown debris, such as tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, explosions and/or terrorist attacks. When subjected to these kinds of stresses, existing glass often breaks into lethal shards that are hurled from the window frame, thereby endangering building occupants and passers-by. Broken glass also causes additional property damage.Security window film can improve the ability of existing glass to mitigate the impact of explosive forces and wind-blown debris. The primary function of security film is to hold glass intact if it is indeed broken. A hurricane or tornado can hurl an object through a window, thus causing dagger-style glass shards to strike the occupants. A bomb exploding creates a shock wave that breaks glass into lethal projectiles. A sufficient explosion may cause glass to become atomized. When an explosive shock wave causes victims to gasp for air, they breathe in the atomized glass particles and often die from that. Typical window performance problems include unacceptable air infiltration, poor insulating capability, the inability to block solar heat, transmission of ultraviolet radiation and noise, and vulnerability to electronic eavesdropping. Security enhancements to glass become more economically feasible if they also improve window performance capabilities.Existing glass can be replaced with laminated glass, which is actually two or more pieces of glass, bonded by a polyvinyl butyral plastic interlayer. Compared to conventional glass, laminated glass can provide much increased resistance to wind-blown debris and seismic and/or explosive forces. Security window film is an alternative to replacing existing glass with laminated glass. Window film can be optically clear, tinted or reflective, and it is applied to the interior surface of existing glass. Typical film installations cover the visible portion of the glass surface to the edge of the frame, but do not extend to the glass edge inside the frame. Film can be applied to either single pane or many types of insulating glass. When the appropriate film is properly applied to insulating glass, it does not impact the integrity of an insulating glass sealant or generate thermal stress to glass from uneven heat absorption. Applied security window film is available with or without solar control capabilities. Because security window film can stretch without tearing, it can absorb a significant degree of the shock wave of an explosion. As this explosive force moves toward the glass and pushes it inward, the glass eventually cracks and breaks. However, the security film applied to the rear of the glass continues to absorb the shock wave, stretching until it can no longer bear the pressure, at which time it bursts. The shock wave, when great enough to break the glass, is not enough to shear the film. This results in the glass being broken but held intact by the film. Both laminated glass and security window film can mitigate the impact of explosions, wind-blown debris and earthquakes. The performance of both depends on the relationship of each to the existing window frames. More next month…   

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-07-01 09:38:00

Question: Can glass windows be kept intact during windstorms?

ANSWER: Hurricanes? Tornados? Hurricane window protection is on the mind of just about every homeowner in the Florida area and all other states that touch the Gulf of Mexico, as well as those who live in tornado alley in the plains states like Kansas. The fierce winds of a hurricane can pick up all kinds of objects which become projectiles. Imagine a piece of 2x4 flying through the air at 130 miles per hour. Think what happens when that 2x4 smashes into an unprotected patio door or window of your home. Not a pretty thought, huh? Once the glass is shattered, wind-blown rain is driven right on into the interior of the home. This water will cause all sorts of damage to the house and any possessions it saturates. The inside of the home also becomes pressurized by the sustained and gusty wind blasts, and this can actually tear a house apart. Once inside a building, wind is brutal.For these reasons, you can see why it is vitally important to keep window glass intact during hurricanes and tornados, where possible. There are several ways to do this. Hurricane shutters, hurricane screens, laminated glass, 7/16-inch thick or thicker plywood, screwed into place covering the windows, tempered glass, security window films, miscellaneous other window films and annealed glass. The cost to install these different systems varies, as well as the level of protection each offers. But the security window films are some of the most effective. These films can offer some distinct advantages. Security window films are crystal clear, and certain types can offer great ultraviolet light protection, as well as blocking solar heat gain. The films adhere to the inside of the window glass, and are a passive protection system. They allow the glass to shatter, but the window film then holds the broken glass in position. The window film continues to work until the storm is over, when new glass can be installed. During the storm, however, the window film provides the needed weather barrier so wind and rain stay outdoors, protecting your personal possessions from water and wind damage.Another big advantage to security window films is their much lower cost. They are very affordable when compared to durable and discrete hurricane shutters. Hurricane shutters and other devices that cover over a window often are not as aesthetically pleasing as one might like. Security window films offer invisible protection once installed. You simply do not see them, yet they are protecting your home from storms and even burglars who try to break glass to gain entry into a home. So in summary, though window films, properly installed, don't guarantee that no water or wind will intrude into your home, they do offer some measure of protection for this...When glass shatters absent the film, the opening is there for wind and water to enter.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-06-01 10:04:00

Question: I read recently that local banks are using ‘man traps’ with bullet proof glass to help in employee and customer safety. Is that true?

ANSWER: In a recent column we reported about the banking industry using devices known as ‘Man Traps’ with ballistic glass to attempt to address the customer safety issues that have to be dealt with in the banking business. While going to the bank has never been easier, the convenience of having a teller on virtually every street corner has also given potential robbers a lot more choices. Competition for customers is driving bank expansion throughout the country, also fueling the push for extended and increasingly irregular banking hours. Many consumers can now apply for home equity loans on a Sunday night where they buy their groceries. Wild, huh?If a new bank moves into a certain market, all the other banks take notice, and will work to adopt any changes the new bank may have brought because of competitive concerns. And while holdups are not a new problem for this industry, enacting security changes to deter potential robbers can be challenging, especially when consumers expect more access to their money, not less. Banks are kind of caught between a rock and a hard spot. Because as you make a business easier to access for customers, you could be making it easier access for robbers too. Nationally, there were fewer bank robberies in the U.S. last year. But current figures provided by the Chicago-area FBI office show that the number of holdups in Chicago have been on the rise for several years, which culminated with a record 238 hold-ups in 2005. The increase has coincided with a Chicago-area bank building boom that has outpaced the rest of the country, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. There's just more targets out there for bank robbers to hit. The rise in robberies has led some banking executives to evaluate their security measures, but finding the right balance between security of customers and tellers, and convenience, is difficult. One high-tech deterrent, a vestibule that tellers can lock as an offender tries to escape, was disabled at a bank in a predominantly black neighborhood in Chicago after community activists protested the so-called "man trap" doors in 2004. These vestibules are in use at some local banking and credit unions in Wichita. The important thing is to try to use the right level of security for each individual branch, and there are tellers at some Chase banks now working behind bullet-resistant glass. Nova Comm Security Systems has made man-trap doors for banks in Florida, Detroit, Beverly Hills, Calif., and other U.S. cities. Their units feature a metal detector that screens customers for weapons before they can enter the bank. Most consumers have expressed little opposition to the products. In most areas, if you educate the customer and the staff the right way, and let them know that this is there for their protection, they can understand that. Some banks are also restricting what customers wear. After several of its 33 branches were hit by the same ski-mask-wearing robber, West Suburban Bank in Chicago installed signs asking customers to remove their hats, hoods and sunglasses. The Lombard, Ill.-based company says a similar program in Missouri reduced the number of robberies in participating banks by 40 percent. Authorities are still analyzing data for 2005, but preliminary figures show that there were 6,800 bank robberies in the U.S. That's fewer than in 2004, when there were 7,556 robberies, or 2003, when 7,465 bank robberies were reported. The funny thing is there is no rhyme or reason to the fluctuations. If you go back and look at the numbers for the last 20 years, you'll see it goes up and it goes down. There's no specific trend. Some information was researched from the world wide web.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-05-01 17:10:00

: How does one go about fixing a broken window in one’s home? Is it a major project?

ANSWER: It’s not that difficult. Most often, folks think they have to be able to cut glass. That’s not the case. You really don't have to know how to cut glass in order to repair your window. If you know how to remove the frame from the opening, you can order a replacement piece of glass from your local glass shop already cut to the proper size. Then, it's just a matter of installing the new glass into the frame. Generally, here's what you can do. There are really two categories of home windows. They are single pane windows and double or triple pane windows. Then, within those categories, there are several types of windows in each one. Let's start with the single pane window. This would be the older windows that were built and installed before the building industry became energy conscious. It just means that there is a single piece of glass in the frame that surrounds it. A lot of homeowners mistakenly think a horizontal sliding window must be a double pane window, since there is a pane of glass in the sliding panel and another pane in the stationary panel. The term refers to the number of panes in the sliding or fixed panel individually. A single pane horizontal sliding window has a single pane of glass in the sliding panel, and a single pane in the fixed panel. A double pane slider would actually have two pieces of glass in each/both the sliding panel and in the fixed panel. The pieces in each panel of a double paned window are separated by approximately 3/8" of dead airspace, and will have a metal spacer around the edge of the glass. Now, let's get back to the single pane repairs. One of the more common types of single pane windows is the type that uses putty, or glazing, to hold the glass in the frame. Nearly all old wood windows are done this way. Old metal casement windows are usually done this way as well. The casement window is the kind with the handle on the inside bottom corner that you crank, and the window opens outward on top and bottom pivots. Let’s focus this article on the putty style replacements.Before you begin, pick a local glass shop in your area where you will go to pick up the new glass. Make sure they are going to be open the day you do the work, and confirm with them that if you call in an order for a pane of glass in the morning, you can pick it up in an hour or two. You don't want to remove the glass from the window frame, only to then find out the glass shop won't have your glass cut until next week. The fastest and easiest way to remove the old glass is to break it out by putting an old sheet or a tarp on the ground below the window. Then, use gloves with a material that will prevent a piece of glass from cutting your hands. Get yourself a pair of safety glasses as well. Now, go inside with a hammer and knock the glass out of the central portion of the window. It's best if you leave some glass shards sticking out around the edges, as you can grab the protruding glass pieces and use them to leverage the old putty loose. The more old putty that you can get to come out along with the glass, the less scraping you will have to do later. Sometimes it practically falls out on its own. On the other hand, sometimes the putty has almost become a part of the wood. The only way to separate the putty from the frame in those cases is to use a putty knife to scrape it down to the wood. While removing the putty, you will find little pieces of metal that are used to hold the glass in place while applying the putty. The wood windows use push points, and you can get a package of new ones at the glass shop or hardware store. If you're working with the metal casement window, the metal clips are called sash clips. You might have a harder time finding these. In any case, I don't see any problem re-using the old ones. Once you have removed all the glass and putty, clean the frame with a brush. Then measure the width of the frame where the glass installs at three locations...the bottom of the glass opening, the middle, and the top. Take the smallest measurement and deduct 1/8" for wood windows and 3/8" for steel casements. Then, measure the height at the left side, center, and right side. Take the smallest measurement and deduct 1/8" on wood windows and 1/4" on casements. When you order your new glass pieces, order double strength glass, and give the width first, then the height. When you get the new glass home, put a thin bead of caulk on the frame where the glass is going to make contact. Install the glass. The caulk will hold the glass in place while you install the metal push points. You can either apply putty, or use white caulk. If you're going to use caulk, cut the tip below the tapered part, and cut at a 45 degree angle. You want the largest possible hole to allow the caulk to cover the large area previously covered by the putty. The caulk method is faster than putty, but it requires more skill to make the job look good. Take your time applying the putty or caulk. Make sure to use the putty knife to smooth the surface. Clean up with a damp sponge, and you've just completed the repair on your window glass.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-04-01 12:56:00

QUESTION: How can I prevent heat loss or gain in my windows?

ANSWER: There's a new breed of glass that outperforms just about every window on the market. A double-pane window of this new "super glass" loses up to 42 percent less heat than a standard double-pane window. It's even better than a triple-pane window because it weighs less, costs about the same, and can save as much or more energy. Most major manufacturers have promoted the super glass in storm windows, as well as patio doors and skylights. It's sold under a lot of different brand names, but it's known generically as low-emissivity glass. A low-emissivity window or patio door looks like an ordinary window or patio door with double pane glass in it, but there is one key difference.  The inside face of the outer pane has a metallic coating that's only a few hundred atoms thick. This microscopically thin coating can barely be seen, but it stops radiant heat loss by not emitting it to the cold outdoors.  Hence the higher R-value of low-emissivity windows.Not only will your heating bills notice this improvement, but you should, too. In winter, your thermostat may be set at a warm 70 F, but you'll feel chilled sitting near an ordinary window. Some of that chill may be due to air leaking through its cracks, but some is also due to the radiant heat loss of your warm body to that cold glass. If your windows are skinny single-panes, the room-side surface of that glass is only 14 F when it's zero degrees outside! If you have ordinary double-pane glass, the room-side glass temperature will be about 41 F. But with low-emissivity glass, the room side surface will be 51 F. For all its benefits, super glass doesn't cost much more than standard windows. Another type of super glass is known as Heat Mirror. It's based on the same principle of reducing radiant heat loss, but in this case the metallic coating is deposited on a clear plastic film, which is then suspended between two panes of glass. You get a window with two benefits: (1) the insulating value of a triple-pane window, and (2) the low-emissivity coating for an R-value of about 4.2. Heat Mirror was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s, partly with federal funds, and has been in production since 1981. It is sold to various window makers, who incorporate it into their lines. When shopping for super glass, look for the longest warranty and the lowest U-value. Window literature generally rates energy performance in terms of U-value. The U-values of super glass vary, depending on the glass manufacturer and the type of coating. The coating can be applied to glass in two ways: by a "pyrolitic" method, while the glass is still molten, and by a "vacuum" method, once the glass is hard. The vacuum method results in a better U-value, but creates handling problems for window manufacturers, and cannot be placed in storm windows. Some information was researched from the World Wide Web. More good stuff next month.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2006-03-01 13:04:00

QUESTION: Did you ever wish you could find a way to stop sounds outside from coming into your home and violating your sleep? Or interrupting your television viewing…or worse?

ANSWER: Sound is measured by a rating system, much like earthquakes are measured by a Richter Scale. STC is the acronym which stands for Sound Transmission Class. STC ratings are established as a way to get an average of how much sound is stopped by something. The ratings are used to measure windows, walls, drywall, doors, and a lot of other building materials. The rating range for windows is 18 to 50. These ratings are the industry accepted way of measuring the amount of noise that is stopped. There are a total of 18 different frequencies in which the average amount of noise measured is being stopped, and this is measured in decibels. Each number on this logarithmic scale is quite a bit higher than the one before. Single pane window panes generally have ratings between 20 and 27. Thickness of the glass, and the air tightness of the panes determine the difference.  Double-paned windows usually vary from 28 to 35, assuming that the panes have good airtight seals. The variation is not only due to the thickness of the glass, but also the amount of air space between the panes of glass forming the double-paned glass.Actual Soundproof Windows range from 41 to 51 (with higher numbers possible), and the number varies depending upon the existing window and the air space. With a single-paned window in a standard wall, the STC rating is 41. With double-paned windows, the STC rating is 45 or more. With increases of air space, figures greater than 50 are easily achieved.An increase in the number from 28 to 38 means 90 percent of the noise is reduced. A change from 28 to 43 represents a noise reduction of over 95 percent. Small increases can mean a lot of extra noise reduction. The increase from 38 to 43 mentioned above does not sound like much (90 percent versus 95% plus in reductions) But going from 90 percent to over 95 percent means that 60 percent of the remaining noise was removed. Every number gained or lost represents a large amount of noise being added or subtracted from the interior of the room or building.  More next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2005-12-29 14:16:00

Question: How does bullet proof glass work?

Answer: I found some interesting information that kind of ties in with our article from last month on Bulletproof Glass! This is about a new way of preventing successful bank robberies utilizing some pretty good technology, and some bulletproof glass. A local bank in Wichita was robbed a couple weeks ago during a "takeover" robbery by several thugs who got away!  Betch'a they wish they'd had this setup at that bank. Here's the story…The man was clutching $1,760 and was just steps from a clean getaway last week when he became the second bank robber in an eastern state in 10 days to be gobbled up by a security system dubbed the "man trap," FBI agents said. After passing a note to a teller demanding money, police said the robber was headed for the exit of a Citizen's Bank in West Philadelphia, cash in hand, when an alert clerk pushed a button, automatically locking the 36-year-old between two bulletproof doors in the bank's vestibule. Days earlier, a similar scenario played out at another Citizen's Bank in Pittsburgh. Police arrested that bank robber after he was locked inside a chamber at the bank's exit as he tried to flee with an envelope stuffed with cash. Cool Beans, huh?The two arrests are the latest in a string of captures that have been made at Citizen's branches since its predecessor, Mellon Bank, began installing "man traps" - or Access Control Units - in 1994. "When it's been used, it's been quite effective," said a bank spokeswoman. "It's a great protection for our employees and customers."The traps, which are widely used in Europe but still rare in the United States, work like this: Patrons entering the bank pass through one door, which closes and locks behind them. In many units, they then pass through a metal detector, and if they aren't carrying any large metallic objects, a second door unlocks and allows them to enter the bank. In other setups there is no metal detector, and they must be buzzed in by a clerk. On their way out, customers pass through a second set of double security doors. Generally, the second door will automatically open once the first one has closed, but bank employees can lock both doors with the flip of a switch. For the average law-abiding patron, the system poses only a slight inconvenience.  Only one person can enter the security vestibule at a time, meaning that there can be delays of a few moments if several people want to enter a bank at once, but "customers know that they're there, and they don't seem to mind."  "We have installed more of them as time has gone on."Nova Comm, a Puerto-Rico based security company, said it has sold about 300 of its version of the trap since 1995, and has never seen a successful robbery at a bank with one of the systems. "It prevents the gang-type takeover robbery," said the company's general manager, who is a former security director for Puerto Rico's Banco Popular. "If you see somebody coming with a mask, or a gun, there is just no way they can go in."The systems, which cost $40,000 to $75,000, have gained slow acceptance, but might become more popular as the number of bank robberies rises after years of decline. The FBI reported 7,905 bank robberies in 2001, a hike of more than 20 percent since 1999. A spokesman for the American Bankers Association said "bank employees aren't expected to catch the criminals," but that the systems have been seeing some wider use in the past five years. "They are another tool, and banks always welcome new tools when it comes to the safety of their customers." Bulletproof Glass together with a "Man Trap" is good!  More interesting stuff next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2005-11-01 16:19:00

: What is tempered glass?     

ANSWER: I found some interesting information this month on the internet regarding the production of tempered glass. I thought I would share it with some of you, as it relates to interesting things the average person doesn't know about tempered glass. Tempered glass is utilized in most commercial applications, such as doors or windows that are subject to being in contact with consumers to avoid injuries from breaking and causing cuts, etc. In the production of flat glass, the molten silica-based mix is cooled slowly under carefully controlled conditions. This annealing procedure removes undesirable stresses from the glass. Cooling occurs in an annealing "lehr". As a result, the glass is termed "annealed" or "ordinary" glass. Annealed glass which has been heated to a temperature near its softening point and forced to cool very rapidly under carefully controlled conditions is described as "heat-treated glass", a term we've all heard before.  The heat treating process produces highly desirable conditions of induced stress (described below) which results in additional strength, resistance to thermal stress, and impact resistance. Heat-treated glasses are classified as either fully tempered or heat strengthened. According to Federal Specifications, fully tempered glass must have a surface compression of 10,000 psi or more, or an edge compression of 9,700 psi or more. Heat-strength glass must have a surface compression between 3,500 and 10,000 psi, or an edge compression between 5,500 and 9,700 psi. The fracture characteristics of heat- strengthened glass vary widely from very much like annealed glass near the 3,500 psi level to similar to fully tempered glass at the 10,000 psi level. The principle of heat treating is that glass can fracture when its surfaces or edges are placed into tension. Under those conditions inherent surface or edge fissures may propagate into visible cracks. The basic principle employed in the heat treating process is to create an initial condition of surface and edge compression. This condition is achieved by first heating the glass, then cooling the surfaces rapidly. This leaves the center glass thickness relatively hot, when compared to the surfaces. As the center thickness then cools, it forces the surfaces and edges into compression. Wind pressure, missile impact, thermal stresses or other applied loads must first overcome this compression before there is any possibility of fracture. In the "heat-treatment" process the key procedure is application of a rapid air quench immediately upon withdrawal of hot (approx. 1200 ° F) glass from the "tempering furnace." The immediate and sustained application of an air quench produces the temper. As air direction against hot glass from arrays of fixed, reciprocation or rotating blast nozzles, it is important to extract heat uniformly from both surfaces (uneven heat extraction may produce a bow or warp) and to sustain the quench long enough to prevent reheating of the glass surfaces from the still-hot glass core. A quenched condition becomes stable when the glass is reduced to a temperature of approximately 400-600 ° F.There are two principal manufacturing methods for producing heat-treated glass. One process heat treats the glass in a horizontal position while the second method moves the glass through the furnace in a vertical position with each light of glass held by metal tongs. Under wind pressure, tempered glass is approximately four times as strong as annealed glass. It resists breakage by small missiles traveling approximately twice as fast as missiles which break annealed glass. Tempered glass is also able to resist temperature differences (200 ° F - 300 ° F) which would cause annealed glass to crack. More next month...

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Glass

Bob Crager

2005-11-01 16:19:00

: How does bullet proof glass work?

ANSWER: Did you know that on appearance, bullet-resistant glass looks identical to any ordinary pane of glass, but that's where the similarities come to an end. An ordinary piece of glass shatters when it is struck by a single bullet. Bullet resistant glass is designed to withstand one or several rounds of bullets, depending upon the thickness of the glass and the type and size of weapon being fired at it. So, what gives bullet resistant glass the ability to stop bullets? From the internet, I learned that different manufacturers make different variations of bullet resistant glass, but it is basically made by layering a polycarbonate material between pieces of ordinary glass in a process called lamination. This process creates a glass like material that is thicker than normal glass. Polycarbonate is a tough transparent plastic, and is often known by the brand names Lexan, Tuffak or Cyrolon. Bullet-resistant glass is between 7 millimeters and 75 millimeters in thickness. A bullet fired at a sheet of bullet resistant glass will pierce the outside layer of the glass, but the layered polycarbonate glass material is able to absorb the bullet's energy and stop it before it exits the final layer. The ability of bullet resistant glass to stop a bullet is determined by the thickness of the glass. A rifle bullet will collide with the glass with a lot more force than a bullet from a handgun, so a thicker piece of bullet resistant glass would be needed to stop a rifle bullet as opposed to a handgun bullet. There is also another type of bullet resistant glass available, which has one side that's able to stop bullets while the other side allows bullets to pass through it unaffected. This gives a person being shot at the ability to shoot back. This type of bullet resistant glass is made by laminating a brittle sheet of material with a flexible material. Imagine a car equipped with this one-way bullet resistant glass. If a person outside the car shoots a bullet into the window, the bullet would strike the brittle side first. This brittle material would shatter around the point of impact and absorb some of the energy over a large area. The flexible material then absorbs the remaining energy of the bullet, stopping the bullet. A bullet fired from inside the same car would easily pass through the glass because the bullet's force is concentrated on a small area, which causes the material to flex. This causes the brittle material to break outwards, allowing the bullet to pierce the flexible material and strike its target.  But remember, it won't make much sense for you to have your car equipped with this kind of glass if it's a convertible and you ride around with the top down. More interesting stuff next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2005-09-01 14:36:00

:  When were mirrors first used and who created them?

ANSWER: The history of mirrors dates back to ancient times when mankind first saw reflections in a pond or river and considered it magic. Polished stone or metal was used in the first early man-made mirrors. Later, glass was used in combination with metals like tin, mercury, and lead to create mirrors. Today, combining glass and metal is still the design used in almost all modern mirrors.  Mirrors made by coating flat glass with silver or gold foil dates from Roman times and the inventor is unknown. The definition of a mirror is:  "a reflecting surface that forms an image of an object when light rays coming from that object fall upon the surface."  A plane mirror, which is flat, reflects light without changing the image. A convex mirror looks like an upside-down bowl, and in a convex mirror, objects look bigger in the center. In a concave mirror which has a bowl shape, objects look smaller in the center. The concave parabolic mirror is the principal element of a reflecting telescope. Interesting, huh?The two-way mirror was originally called the "transparent mirror". The first  U.S. patent for a two way mirror went to Emil Bloch, a subject of the Emperor of Russia, residing in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was for U.S. patent number 720,877, and was dated February 17th, 1903. Just like a regular mirror there is a silver coating on the glass of a two-way mirror which when applied to the back of the glass renders the glass opaque and reflective on its face under ordinary light conditions. But unlike a regular mirror, a two-way mirror is transparent when strong light is flashed in the rear. You won't look into your mirror the same way again, will you? More interesting stuff next month…

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Glass

Bob Crager

2005-09-01 07:39:00

:  Why did homesteaders build sod houses?

ANSWER: I found some interesting information on the net, and thought I would share some of it with the readers. One of the biggest attractions of the prairie lands for those planning to file on a homestead was the lack of trees, resulting in no roots, stumps, and seedlings on the land. Good for farming! The big disadvantage was the lack of materials to build a house. Lumber could be brought in by wagon or train, but that was expensive. The only cheap material on hand was the earth itself. Even if a settler did build a house of logs or boards, very often their animals would live in those made of earth. Plowing the grass produced a mat of grass roots and earth up to 4 inches thick and 18 inches wide. This was cut by axes into manageable lengths of sod, and used in the same way as bricks are used to build a house. So that the wall of earth would not be too high and unstable, settlers sometimes dug into the earth and laid the floor 4 feet below the ground. This allowed less of the exterior to stick up out of the earth. Sometimes a sod house or "dugout" was made by removing earth from a creek bank and then building just the front wall and roof. Gaps were left for doors and windows in the same way as for an ordinary house. It was easy enough to build a door into a door frame and to put window frames into place but getting glass could be difficult and expensive. Those folks would have loved the windows we have today! Due to those circumstances, oiled paper was sometimes used instead of glass. I like it better the way it is today!  The roof was usually made of twigs and thin branches from any available trees. Straw was piled on top of these branches and then finished off by laying more sod sections on top. Leaks? Oh yeah...Conditions inside the house largely depended on how well it had been built. Poorly built sod houses would let rain in through the roof. Care had to be taken that the walls were built straight and that each layer was secure. It was not unknown for poorly built sod house walls to collapse! A really big mess! Inside, the walls could be smoothed with an axe. A layer of mud and clay could be applied to give a more pleasing finish. The walls could then be white-washed or covered with newspaper. The smell of the earth was always there with you though. And unlike today, with low-e windows available everywhere, they had to burn lamps, rather than getting the great light of the sun into the interior of their homes.Another alternative was to build a cubic frame inside the house and cover this with paper. In that case, one had to be careful not to put an arm or foot through it! The earth would be very moist at first, leading to rather damp conditions inside the house. Very heavy rain would cause high humidity inside. In summer the sod house was an excellent cool shade from the fierce hot sun. In the winter it kept the heat in and the cold out. During exceptionally bad brutal winters, often the only people to survive were those in the sod houses.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2005-08-01 08:22:00

:   How did the making of glass begin and when?

ANSWER:  Thank you for the question.  I am sure I find it more interesting than most, but a little research shows some very interesting articles on glass and the history of glass-making.  Humans have used glass since prehistoric times, at first fashioning small objects from natural glass such as obsidian, a volcanic glass, or from rock crystal, a colorless, transparent quartz whose brilliance and clarity are emulated in manufactured glass.  The place and date of origin of manufactured glass are not known. The oldest known specimens of glass are from Egypt (c.2000 B.C.), where the industry was well established c.1500 B.C. Many varieties of glass were known during Roman times, including cameo glass, such as millefiore glass, produced from fused and molded bundles of thin glass rods of many colors. Glass was also used for window panes, mirrors, prisms, and magnifying glasses. Except for the work done in Constantinople, little is now known of the methods of glassmaking used in Europe from the fall of Rome until the 10th century when stained glass came into use.In Europe, Venice was the leader in making fine glassware for almost four centuries after the Crusades .  Venice attempted to monopolize the industry by strict control at Murano of glassworkers, who were severely penalized for betraying the secrets of the art. After the invention of a process for casting glass  in 1688, France was for many years supreme in the manufacture of plate glass such as that used to line the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles. Late in the 17th cent. England began to make flint glass, whose lead oxide content imparted a brilliance and softness that made it suitable for cut glass.The first glass factory in America was built in 1608, and glass was carried in the first cargo exported to England. Although other glasshouses were operated in the colonies, especially in New Amsterdam, the first successful and enduring large-scale glasshouse was set up by the German-born manufacturer Caspar Wistar in New Jersey in 1739. Some of the finest colonial glassware was produced in the Pennsylvania glasshouses of the German-born manufacturer H. W. Stiegel.The invention of a glass-pressing machine (c.1827), used by the American manufacturer Deming Jarves in his Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (1825–88), permitted the manufacturing of inexpensive and mass-produced glass articles. Nevertheless, in the 19th and 20th cent., there has remained a sense of pride in individual craftsmanship. The American artist Louis C. Tiffany was responsible for the design and manufacture of an extraordinary iridescent glass used in a variety of objects in the late 1800s. Exceptionally fine blown glassware has been designed by such artists as René Lalique and Maurice Marinot in France, Edvard Hald and Simon Gate in Sweden, as well as Sidney Waugh in the United States.Glass has become invaluable in modern architecture, illumination, electrical transmission, instruments for scientific research, optical instruments, household utensils, and even fabrics. New forms of glass, new applications, and new methods of production have revolutionized the industry. Recently developed forms of glass include safety glass, which is usually constructed of two pieces of plate glass bonded together with a plastic that prevents the glass from scattering when broken; fiberglass, which is made from molten glass formed into continuous filaments and used for fabrics or for electrical insulation; and foam glass, which is made by trapping gas bubbles in glass to yield a spongy material for insulating purposes. Certain uses of glass are now being superseded by newly developed plastics.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2005-02-01 09:22:00

: Is there a safe, easy way to fix a window on our house?

ANSWER: Put on your leather gloves and protective goggles before you begin the project. From the inside, tape newspaper or cardboard to the window frame to prevent glass from falling inside the home. Now move to the outside. If you're fixing a window on the second floor, you'll need a ladder. Start by removing the larger pieces of broken glass with gloved hands. If Glazier's points were used, yank them out with pliers. Remove all remaining glass with pliers or use a chisel to chip them out (you ARE wearing your goggles, right?). Discard the shards and fragments immediately…blood on the project, especially your own, makes it less fun.  Once all the glass is gone, remove the newspaper. Clean and sand the wood sash and coat it with high-quality wood sealant. Back inside, examine the floor for glass that may have fallen past the newspaper and vacuum the area thoroughly, using a nozzle to lift any glass fragments away from baseboards, carpet, etc. If possible, place your trash can next to you to receive glass pieces as you remove them. If you need to transport glass, wrap it in several layers of newspaper and, if necessary, keep it wrapped and break it with a hammer into pieces small enough to fit into your trash receptacle. Make sure you inform family members NOT to shove trash down on top of your discarded glass. Their blood on the project will make you look less like a hero. Have your local glass dealer cut a piece of glass to fit the size of the opening. If you're doing it yourself, here's how: measure the opening and mark your replacement glass to be 1/8 of an inch shorter and narrower than your measurements (for example, if your window opening measures 25" x 25", you should draw out a square measuring 24 7/8" by 24 7/8"). If the replacement piece has good edges, measure from the top and one side to save cutting. A grease pencil or laundry marker will make the most obvious marks. Place the glass on top of a carpet remnant on your workstation or clean garage floor. Dip your glasscutter wheel in kerosene and cut along your lines, using a straightedge as a guide. Make your cuts as deep as possible.Next, slide a small dowel (a round wood broom handle is fine), between your glass and the carpet so it is situated beneath one of your lines. Press both sides down gently until the glass snaps along the edge. Do the same with the other scored edge. From the outside of the window use your putty knife and your fingers to make a ¼ inch thick tube of glazing putty and install it all the way around the opening to make a seat for the new pane.Back inside, position the new pane in place, pushing it gently into the putty. If excess putty oozes around the edges, remove it. Install two Glazier's points for every 4 inches of glass all the way around the frame, pushing them in with a putty knife, screwdriver or trowel.Make another ¼ inch thick tube of putty and apply it all the way around the inside edges, smoothing it as you go. Use the flat edge of your putty knife to create a nice smooth seal line. If the putty sticks, lubricate your knife with linseed oil and go over the area again. Once the putty is dry (about a week), it can be primed and painted with water-resistant paint to match the window frame. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2005-01-01 08:51:00

:  It’s been said we waste more energy than we use.  How can we avoid doing this as much in the home?

ANSWER:  It’s not secret... when the thermometer goes down, the heating bill usually goes right through the roof.  Most folks begin to crank down that thermostat in an attempt to cut that bill for next month. This method can cause a condition known as “the shivers”, or “the chatters”…and normally isn’t the fix for the problem.Take a match and go to the windows in your home when the wind is blowing outside. Strike the match and hold it just inside those windows, taking care not to catch the curtains on fire in the process. If the air movement inside your home by your windows is such that it blows that match out, or begins to move that flame around, your problem more than likely isn’t going to be resolved by turning down your thermostat. It’s the windows, and they don’t have to be that old for them to be the problem.Thermopane technology wasn’t up to speed until the 1990’s, and lots of windows installed in the 1980’s and before are a real problem. They leaked, lost their seals, and suffered a lot of dry rot from all of the moisture that stayed on the window frames and sills due to sometimes nothing but bad designs. Dry rot or wet rot, in wood that is exposed to the elements every day, year after year, will eventually end up as serious problems unless they are seriously maintained. This requires a homeowner to periodically assess the condition of the windows of the home, and take preventative measures to stop these types of things from getting out of hand. Sometimes, in older homes, there are still single pane windows. A homeowner with single pane windows will lose heat and air conditioning right through those glass surfaces 24/7, year after year. That’s unnecessary, and very costly!  It is much more cost effective to have those windows upgraded to multi-pane glass as soon as possible. And when selling that home, these are the kinds of problems that are going to be turned up in an inspection, which will normally require the Seller to have the repairs made as a condition of sale. So it might make more sense to go ahead and do the repairs so that you can enjoy them, as well as the new owner after you've sold the home.Your glass professional can evaluate your situation, and estimate the cost of adding panes of glass to your existing glass surfaces, and/or whether your windows should be totally replaced. Whether you take action right now, or whether you don’t, you’ll be paying for it either way. But, if you get those energy wasting window panes corrected right away, you’ll only pay for this problem short term, rather than paying for your inaction from now on…You decide. More next month…

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Bob Crager

2004-12-01 10:32:00

: Winter is lurking…my windows are leaking air…What do I do?

ANSWER:  In most homes, the windows are the single biggest energy loss area in the entire house. Yes, it's true that heat rises, and absent sufficient insulation in that attic, you'll lose most of your fortune right up through that ceiling.But you also need to know that poor windows, or window installation, can also rob you blind. I've been inside homes where the curtains blow around, even when the furnace isn't running. This is a really big problem with the costs of energy as high as it is. If you still have single pane windows in your house, providing only an insulating value of r-1, you will experience amazing heat loss and gain right through those thin pieces of glass.  To improve your window's efficiency, you simply double the number of glass panes, which will increase the window's ability to resist heat flow both directions.There are various types of glass available for window panes in homes. Clear glass has been the normal material for home window use, but lately the market for glazing, or cutting and fitting window panes into frames has increased significantly. Today, there are a number of different glazing materials available that can control heat loss, as well as condensation. Condensation not attended to will eventually lead to wood rot, and the replacement of the entire frame. There are special surface coatings for glass that reduce heat transfer through the window. More than 40%, and up to 70% of normal heat transfer through clear glass is eliminated, and none of the normal light passing through the window is disallowed. There is also heat absorbing glass that contains special tints that allow it to absorb as much as 45-50% of the incoming solar energy, thus reducing heat gain. Some of the absorbed heat will pass through the glass because of conduction and re-radiation.Finally, reflective glass is glass that has been coated with reflective film, and is used to control solar heat gain during the hot summer months. It reduces the passage of light all year long.To find out the best solution for your heat gain and loss problems, contact your local glass dealer. He can tell you exactly what to do to get a handle on your heating problems before old man winter invades your cozy home again this Winter! More next month…

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Bob Crager

2004-10-01 15:07:00

: We have been saving to purchase new windows for our home. What are some things to look for to be the most energy efficient?

ANSWER: Manufacturers usually represent the energy efficiency of windows in terms of their u-values (conductance of heat) or their r-values (resistance to heat flow). If a window's r-value is high, it will lose less heat than one with a lower r-value. Conversely, if a window's u-value is low, it will lose less heat than one with a higher u-value. In other words, u-values are the reciprocals of r-values (u-values = 1/r-value). Most window manufacturers use r-values in rating their windows.Usually, window r-values range from 0.9 to 3.0 (u-values range from 1.1 to 0.3), but some highly energy-efficient exceptions also exist. When comparing different windows, you should ensure that all u- or r-values listed by manufacturers: • Are based on current standards set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), • Are calculated for the entire window, including the frame, and not just for the center of the glass, and • Represent the same size and style of window. The following five factors affect the R-value of a window.1. The type of glazing material (e.g., glass, plastic, treated glass) 2. The number of layers of glass 3. The size of the air space between the layers of glass 4. The thermal resistance or conductance of the frame and spacer materials 5. The "tightness" of the installation (i.e., air leaks (see last month's column). Traditionally, clear glass has been the primary material available for window panes in homes. However, in recent years, the market for glazing, or cutting and fitting window panes into frames, has changed significantly. Now several types of special glasses are available that can help control heat loss and condensation.Low emissivity (low-e) glass has a special surface coating to reduce heat transfer back through the window. These coatings reflect from 40% to 70% of the heat that is normally transmitted through clear glass, while allowing the full amount of light to pass through.Heat-absorbing glass contains special tints that allow it to absorb as much as 45% of the incoming solar energy, reducing heat gain. Some of the absorbed heat, however, passes through the window by conduction and re-radiation.Reflective glass has been coated with a reflective film and is useful in controlling solar heat gain during the summer. It also reduces the passage of light all year long, and, like heat-absorbing glass, it reduces solar transmittance. Storm windows can increase the efficiency of single-pane windows, the least energy-efficient type of glazing. More Next Month…

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Bob Crager

2004-10-01 11:05:00

: Is it true that my windows can be made more energy efficient?

ANSWER: Windows bring light, warmth, and beauty into homes and buildings and give a feeling of openness and space to living areas. They can also be a major source of heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer. In 1990 alone, the energy used to offset unwanted heat losses and gains through windows in residential and commercial buildings cost the US economy $20 billion (one-fourth of all the energy used for space heating and cooling). One option is energy efficient windows, which are readily available for reducing a home's heating and cooling energy requirements. When air leaks around windows, energy is wasted. Energy is also transferred through the centers, edges, and frames of windows. Heat escapes around loosely fitted frames and through the glass. Eliminating or reducing these paths of airflow can greatly improve the energy efficiency. Several options are available to reduce air leaks around windows; the least expensive options are caulking and weather stripping, followed by replacing the window frames.Before applying new caulk, old caulk or paint residue remaining around a window should be removed, using a putty knife, stiff brush, or special solvent. After the old caulk is removed, new caulk can then be applied to all of the joints in the window frame, and the joint between the frame and the wall. The best time to apply caulk is during dry weather when the outdoor temperature is above 72 degrees. Low humidity is important during application to prevent cracks from swelling with moisture. Warm temperatures allow the caulk to set properly and adhere tightly to the surfaces. Weather stripping is a narrow piece of metal, vinyl, rubber, felt, or foam that seals the contact area between the fixed and movable sections of a window joint. It should be applied between the sash and the frame, but should not interfere with the operation of the window.  The type and quality of the window frame will affect a window's air infiltration and heat loss. Many window frames are available, all with varying degrees of energy efficiency. Some of the more common window frames are fixed-pane, casement, double- and single-hung, and horizontal sliding. When properly installed, fixed-pane windows are airtight and inexpensive, and can be custom designed for a wide variety of applications. But because they cannot be opened, fixed-pane windows are unsuitable in places where ventilation is desired.Casement win-dows open sideways with hand cranks. Windows with compression seals allow about half as much air leakage as double-hung and horizontal sliding windows with sliding seals.Double-hung win-dows have top and bottom sashes (the sliding sections of the window) and can be opened by pulling up the lower sashes or pulling down the upper sash. Although they are among the most popular type of window, double-hung windows can be inefficient because they are often leaky. Single-hung windows are somewhat better because only one sash moves. We'll have more on the windows in your home next month…stay tuned.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2004-07-01 10:52:00

Question:  How does one go about cutting glass?

ANSWER: This will complete the series on cutting glass.  For the entire series, please refer to March, April, May  & June.  RUNNING THE SCORE Running the score is when you bend the glass through that 1-degree arc to get it to break. This can be as simple as taking the glass in your hands, and just "breaking" it. Put your hands into fists, thumbs up. Now, the glass will go between your curled index fingers on the bottom, and your thumbs on top. Get a good grip, knuckles nearly touching, and bend and pull apart at the same time. The glass will snap right along your score line. This method is good for pieces that are large enough to get a good grip on, and that have a straight, or only mildly curved score. Another way to run the score is with "running pliers." These have (as you're looking in from the business end) a convex surface on the bottom jaw, and a concave on top. As you center these pliers on your score, the bottom jaw makes contact only at the score. The top jaw makes contact about 1/2 inch on either side of the score (the jaws are about an inch wide). As you squeeze, the pliers separate and widen the score, and the "fissure" created then follows right along the score. This gives a much more controlled break than the previous method, and is almost a necessity for tight or multiple curves. There are a couple other methods that I'll just touch on here:For straight scores, you can extend the glass off the edge of a table. With the score just off the edge, hold pressure on the tabled section, and just snap down on the free piece. If you score a piece of glass, and turn it upside down on a piece of cardboard or other springy material, you can exert thumb pressure directly over the score, and it will run. This method is helpful sometimes when you have multiple curves, you've used the running pliers from both ends, but the run just won't quite make it all the way to the middle... A little pressure like this will usually finish the job. When necessary, you can also cause a score to run by tapping its reverse side. This method is rather inconsistent and should only be used as a last resort. There is a glass cutting "system" put out which uses plastic buttons, and a piece of concave plastic. Here you put the score directly over the button, and use the concave piece above. It's basically free-form running pliers, only there are no handles or a hinge. The last way to shape a piece of glass isn't so much running a score as it is nibbling small bits away up to the score. It's called grozing, and is used primarily on tight inside curves. You can use regular pliers for this, but there are specially designed grozing pliers that do it better. Before glass grinders, grozing was used for final shaping of pieces that needed "just a hair more off here, and just a touch over there." All you need now is a piece of glass, a cutter, and a couple of practice runs! SAFETY GLASS There are two kinds of safety glass: The first type is tempered. This means that the glass has been cooled in such a way to induce tension in the exterior skin, while the interior is in compression; much like a balloon. The bottom line is that cutting tempered glass is like cutting a balloon. It just can't be done (unless you first anneal the glass, cut, and then re-temper, in which case it would be cheaper and easier to just start with annealed glass in the first place). The second kind of safety glass is laminated. This is actually a sandwich of two sheets of glass with a sheet of plastic between them. In order to cut this kind of glass, you need to score one side, and run the score by tapping. Then flip it over and do the same thing on the opposite side. Apply a flammable liquid such as alcohol or lighter fluid and light it. As the plastic begins to warm and soften, you can pull the pieces apart. Pull directly apart and don't let them "hinge" if you care about what the edges will look like.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2004-06-01 10:55:00

Question:  How does one go about cutting glass?

ANSWER:  Last month we talked about the structure of glass and what happens when you try and break glass without scoring it.  This month we will talk about ‘scoring’.In the process of glass cutting, scoring the glass is disrupting the surface integrity along a thin line. If you plan on making a living at cutting glass, you'll probably want to get a self-oiling cutter with a carbide wheel, which will set you back about $30. These have the advantage of lasting a long time. Many have replacement wheels available, so when the wheel eventually does wear out, that's the only part you have to replace. You can also get a carbide cutter without the self-oiling feature for around $20. Another option is the steel wheel cutter. This is much less expensive, and works every bit as well as the carbide wheel. Steel wheels do get dull a lot quicker than carbide, but if you store them with the wheel in oil, they too can last a good long time. You can get a steel wheel cutter in just about any hardware or building supply store for around $3 or $4. When you use wheel cutters, it's important to clean the glass first. Not only will dirt and grime dull the cutter, but it can also cause very small interruptions in your score, which can cause chips or voids in an otherwise clean cut. If one of these spots is at a critical point on a curve, it can cause the glass to break unpredictably. When using a wheel cutter, it should be vertical. (Like car wheels on the road, not a motorcycle going around a bend.) A moderate downward pressure as you roll the cutter along the glass is required, and you should hear a noise that falls somewhere on the mild side of a screech. Use too little pressure, and you won't score the glass, (and you won't hear the noise) use too much, and you throw tiny chips off the score, which can then get under the wheel, resulting in accelerated dulling of your cutter. After you do it a couple of times, you'll know the sound. It's best to practice on single strength window glass at first - it's the easiest to cut, and it's relatively inexpensive.Note that some types of art glass, particularly the opalescent varieties, may not make any noise as you score them. Don't worry about the sound on these types of glass. If you use the same amount of pressure as on successfully cut clear or cathedrals, it will be scored and will run just fine. Some glasses are heavily textured. In those cases, be sure to score the smoother of the two sides. The next option is not one ever used by people who regularly cut glass, but if you only want to cut a few straight lines, and already have a carbide scribe around, (you know, the thing they sell for scratching serial numbers on your belongings) that will work, too. And, in an emergency, you can always use your wedding ring.  Next time... running the score.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2004-05-01 11:35:00

:  How does one go about cutting glass?

ANSWER:  While not actually necessary, it might be helpful to know just a little about the structure of glass before talking about cutting it. Glass is an amorphous solid. It has no internal crystalline structure like steel, or ice, or most any other inorganic substance you can think of. Many people will even argue, with very good reason, that it's not really a solid at all, but a very stiff liquid. Without delving into a lot of physics to show how it's both a thick liquid and a solid at the same time, the fact is that glass has no crystalline structure, or in other words... it has no cleavage planes (like gemstones, for instance). Glass isn't really cut in the normal sense of the word, but is actually subjected to a controlled break. Since glass is equally strong in any direction, one normally won't have to worry about direction of grain like woodworkers do. Within certain limits, wherever the glass is scored is where it will break. If you take a regular piece of window pane between your hands and try to break it in half, what happens? The glass actually bends through a very small arc - about 1 degree. That's when the tensile strength of the surface of the glass is exceeded, and SNAP! You have two pieces of irregular shaped glass in your hands. By scoring (scratching) the surface of the glass, you can control exactly where that lapse in tensile strength will occur (or anyway theoretically). Cutting glass therefore gets down to two operations... scoring the glass and running the score.  Next time, we will talk more about these two operations.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2004-04-01 14:46:00

Question: My windows are fogging up.  Is it possible that my house is too tight?

ANSWER:  We recently had a question come in about some 12 year old windows fogging up and looking cloudy to the owner. They were a top end, high dollar window, and the owner said that not all of their windows were doing that. Only a few of their windows were doing this. It was determined that the fogging was occurring between the panes of the thermopane windows, not on the outside surfaces. This type of window is a dual glass pane window with a titanium or other material seal, which creates a "dead air space" between the glass panes. This prevents the glass panes inside the home from condensing moisture due to the warmer temperatures inside the home. With age, this seal can deteriorate and break, allowing air to leak inside the glass panels, and this presents itself with visual fogging of the glass. This is definitely the most common problem with dual pane windows.  The units with broken seals will need to be replaced with new factory sealed ones. This is done by glass companies that repair all kinds of broken glass and mirrors. Most units can be ordered in by the glass company, and a professional installer can put the new units into the existing frames. If the frames are a little older, and possibly have wood rot, sometimes you can benefit from having the glass company order in the new frames, and change them out at the same time as the new panels are installed. This is generally less costly than replacing the entire window.Depending upon the age of your windows, they could be under warranty by the manufacturer, but normally, by the time windows lose their seal and begin fogging visually, they're already past the warranty period. If in fact, you're getting substantial moisture on the inside of your glass windows, with water beading and running down the glass, it could indicate that the humidifier on your furnace is putting too much moisture into the air flowing through the home. Correct this by dialing back on the humidistat, and see if that corrects the problem.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2004-03-01 16:16:00

: I see dry rot on my window frames… what now?

ANSWER:  I know that there is a large segment of the population that believes that the skill level for properly maintaining the windows in their home is above and beyond them, and I would like to dispel that notion. For someone with some basic knowledge of working with wood, and a desire to do things themselves, this job is doable and enjoyable too.The windows in your home can be the largest single area of heat loss and/or gain. The window pane areas, as found in older homes, were single panes of glass, and did not allow for effectively stopping the transfer of heat from or to the inside of the home. The glass was also, in earlier times, produced in such a way as to create a “wavy” look as you peered through the window. In homes built back around the turn of the last century and before 1900, you can tell if the window panes are original to the home many times by just looking to see if the glass produces a “wavy” look. This happened back then because of the materials used, and the manner in which they were used. Later, as the business began to attract others who spent the time and effort to reform the processes, the glass began to be produced basically without imperfections or “wavy” appearances as you look through it. Today, glass is produced that is so crystal clear that you can hardly see the glass at all.In replacing window glass, you should first determine the physical condition of the window frames, sill plates, and the other window components that make up the parts into which the glass is installed. The presence of dry rot, which is manifested by the decay or softening of the wood around the window and/or frame, indicates that the integrity of the frame holding the glass is compromised, and that part of the wood will need to be replaced before installing new glass. In the case of thermo-pane windows, the decay of the wood will usually result in the loss of the seal in the glass, which makes the windows have a milky, not clear look. Now don’t be afraid…this process is not rocket science. In most cases, there is an obvious step by step process by which you can remove the actual window from the frame in which it was installed. By taking the window out, and visiting your local window glass dealer with it, you and they can determine if the frame around the glass is available for replacement. If it is, the dealer can get the frame that exactly matches your frame ordered, as well as the right replacement glass. In homes with the crank-out windows and thermo-pane glass, sometimes the replacement of the frame or partial frame, together with replacement of the unit of 2 pane glass, is much less expensive than total window replacement. While the window is out of the opening, you can check out and replace the surrounding wood sills, as well as the vertical frame wood, if needed. A little caulking, a coat of primer, a final coat of good enamel paint will prepare your opening for the reinstallation of the window. Pride of a job well done is just one of the benefits of doing this kind of work yourself. If you don’t feel qualified to complete this task, your local glass dealer can provide you with skilled help to get the job done. Keeping your windows in great shape can have a big effect on the value of your home, not only while you live there, but especially if you need to sell it. If you have bad windows, the appraisal and repair requirements will be directly and negatively affected.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2004-02-01 16:25:00

: Do you know when the first glass was made?

ANSWER: No one knows exactly when or where glass was first made. Glass appears to have been produced as far back as the second millennium BC by the Egyptians and perhaps the Phoenicians. Yet evidently it originated in Mesopotamia, where pieces of well-made glass have been found, believed to date from the third millennium BC. Glass was a lot less common back then than it is today. It was very precious, and in the Bible, glass has been compared to gold. (Job 28:17) The art of glass making eventually reached Egypt. The Egyptians used a method called core-forming. A shaped core was made of clay and dung, and then molten glass was wrapped around it and shaped by rolling it on a smooth surface.It was very much later, around the end of the 1st century BC, that a new method, glass blowing would revolutionize glass production. This art was probably discovered along the Eastern Mediterranean coast, probably in Syria. By blowing through a hollow tube, the experienced glassblower can quickly produce intricate and symmetrical shapes out of the "gather" of molten glass at the end of his tube (rod). Alternatively, he can blow the molten glass into a mold. The glassblowing innovation, along with the backing of the powerful Roman Empire, made glass products more accessible to the common people. As the size of the Roman Empire increased, the art of glass making spread to many other countries.After the decline of the Roman Empire in the 4th & 5th centuries AD, the craft of glass making waned in Europe. The industry continued to thrive in Iran, Iraq and Egypt. In Europe, there was a limited revival of glass making in the early 12th Century, with the development of stained glass windows for cathedrals & monasteries. A flourishing glass industry did not develop in Europe until the end of the 13th Century, when Venice became a major glass-making center. They may have picked up their glass making techniques through their contacts with the near East countries during the Crusades. The Venetians provided the link between the ancient and modern glass making arts. Venetian glass was noted for its brilliance and for its light, imaginative forms. So by the 15th Century, Venice had become the major producer of glassware in Europe. So highly esteemed were the Venetian glass makers, they were forbidden to leave the Island of Murano, lest their precious trade secrets be imparted to others. However, it was to be another 2 centuries later that in 1676, an Englishman named George Ravenscroft made a discovery, that by adding lead to the glass; a far more brilliant sparkle was achieved.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2004-01-01 12:02:00

: How does one go about finding 'energy efficient' residential windows and performing other 'energy efficient' procedures?

ANSWER: Several characteristics of windows affect their efficiency. Features that reduce winter heat loss (lower U-factors) include: insulated glazing units ("IG units"), with two or more panes; "low-e" (low-emittance) coatings, which minimize thermal radiation; low-conductance gas fills (usually argon or krypton); and low thermal conductance spacers and window frames. Weatherstripping in operable windows, or windows that open, reduces air leakage (AL), which will soon be rated on NFRC labels (look for AL ratings of 0.30 or below). Energy-efficient windows also minimize occupant discomfort and decrease condensation. An effective strategy to reduce summer heat gain is the use of windows with low-e coatings, especially spectrally selective low-e coatings, which reduce SHGCs and U-factors, but not visible light or color. Tinted windows may also reduce solar heat gain, although they transmit less visible light. Visible transmittance (VT) will also be rated on NFRC labels; windows with VT values below 0.5 reduce light transmission noticeably. To prevent air infiltration when outside temperatures are extreme, keep windows tightly closed and locked; this saves energy as well as preventing drafts. Interior shades and blinds can also help reduce unwanted solar heat gain. It's a good idea to physically inspect your windows each year to see if dry rot or any other deterioration has begun to develop in the frames. These problems are easier to correct if detected early as opposed to later. When thermopane windows lose their seal, and begin to show signs of moisture or clouding, it's time to replace the glass unit with a new one, which can be accomplished by contacting your glass dealer with the kind and size of window you have. Sometimes the glass professional will need to come by and measure the size and determine the type of window for you to avoid mistakes. Since windows make up the single largest area of heat loss and gain in the walls of your home, it's a good idea to make certain they're in good shape. For more information about the types of glass and installations for both residential and commercial applications, as well as pricing for both, contact your local glass dealer.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2003-12-01 09:52:00

:  How do you replace a windowpane?

ANSWER:  When replacing a windowpane, try to buy the same glass originally installed in the window so it will match the other panes or windows in the room (this may not always be possible with older homes). Take a shard to your glass dealer to match any coatings or other features.   Be careful when you work with glass.  Wear heavy gloves and safety goggles. Before you remove any broken glass, tape newspaper to the inside of the sash to catch any fragments. Also pad the glass with newspaper when you take it to or from the store. Dispose of fragments in your regular trash; window glass usually can't be recycled.   Windows with metal and vinyl sashes can be re-glazed by simply inserting the correctly sized new piece of glass into the sash, which holds it in place with a metal spring or clip, a rubber seal, or beveled or plastic moldings.   For wood windows, you'll need glazing compound (putty) to hold the glass in place, in addition to glazier's points--small metal clips that you push into the wood every 4 to 6 inches.   You'll also need a putty knife, long-nose pliers, chisel, hammer, safety glasses, newspaper, masking tape, small paint brush, and a glass cutter, if the glass has not already been cut.   After removing the broken glass, chisel out the old putty (hard putty may need to be soaked with linseed oil or softened with a heat gun). Remove the old glazier's points with long-nose pliers. Clean and sand the wood, and coat with sealant. If you are working from outside, you can work from a ladder, but for upper-story windows it's safer to remove the sash.   Press a rope of putty around the opening with your fingers and a putty knife to make a bed for the new pane. Put the pane in place and remove excess putty. Push the glazier's points into the frame with a putty knife. Apply more putty around the pane and use the knife to form a seal. When the putty is dry, paint it to match the sash. If you're not a do-it-yourselfer, your glass dealer will answer questions and have trained employees to handle the job of windowpane replacement.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2003-11-01 09:16:00

: The glass in my fireplace doors was fine for years and one day it just exploded. Was it defective?

ANSWER:  No, the glass probably was not defective. Most likely it was tempered glass (that is glass that has been heated then cooled quickly to strengthen it) which, on occasion, can undergo spontaneous breakage.    The same process that makes tempered glass so strong also makes it vulnerable to this type of breakage. The same process that strengthens tempered glass also creates some inherent problems. Through the tempering process, a system of residual stresses is introduced to convert normal flat glass to safety glass when the stress level is high enough. Glass is tempered by heating sized, edged glass in a tempering furnace to approximately 1,200 degrees F, then rapidly cooling, or quenching, the glass to approximately 400 to 600 degrees F. In quenching, air jets quickly cool and set the surfaces, leaving the inner portion of the glass thickness relatively hot and cooling at a slower rate. The surfaces become rigid, but the center is still pliable and contracting as it cools, thus compressing the surface. Compressive residual stresses imposed on the glass surface, which close up any cracks, are balanced by residual tensile stress in the center of the glass.    These stresses make tempered glass approximately four times stronger than annealed glass, making it ideal for applications where maximum resistance to thermal and cyclic wind loading pressures is required. In addition, if broken, fully tempered glass breaks into relatively safe, small pieces, rather than shards. However, distortion and point inclusions are a natural part of the tempering process.

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Glass

Bob Crager

2003-09-01 14:53:00

: What are the main components of glass? In what ratio are the main components mixed? When was glass first invented?  How is it produced?  

ANSWER:   Glass is about 60 parts sand = 24%; about 180 parts potassium carbonate = 74%; and about 5 parts lime/chalk = 2%.  This formulation was handed down from Assyria (about 640 BC) and still used today.  Historically, glass production is known to have existed in ancient Egypt around 8000 BC, as well as in Mesopotamia and Mycenaea, China and Northern Tyrol.    Glass is produced by melting the components in vats with fireproof cladding, which are heated by oil, gas or electricity, and then a) drawn or rolled (flat glass); or b) pressed or blown (hollow glass).  Depending on the type of glass and on the glass batch composition, the melting temperature is between approximately 1000 °C and 1600 °C (1832 °F and 2912 °F). Following this process, a host of further processing can occur, such as: coating, imprinting, polishing, drilling, faceting, frosting and tempering.   Additives, metals and rare earths are used to obtain coloring and other properties.

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Glass

Bob Crager

1969-12-31 18:00:00

Question: With older windows, should I be concerned with rising energy costs?

Answer: I sure think so! According to the United States Department of Energy (DOE) there is going to be some significant increases in the consumption and costs of energy over the next 2 decades. For example, electricity consumption will increase 45%, natural gas will increase about 62%, and heating oil will be going up over 33%. And it’s important to know that the folks supplying these energy fuels to us are not going to actually be able to meet the higher demands for at least the next 20 years. That will mean that consumers will be paying higher prices for all of these resources during that time. There are some folks who are concentrating on ways to increase the energy supplies, while some other researchers have been concentrating their efforts on newer low power consuming technologies. Among those newer technologies are what they’re calling “smart windows”. This exciting cutting-edge window technology allows the consumer to block out either all of the light, or just some of the light by simply turning a knob, moving a slide, or pressing a button. This type of light control could potentially save billions of dollars on heating, cooling, and lighting costs in this country alone. The research shows that approximately 2 percent of all of the energy used in this country is consumed by those losses of energy by residential windows. There are several technologies that can be used in a smart-window application as a practical matter. Currently, liquid crystals suspended particle devices (SPDs), and electrochromics are being touted as the latest and greatest window technologies -- with reflective hydrides nipping closely at their heels. Windows serve an important function in homes and commercial buildings. They not only let light in to cut down on electricity used for lighting, but the light coming through the window also provides heat. However, windows are not something people typically associate with being a cutting-edge technology. One tenacious company is trying to change that by offering a patented technology that enables a window to quickly change from clear to opaque and anywhere in between with the flip of a switch. Conventionally, curtains and mini-blinds have been used to block out light and give us privacy, but they don’t block out all of the light. One company has developed a type of window that uses small light-absorbing microscopic particles known as suspended particle devices (SPD), or light valves, to make it go from clear to dark in a matter of seconds. Here’s a breakdown of the parts that make up SPD light-control windows: Two panels of glass or plastic Conductive material, which is used to coat the panes of glass Suspended particle devices, where millions of these black particles are placed between the two panes of glass Liquid suspension or film which allows the particles to float freely between the glass The control device, which can be automatic or manual How the SPD windows work is very simple, if you think of SPDs as light valves. In an SPD window, millions of these SPDs are placed between two panels of glass or plastic, which is coated with a transparent conductive material. When electricity comes into contact with the SPDs via the conductive coating, they line up in a straight line and allow light to flow through. Once the electricity is taken away, they move back into a random pattern and block light. When the amount of voltage is decreased, the window darkens until it’s completely dark after all electricity is taken away. An interesting story in fact is that of how light absorbing crystals were originally discovered. Although Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera, was the first to build a device using suspended particle devices (SPDs), the actual discovery of light-absorbing crystals can be credited to a dog. SPD technology was first discovered more than 100 years ago. As the story goes, the dog of an English chemist had been fed some quinine bisulfate to settle an upset stomach. When the dog accidentally urinated on a tray of iodine, the chemist noticed that green crystals formed in the tray. Somehow, the chemist discovered that these crystals had the ability to filter out light. Land later used these light-absorbing crystals to make a pair of glasses that could block out light. Interesting, huh? If you have window, door, or other glass needs, see your local glass dealer for complete information! More next month...

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Glass

Bob Crager

1969-12-31 18:00:00

Is bulletproof glass effective?

ANSWER: Yes, and it can even get better than that.In the war against terroristic threats and suicide bombers, there are some technological advances in glass that can be helpful in preventing the loss of life. One of the products is a one way bullet resistant glass that allows return fire through the glass while protecting from hostile enemy fire from the outside.  Better known as "unidirectional" armor, this unconventional armor is suited for unconventional warfare, and uncommon tactical situations. In some circumstances, there is no other option but to shoot back at the attackers in order to make the chance of survival a little better.During an ambush, this new technology one way glass protects the occupants from bullets from the outside of the vehicle, and allows them to return fire "through the glass" that is stopping the penetration of bullets from the outside...thereby allowing an escape to be effected. By providing suppressive fire against the aggressor from inside the vehicle, causing the attackers to have to take cover, a quick exit is sometimes made possible by driving away from the immediate danger of the attack. How does this work, you might ask?On the protective side, as a bullet strikes the acrylic (brittle, but very strong when compressed) outer layer, the acrylic is compressed, strengthens, and absorbs or distributes the bullet's energy. Simultaneously, the polycarbonate layer, which has flexible characteristics, stretches as it dissipates all the remaining bullet energy, and there is no full penetration. There is some "spider webbing" on the impact side of the glass, but the inside of the glass remains smooth and undamaged.On the “One Way” side, the reverse occurs - The polycarbonate is compressed, and the acrylic is stretched. The bullet easily passes through the soft polycarbonate layer, and into the acrylic layer, which becomes weak as it is stretched. The bullet shatters the acrylic and continues onward, with negligible loss of velocity, and practically no deflection.Testing is ongoing with regard to this product. The testing  was not only conducted for the already known "One Way" feature, but IMI also performed integrity tests relative to de-lamination, discoloration, and distortion, involving humidity, hostile climactic conditions, thermal shock and extreme ultraviolet exposure for 100 hours, which is equivalent of having 10 years of non-stop desert sun exposure. Proof-of-concept for this amazing glass product was confirmed by being certified by H.P. White Laboratories in the U. S., by Israeli Military Industries (IMI) in the Middle East, and by several European testing firms, as well as the Defense Ministry of Spain. Tests are also regularly performed to monitor bomb blast survivability of the armor glass. The internal surface survived smooth and undamaged in most of the tests performed so far. Some information contained herein was researched on the world wide web...more next month...