Window replacement is one of your major costs as a homeowner. Fortunately, you only have to do it once in your lifetime of owning the home. Windows play a huge role in the curb appeal, energy efficiency, and comfort of your home.
Pinnacle PMC says choosing the right windows is vital for improving the aesthetics, function, and market value of your property. What should you know before you replace your windows?
Should you repair or replace the windows?
Repair or replace: how do you determine the better option? This is usually the first question you want to answer. You should not be trying to repair your windows when replacing them would be the better option. Conversely, once a duel pane window loses the argon gas that means the seals failed. Argon gas windows can be repaired, and gas can be re-added to the pane if the seals can be replaced. Otherwise, it can be a difficult process that is by no means a long-lasting fix. If your argon gas windows were poorly installed or damaged, gas will continue to seep out whether more is added or not. Without the argon gas insulation, your windows have very little to keep out the cold, heat, and dust, a window without argon is not energy efficient at all.
If you have already determined that the right decision is to replace the windows, what do you need to know about replacing your windows?
1. Consider the style of your home
Regardless of how much you like them, not every window will match the style of your home. When choosing windows make sure you take the architectural style of the home into account.
2. Make sure it fits
Windows do more than serve as openings for light to enter your home. They function as a vital part of the home’s building envelope. The ability of windows to improve your home’s energy efficiency is partly dependent on how well they fit. The wrong size of windows will cost you.
3. Choose energy-efficient windows
Your windows influence the energy costs of your home. By reducing heat exchange between the inside of the home and the outside, good windows help to reduce energy costs.
4. Think of the window’s function
In addition to energy efficiency, you want windows that are strong enough to resist impact. You also want the windows to be durable and easy to operate. Before you buy your windows, also think of how easy they will be to clean and maintain.
5. Know the available window options
Color Options, Hardware Options, and Style Options. The most common types of windows are double-hung (these are opened from the top or bottom); casement (which open with a crank and are relatively easier to operate); double-pane (these have two glass panes with inert gas in-between for better insulation); mullions and snap-out mullions (they offer a more traditional look) and tilt-out windows (which let you clean the exterior from inside)
6. Think of cost and payback
You never want to devalue your home with lower-quality windows. A good high-quality window will last, but if you choose a lower quality window you could find yourself having to replace them again as the seals fail. Quality, beauty, and longevity are the three most important things to consider. There are a lot of replacement windows companies to choose from you need to determine if you want a stock window or a higher quality window. Consider that a higher quality window will increase the value of your home, provide thinner frames, more light, and improve curb appeal much more than a lower quality window.
7. Service Calls
Make sure that you check out how many services calls the company does on the windows they install. If a window company has a place for you to set up service calls on their website that is a red flag it means that they are doing so many service calls that they need to add that request to the website. Seal Failure is when the window seals break and the argon gas that insulates your windows leaks out. This is the number one service issue with lower quality windows.
The Best Windows for your Home
What type of windows offers the most value for your money? Which windows will provide the most benefits in terms of beauty, durability, energy efficiency, function, and ease of maintenance? Every time you ask this question, one of the recommendations you will get is vinyl. But are vinyl windows really that good?
The Trouble with Vinyl Windows
Vinyl is a great material for making building materials of all kinds, hence its use in flooring, siding, fencing, and windows. Vinyl is also great because of the number of options vinyl windows offer in terms of style. But vinyl windows have one major flaw.
Vinyl, being a form of plastic, is highly vulnerable to heat. It has a high rate of expansion, it expands 8 times more than the glass it incases. The expanding and from the heat and cold every day causes the seals to break. This flaw means that in 5-7 years of installing vinyl windows, they will start experiencing seal failures and stress cracks. Vinyl also will fade in the sunlight
What about Fibrex?
Fibrex windows are made from 60% vinyl infused with 40% wood fibers. This makes Fibrex windows twice as strong as vinyl windows but not entirely free of the issues that you will encounter with vinyl. Although Fibrex is a lot tougher than vinyl, it will experience the same issues as vinyl ultimately.
The Best Windows for your home: Ultrex Fiberglass
Ultrex Fiberglass windows are made from state-of-the-art pultruded fiberglass coated with 3 layers of a patented acrylic finish to insure the elegant beauty lasts for decades. This is a highly durable material that has the tensile strength of steel. The frame and glass of Ultrex Fiberglass windows are made from the same material and fused together so that they expand or contract evenly, without any possibility of seal failure. Because Ultrex is so strong they make the thinnest frames available which means more glass, more natural sunlight, and no bulky frame. The result of this pioneering technology is that Ultrex Fiberglass windows don’t warp, crack or fade, but continue to provide elegant beauty for decades. Contact us to learn more today!
