 | Bob Crager of Lewis Street Glass is a 26 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 email Bob Crager at bcrager@lewisstreetglass.com |
Glass
2012-06-08 15:11:58
High performance windows
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…
