Cover Story

What would we do without windows? How would the sunlight come in to warm our souls? How would we see out into the world from the comfort and safety of our home? Windows are probably the most visible exterior and interior components of a home, but possibly the most taken for granted. Yes, the house has windows—of course, the house has windows.

How can windows make a home uniquely yours? You can take a simple window and add another simple window—or two. You can adjust sizes and shapes to give the room impact. You can take a row of double hung windows and place a row of geometric or Palladium windows above them. You can build a wall of windows or just one special window in just the right spot. Add grills to a large expanse of glass and the look becomes traditional rather than contemporary. The options are endless and the results can be dramatic.

So, whether you are replacing an existing window or selecting windows for new construction—style, framing material, glass and overall energy efficiency are some things to consider when making your choices.

Window Style

Style is what people notice first in windows, and the style of your windows can be anywhere from functional to dramatic. Most major window manufacturers offer a wide array of product styles, and most will build custom windows to fit the particular demands of any room in your home. Window styles include: casement, awning, double hung, horizontal sliding, geometric shape, Palladian, bay and bow windows (see sidebar below).

Figuring out the configuration of your windows is where the fun begins, and you can be bold because the options abound. A window can be one full expanse of glass, or it can be divided into true individual panes, or lights. It can be a little of both, too, with removable snap-on grilles or permanent exterior and interior grilles. Permanent window grids outside each of the sheets of glass—one inside the home and one outside—are referred to as “simulated divided lights” (SDL). Grids placed in the airspace between the two panes of glass in a double-glaze window are known as “grid between glass” (GBG). The price of basic windows can rise about 10 percent with a simple clip-on mullion divider or nearly 50 percent with an SDL system, which is more expensive than the GBG system.

Window Frames and Sashes

Window frames and sashes are important to the look, feel and style of your home's interior and exterior. The frame is the overall framing around the entire window, while the sashes are the sliding frames of the window. For instance, the classic double hung window has two sashes, an upper and a lower, that operate within the overall window frame. Wood, wood clad in aluminum or plastic, and vinyl are some of the materials used for frames and sashes, and each must be considered as far as look, expense and energy efficiency goes.

Wood is typically the most expensive window frame and sash material. It may be the only choice when matching existing windows in an older home. Most wood windows are made from pine, but if you want interior stained wood windows, you can custom order windows made from other woods, such as cherry, maple and mahogany. Since wood can be painted, it is the most versatile choice for frames as far as color goes. Wood has a long life span but is highly susceptible to the elements. In fact, maintenance is one of the biggest drawbacks to using solid-wood windows. Solid wood rots, shrinks and swells. Eventually, wood frames and sashes must be re-caulked and repainted. But no one can deny that solid-wood window frames are classy and add value to a home. Clad versions—frames and sashes that are wood on the inside of the home but have a protective coating outside—are easier to maintain—as long as you don't get tired of the cladding color, selections for which are limited.

Less expensive are vinyl windows, which usually cost half the price of wood. Vinyl frames and sashes, which have been around for several decades, are less susceptible to the elements. Vinyl is energy efficient, durable, rot proof, insect proof and weather resistant. It's made with chemicals that inhibit UV-degradation. It is colored throughout and requires no painting. The cons are that vinyl can fade, should not be painted, and may become brittle and thermally unstable, especially if dark-colored vinyl is used. Temperature changes cause vinyl to contract and expand more than wood, aluminum and even the glass planes being held in place. Because of this movement, vinyl frames have the potential for causing increased air leakage over time.

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.

Glass

As important as the style and the frame around a window is the pane of glass, or glazing, as the window industry calls a sheet of glass. Glass options can ensure energy efficiency, enhance privacy and security, or filter harsh sunlight. Instead of choosing a single type of glass for your entire home, you can select glass specifically for each room according to its décor and its exposure to the elements.

Decorative glass is available in designs ranging from clear to obscure, casual to formal and simple to ornate. Handcrafted leaded or stained glasses have been popular for decades.

Double-glazing, insulated windows are the standard these days. Unlike the single-pane windows of the past, insulated windows take the two glazings, or panes of glass, and trap a layer of gas between them. Sometimes that gas is just air, but some manufacturers fill that pocket up with argon—a colorless, odorless, nontoxic gas with 30 percent less thermal conductivity than air. This reduces the transfer of heat from the inside to the outside and vise versa.

To reduce energy transfer through the glass itself, many windows also come with a low-emissivity (low-e) coating. The difference in appearance is negligible; from the exterior, there's a slightly gray cast in bright sunlight and a slightly green tint at night. But the coating is definitely worth the energy savings. Test homes found a 30 percent reduction in the average afternoon demand for air-conditioning when using low-e glass.

Energy Efficiency

Most people choose new windows based first on appearance or style and then on cost—which window in the chosen style costs less? But the cost of a window really depends on its durability and the amount of energy dollars that are lost through the window each year. Experts say that the average home may lose 30 percent of its heat or air-conditioning energy through its windows. Energy efficient windows can save money each and every month. The payback period for selecting energy-efficient windows ranges from two to ten years. In new construction, the higher initial cost of energy-efficient windows can be offset by a smaller, less expensive heating and cooling system. Also, more durable windows may cost less in the long run due to lowered maintenance and replacement costs.

The National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC), a nonprofit organization based in Maryland, provides consumers with information that allows them to compare and evaluate energy performance of windows, doors and skylights. The NFRC has developed a label that can help you determine how well a product will perform the functions of helping to cool your house in the summer, warm your house in the winter, keep out wind, and resist condensation. These labels appear on most new and replacement windows on the market today, and the information they contain should help consumers decide which windows are best for their homes. To learn more about the NFRC label, visit the organization's website at www.nfrc.org.

Looking Out, Looking In

The windows of your home reflect your style and personality. Be bold and give your home a view from within and without that is unique to you.