Need A Bargain

Atlanta Replacement Window

When it comes to purchasing new Atlanta replacement windows for your home is your presupposition “anything is better that what I have?”  Be honest.  Don’t feel bad; as we have mentioned in previous posts, this is a prevalent, albeit fairly jeopardous, way of thinking.  After all, you’ve been living with those drafty, energy inefficient home windows for a while now right?  Today we’re going to deal with a topic that has literally fed the “bargain basement” (at least from an ADVERTISED standpoint) window dealer market in the Atlanta area.  The topic is “low e.”

“Our product has low e and is only $172, there’s has low e and it’s __________ (any higher price).  Which one are you going to buy?”   Many of our competitors have asked that question over and over again.  As a matter of fact, you may have already heard it.  And, on the surface, it’s a pretty easy answer, right?  If my spouse sends me to get a bag of sugar on the way home, and doesn’t specify a brand, I’m probably going to choose based on one thing; price.  I know I’m not planning on putting sugar on my new Atlanta replacement windows, but it’s because I, personally, look at sugar as a commodity, and the purchase of commodities are typically driven by price.

Sugar And Atlanta Replacement Windows

The difference in low e and sugar is immense, and I’m obviously not just talking usage or physical characteristics, but “commoditizing” low e can lead to a colossal waste of money, no matter what the cost of your new Atlanta replacement windows.  In many cases, the low e product on many of the so-called “economical” vinyl windows will block no more than 5-7% more of the heat and cold transfer than the current glass that you already have.  Is that the type of energy savings that you are going to invest your money in?

The major differences lie in how the idea of what low e is supposed to do has evolved; not only with time, but also as window glass manufacturers have created more climate specific products.  The original idea with low e was more about reducing absorption of heat.  For example, light concrete or asphalt doesn’t get as hot in the summer as dark.  Over the last few years, a small group of glass manufacturers have been looking at low e in a whole new “light,” especially in more of the southern climates like here in the Atlanta area.

This Comes Only In The Best

Atlanta Replacement Windows

If you go out in the summer in short sleeves and your arm gets warm in direct sunlight you have experienced “radiant” heating.  It’s all about heat that “radiates” from a source, most often the sun (but also your home’s furnace).  The most effective way to handle radiant heat is not just to slow absorption, but to reflect it back at its source.  Think about going into a mall parking lot in the summertime and seeing a lot of vehicles with something folded out in the windshield.  Almost always these “shields” have a reflective look.  If you’ve ever used one of these you know that your vehicle will not get nearly as hot on the inside as without one.  That’s because the shield is reflecting the radiant heat back towards its source.  Today’s best Atlanta replacement windows use low e products that reflect up to 99% of the sun’s heat back.  Think you’ll save some money, in both the summer and the winter?

Want to know more?  Check out some of our Atlanta replacement window reviews on Google, Kudzu, Angie’s List and BBB, and see what some of our customers say about the amazing change in not only their energy bills, but also their comfort levels after installing our climate specific, low e reflecting Atlanta replacement windows.

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Debunking The

“Any Atlanta Replacement Window

Is Better Than What I Have”

Myth

In a previous post, we mentioned a mindset that basically says that if you install any new Atlanta replacement window, you are better off.  We used frame insulation as a prime example of how wrong this assumption can be.  Statistics clearly show, from a R value standpoint, the wood window that you are replacing is more energy efficient than a non-insulated Atlanta vinyl replacement window.  Today, we’ll look at another area  where this anything is better than what I have mentality is not only incorrect, but can truly cost you.

It is almost natural to assume that if you buy any new Atlanta replacement window, insure that is installed correctly, and the gap around the exterior of the window is caulked properly, you’ll  have an airtight window.  Unfortunately this is where one of the dirtiest little secrets when it comes to manufacturing a vinyl replacment window comes in; that is the air leakage rate.  There are many parts of the manufacturing process that can affect how well your new home windows handle air, and this is a major area where a manufacturer can save money.

Air Leakage And New

Atlanta Replacement Windows

So, when an Atlanta replacement window dealer comes to show you their product, how do you know what constitutes a truly efficient window from an air leakage standpoint?  Interestingly, a staple of most window salesperson’s presentation repertoire is showing you how their sashes interlock where they meet.  They often will place a dollar bill in before they close the two parts together and ask you to try to pull it out and when you can’t they tell you that proves how airtight their window is.  Makes some sense, right?

The reality is that most often an interlocking sash proves just the opposite.  Take that same window and with the window locked and use the lift rail to try and move the sashes.  Almost always Atlanta replacement windows with interlocking sashes will have some movement of the sashes, which the salesperson will typically try to explain away by saying that vinyl has to be able to expand and contract.  The truth is that the manufacturing tolerances are much larger than needed for an airtight window.  The interlocking sash really becomes the only thing that keeps more air from leaking into and out of your home.  According to the Department of Energy, if there is a gap around any of the sashes as small as 1/16″(which is easy to find with even the smallest movement of the sashes), it is the equivalent of taking a brick out of the side of your home.   Count the number of windows in your home and you can begin to really see the importance of this.

The Best Way To Determine The Differences

In Atlanta Replacement Windows

Maybe the best, and easiest way to know is to ask the salesperson to show you the NFRC sticker for the Atlanta replacement window product they are demonstrating to you.  This sticker, required to be on your windows at the time of install, includes several performance numbers, but the one you are looking for is the fourth one, the Air Leakage rate.  Without getting too technical, if published, this number will either be .1,.2, or .3, the lower the better.  As a point of reference, the .3 is the maximum allowable in new home construction in most markets today.  But did you catch it?  “If published”…  This is the one performance number that the NFRC allows each manufacturer to decide whether or not to publish.  The  question that you have to ask yourself is what would be the only reason a manufacturer would choose not to publish that number?  The big news is that only fewer than a handful of Atlanta replacement window products have that number on the sticker.

So how is this germane to our “Anything is better than I what I have.” conversation?  Look at it this way, if you had a tire with three holes in it and you plugged two of them, what would you have?  That’s right, a FLAT TIRE!  Atlanta window dealers can argue all day long who has the best frame or best glass, but if they don’t show that number, or do and it’s too high, you are setting yourself up for a flat tire, no matter what your new Atlanta replacement windows cost.

Next time, we’ll look at the most exploited feature of a home window that you need to be aware of if you think that any Atlanta replacement window is better than what you already have.

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Any New Atlanta Replacement Window

Is Better Than What I Have, Right?

In our initial visits with potential customers a phrase we all too often hear is, “If I buy any new Atlanta replacement window, I’ll  be better off than I am now, right?”  This is a thought process than so many replacement window dealers that advertise almost too good to be true prices feed upon.  Unfortunately, these new, cheap home replacement windows, can actually be worse than the old windows that they replace.  Interestingly, it’s not just the lower cost suppliers that perpetuate this myth, as we will see.

But There Are So Many

Atlanta Replacement Window Choices

With a proliferation of vinyl replacement window manufacturers available to choose from (10,000 companies involved in the manufacturing of vinyl replacement windows in North America, and 1,000 vinyl window manufacturers in the United States alone), an Atlanta home improvement dealer has choices to make.  The reality is that there are very few window dealers in the Atlanta marketplace that actually manufacture their own vinyl replacement window product.  Thus, your replacement window installer’s choice of product is a great indicator of their true concern for your home.

When it comes to deciding whether you are better off with just any Atlanta replacement window there are several items to look at.  Frame insulation, air leakage rates, gas fill rates  and available low e coatings are common areas where price, on either end of the spectrum,  doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be better off with just any new Atlanta replacement window.

How Can I Know The Differences In Atlanta Replacement Windows

Because approximately 95% of the vinyl replacement windows sold in the Atlanta area don’t have insulated mainframes, it is easy to assume that an insulated mainframe is overkill and not worth any additional expense.  As a matter of fact, that is typically what you will be told by an Atlanta window installer that sells vinyl windows without insulation.  They tout “hollow core pvc” or “multi chambered pvc” as having more dead air space, a better insulator.  Did you know that prior to 1950 our homes exterior walls were “insulated” with dead air space, in other words, nothing at all.  Also, to achieve any real energy efficiency without frame insulation requires many dead air spaces.  This leads to the bulky, boxy look of so many Atlanta replacement windows, as well as contributing to a major loss of glass viewing area as compared to typically wood or metal frames.

If installing new energy efficient replacement windows are what you are trying to do, think about a couple of things.  Would you buy a new freezer that wasn’t insulated, no matter what the cost?  Secondly, according to several published stories, wood frame windows offer a higher R value than a multi-chambered, or hollow core, pvc window.  If you are replacing wood windows, as most Atlanta replacement windows do, you are better off keeping what you already have.

When it comes to Atlanta replacement windows, frame insulation is not price dependent.  While the vast majority of low cost products have bulky, non-insulated mainframes, so of the most well-known window names also choose the “dead air space” route.  These windows can cost you as much as $1200 to $1500 an opening.  Are you really better off without insulation?

In the next post, we’ll continue exploring this thought process and discuss maybe the biggest culprit when it comes to thinking that any new Atlanta replacement window is better than what you already have.

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