Choosing the right glass package for your replacement windows
Choosing the right glass package for your replacement windows and doors is a critical step to ensuring prolonged comfort and safety in your home, as well as longterm satisfaction in your investment. Here are the key factors to consider and understand when you choose new replacement windows and doors for your home.
Energy efficiency
When it comes to saving energy and keeping your home more comfortable, choosing the right glass package is important. A variety of optional glass packages are available that combine the most effective features and advanced designs to achieve year-round thermal performance and energy savings. Low-E coatings reflect infrared light keeping heat inside in the winter and outside in the summer. It can also reduce fading of carpet, artwork and photos by helping block damaging ultraviolet rays.
There are also a variety of odorless, colorless non-toxic gases that can be placed in the insulating glass unit to provide greater insulation values. Different spacer systems keep a window and door’s glass panes the correct distance apart and are designed to reduce heat transfer at the edge of the insulating glass unit. Check your home’s location on the Climate Zone Map at energystar. gov and choose a glass package that meets or exceeds the Energy Star requirements for that region.
Noise reduction
Most experts agree that if you want superior noise reduction in your windows, you should choose laminated glass. Two panes of glass are adhered to a durable plastic interlayer, much like a car windshield. When these factors come together as a double-pane insulated glass panel with dead air space between the panes, they reduce the vibrations sound creates and muffle most sounds that would come right through ordinary glass.
This is popular on homes that are very close to busy roads, industry or airports as it can reduce the sound transmission by more than 80%. Laminated glass reduces the sound transmission far better than single pane or standard double pane glass. And, yes, more than triple pane glass. The additional pane doesn’t reduce outside noise any more than double pane windows.
Added security
Laminated glass also adds a higher degree of security to your home, providing the highest level of impact protection. This is the most popular glass option in coastal living, as it protects the home from flying debris of storms. If a wind-driven projectile or a stray baseball hit a window, the glass will shatter. But broken pieces remain adhered to the interlayer, preventing dangerous glass fallout inside the home and keeping the opening sealed from the elements.
The plastic interlayer is also puncture-resistant, frustrating potential intruders.
Faced with this barrier and the fear of attracting attention, most intruders flee in search of easier targets.
Laminated glass can be expensive so depending on one’s budget, it is only added on the side of the house facing the noise source for noise reduction, or only on the first floor when considering security.
Double pane vs. triple pane
Triple pane windows cost approximately a third more than a double pane window. The energy saving cost is minimal over that of a double pane window with Low-E coating and Argon gas. When you break down the math, it can take up to 35 years to recoup the additional cost.
So if you plan on staying in your home a very long time, we suppose you can consider triple pane a better investment. In general, they probably are not. Triple-pane windows are heavier than double pane, so you need to make sure your home can handle the weight. And they do not reduce the sound transmission any better than double pane.
Additional options with glass include a wide variety of obscure options for rooms that require year-around privacy, but where natural light and ventilation are still desired.
Call Call A.D. Moyer Lumbe, your local, trusted experts since 1939, located in Gilbertsville, at 610-3672036; Pottstown, at 610327-1120; Kutztown, at 610683-7391; and Bethlehem, at 610-868-2010, or visit ADMoyer.com.