Luke And Laura Choose High Performance Windows For Their Dream Home
In 2007 Luke and Laura bought a fixer-upper house in a small Colorado town and embarked on the arduous journey of turning it into their dream home.
From the foundation to the roof they have remodeled, renovated and retrofitted the rickety old house, transforming it into a comfortable, modern home.
When it came time to choose their windows, Luke and Laura wanted high-quality windows with excellent thermal performance that would stand up to the test of time.
They had all but decided on wood clad windows when they saw freshly installed fiberglass framed windows in a friend's house.
Luke was immediately drawn to the attractive, high quality fiberglass frames, but it was his research into the windows' performance and innovative, custom design approach that convinced him to change his tune.
One the frustrations Luke and Laura encountered when shopping for ordinary windows was the lack of a high solar gain window.
In order to take advantage of the sun's energy and create some free heating, they put in a radiant concrete floor to act as a thermal mass.
The concrete floor will take advantage of daytime sunlight to absorb solar heat and release it at night, helping to keep the house at a comfortable temperature.
But in order for this to work, Luke and Laura needed windows that would let the sun's heat in.
When Luke asked about high and low solar gain glass packages he got a "confusing and nonsensical answer" from the wood window representative.
These dual-pane windows with suspended film technology and fiberglass frames on the other hand, "makes it simple," says Luke.
"For each window you buy, you get to specify whether you want low SHGC or high SHGC.
Simple enough- the customer/ designer gets to decide whether or not it will be desirable to have significant solar heat gain through the windows.
" Beyond solar tuning, Luke and Laura were impressed with the overall performance of the dual-pane, fiberglass windows with suspended film technology.
A thin layer of suspended film placed between the two panes of glass creates two air chambers, which reduces conductive and convective heat transfer through the window.
Using suspended film between the two panes of glass also adds two more surfaces available for treatment with low-E coatings, allowing windows to be customized based on the home owners priorities for thermal performance and solar heat gain.
These windows "are extremely efficient- much more so than typical ENERGY STAR windows.
" Luke eloquently and concisely explains that glass units with suspended film "get very high R-values out of the glass by taking a double-pane window, and adding a film (or multiple films) and an extra air gap in between the two panes of glass.
So it is essentially a triple-glazed window, without the added weight (& expense) of having 3 panes of glass.
Brilliant!"
From the foundation to the roof they have remodeled, renovated and retrofitted the rickety old house, transforming it into a comfortable, modern home.
When it came time to choose their windows, Luke and Laura wanted high-quality windows with excellent thermal performance that would stand up to the test of time.
They had all but decided on wood clad windows when they saw freshly installed fiberglass framed windows in a friend's house.
Luke was immediately drawn to the attractive, high quality fiberglass frames, but it was his research into the windows' performance and innovative, custom design approach that convinced him to change his tune.
One the frustrations Luke and Laura encountered when shopping for ordinary windows was the lack of a high solar gain window.
In order to take advantage of the sun's energy and create some free heating, they put in a radiant concrete floor to act as a thermal mass.
The concrete floor will take advantage of daytime sunlight to absorb solar heat and release it at night, helping to keep the house at a comfortable temperature.
But in order for this to work, Luke and Laura needed windows that would let the sun's heat in.
When Luke asked about high and low solar gain glass packages he got a "confusing and nonsensical answer" from the wood window representative.
These dual-pane windows with suspended film technology and fiberglass frames on the other hand, "makes it simple," says Luke.
"For each window you buy, you get to specify whether you want low SHGC or high SHGC.
Simple enough- the customer/ designer gets to decide whether or not it will be desirable to have significant solar heat gain through the windows.
" Beyond solar tuning, Luke and Laura were impressed with the overall performance of the dual-pane, fiberglass windows with suspended film technology.
A thin layer of suspended film placed between the two panes of glass creates two air chambers, which reduces conductive and convective heat transfer through the window.
Using suspended film between the two panes of glass also adds two more surfaces available for treatment with low-E coatings, allowing windows to be customized based on the home owners priorities for thermal performance and solar heat gain.
These windows "are extremely efficient- much more so than typical ENERGY STAR windows.
" Luke eloquently and concisely explains that glass units with suspended film "get very high R-values out of the glass by taking a double-pane window, and adding a film (or multiple films) and an extra air gap in between the two panes of glass.
So it is essentially a triple-glazed window, without the added weight (& expense) of having 3 panes of glass.
Brilliant!"
Source...