Large expansive windows create a lovely open, airy ambience in a room. However, you don't always get to enjoy this benefit without cost. Windows can also allow your home to bake in the summer once the sunshine strikes the glass. To improve the situation, you could install low-E glass. Consider the following ways this will help.
Reflects Heat and Keeps Rooms Cooler
Glass absorbs heat — thus, your standard single pane windows cook in the sun. This heat has to go somewhere, so the panes re-radiate it indoors. The windows effectively then function as heaters, which is the last thing you probably want on a hot day. As a result, the air conditioner will work doubly hard to counteract the 'window-heaters'.
To reduce your air conditioning bills and maintain a cooler home, it makes sense to block the heat from entering in the first place, which you can do with low-E glass panes. Low-E glass is covered with metal oxides that reflect infrared and ultraviolet rays, so the sun's heat bounces back outside, and the rooms stay cooler.
You Maintain a Garden View
The benefit of using low-E glass instead of shutters, curtains or blinds is that you can see the beautiful day outside. The metal oxides on the glass form an invisible film that blocks infrared and UV rays but not light beams. Covering your windows with opaque window coverings might protect the glass panes from warming up to some degree, but your home will then be closed off from a garden view.
Low-E Glass Also Helps in the Winter
Low-E glass can also help to maintain warmth during winter. The metal oxides can reflect the heat hitting the glass from indoors and reflect it back into the room. Thus, as well as saving on air conditioning, you'll save on heating costs.
Combines with double-glazed units for extra efficiency you can incorporate low-E glass into a double-glazed unit as well. Double-glazed windows consist of two glass panes filled with either air or argon gas. This double-layer arrangement stops heat from quickly moving through the window. Low-E panes will amplify this effect, making the windows extremely efficient in blocking heat transfer.
To reflect solar radiation on your residential glass windows, the metal oxide should cover the outward-facing side of the inner pane of the double-glazed unit. To maintain winter warmth, the low-E material should rest on the inward-facing side of the double-glazed unit's outer pane.
Contact a residential glass window installation service to learn more.
I never realised how noisy the outside world was until I had a baby. My child is a light sleeper, so the slightest disturbance wakes her up. With this in mind, I knew it was time to tackle the window renovations at my home which I had been delaying. My blog is going to share what I discovered when it was time to make window changes with my baby in mind. From eradicating drafts to choosing between single and double glazing, there is plenty to learn when it comes to keeping noise and temperature changes out of a baby's nursery. Come along and learn about windows with me so your child can be sleeping like a baby.