Home Shows Are a Bad Place to Get Good Information

I spent many hours at the Minneapolis Home and Garden Show today and I came out of it with one conclusion- the people that sell replacement windows in the Twin Cities area don't really know much about windows. I asked a ton of questions and I got a ton of wrong answers.

Before I go into this too far let me qualify this attitude of mine. When I visited the Andersen, Preservation, Marvin, and Pella booths there were professionals there and they had good solid answers to every question. I was impressed by their professionalism across the board. Then I went to Western Remodelers.

I decided to tour the show systematically and Western Remodelers was along the first wall I started at. They set the tone for my overall disgust for the multiple sets of crap I had to listen to.

The sales manager for the company engaged me and we made some small talk. Then I asked a couple of questions about energy efficiency and he handed me a white paper from 1994. He cited their contention that anything beyond .30 for a u-factor was a waste of money and that everything I told him from the U.S. Department of Energy was basically crap. He knew more about windows than they would ever know! When I asked him if he was saying that the DOE was wrong he told me I wasn't their type of customer and I should leave! Wow, what a great start. I get some jerk who is stuck in 1994. As far as replacement windows go, anybody who had researched the products wasn't a viable customer....and please, hold the questions.

I went to a few others in the same row and, surprisingly, they sold the same brands but said different things. At Budget Exteriors I was shown a window "that qualifies for the energy rebate in the stimulus package." When I looked at it the u-factor on the label was .32, too high for the energy tax credit. When I pointed that out to him he said " is that right, I'll have to look into that." Wow, people come here for advice!

It was about half way through the show I realized that every booth except the manufacturer booths had doled out some form of misinformation. How does the general public come to any kind of a conclusion at a show like this? I wondered if I was expecting too much or if they just hire street people for this kind of home show? Are replacement windows that complicated?

I guess the bottom line is that I should trust that the general public will figure out what's true and what isn't. When it comes to replacement windows the only people I would trust are the manufacturers and websites like NFRC and the Effient Window Collaborative have. It seems that Billy Bob and Jerry Snyder surely don't know what they are talking about.

An Easy, Common Sense Choice

I was surfing the Internet today and found a group of ads that was running on almost every search engine I looked at. What got me about the ads was that they were kind of annoying. I ended up looking into one of them and what I found was surprising. It was common sense.

The ad asked "Would you pay $3 per gallon for gas when it's selling for under $2?" My first thought was "What a stupid question." Of course nobody would pay and extra dollar per gallon for gas. I was indignant when I was thinking about it at first. What was the point?

When an ad says something like that to begin with it makes you wonder what the point is going to be. The next line of the ad was "You're Doing It Right Now With Your Heating Bills." Okay, now I'm a little more interested but I want proof. This particular ad was for replacement windows and it went on to make its case!

Think about this analogy. We all drive an extra few miles to get gas where it's three cents per gallon cheaper. We watch the signs and most people notice the fluctuation as the prices go up and down and back up, only usually a little further. Anyway, we may put fifteen gallons of gas in our cars so we probably save a little under fifty cents filling up at the cheaper gas station. let's say you fill up twice a week. By golly you've saved a whole four bucks this month and you're darn proud of it!

There is a replacement window company called Preservation Windows that has a 33% Heating and Cooling Fuel Savings Guarantee. They actually have a money-back guarantee if you don't save 33% of your fuel usage over the previous year. It seems like no big deal unless your an analytical sort like me.

At work today we had a meeting and the question was asked about how much the heating bills were last month for everyone. They ranged from $740 down to $390. One thing they all had in common was that they were their highest heating bills ever. Holy cow. That means these people could save from $129-$244 per month by installing Preservation Windows. No matter how you look at it these folks could save $750 to $1,500 per year by installing these windows.

The bottom line is that people go to great lengths to save $4 per month on gasoline but very few seem to care about the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars they are wasting by keeping their old windows. the next time I hear someone talk about how cheap gas is down the street I'm going to ask them how their windows perform.

Preservation Replacement Windows- Simply The Best

If you are like me you're already thing "how can this guy proclaim that his choice for replacement windows is the best?" Stay with me here and I'll make my case. I'll back it up with independent testing data too.

Preservation Replacement Windows feature EnergyMaxx10 high performance glass. Glass is 80-85% of the window unit so it's probably the most important piece of the energy efficiency puzzle.

EnergyMaxx10 uses the SST Warm Edge Spacer System (the spacer system is another subject soon to come on this blog). It also uses two chambers of krypton gas rather than argon. Krypton gas has two and a half times the insulation value as argon, commonly used by other manufacturers. It is more than 100 times more expensive but when the gas chambers total 1 full inch and there are two chambers rather than one you get a heck of a U-factor for the glass in your replacement windows.

One other point that will put things in a context that is easy to understand is that Preservation Replacement Windows already meet the proposed Energy Star Standards for 2015 . It is the first window to achieve that level. In fact, the "off the shelf" Andersen, Pella, and Marvin Windows don't even currently meet the 2012 proposed standards.

The Twin Cities Preservation Replacement Window Dealer of Distinction is Northland Home Exteriors. Northland is located in Oakdale and Forest Lake, MN.

My next blog will be about the SST Warm Edge Spacer system and what it means to the energy efficiency of replacement windows.

Preservation Replacement Windows In The Twin Cities Area

Preservation Replacement Windows are a hit in the Twin Cities area because of their energy efficiency. I've received letters and emails from several Preservation customers that have been nothing short of ringing endorsements for Preservation and, in particular, Northland Home Exteriors.

One customer says "I put Preservation Replacement Windows and Siding on my house. My heating fuel usage dropped slightly over 67%." He goes on to say that "the house feels warmer all the time now" and says "when I opened my first bill and compared it to last year I actually doubted that the bill was right."

I wondered if these reports were being prompted by the dealer so I checked Preservation Windows out on the NFRC website where the independent test results can be found. The results astounded me. The Preservation Replacement Windows that were described to me had a U-factor that was the best I've ever seen. Since U-factor is the measure of heat loss I can see why Minnesotans are so excited about these windows.

Visiting the Preservation Windows website I found another little tidbit that was extremely telling. Preservation claims that they are the first window to achieve the proposed Energy Star Standard for 2015. The claim was substantiated by Department of Energy documents and the NFRC data I mentioned earlier.

If you are serious about saving energy with replacement windows you have to look seriously at Preservation Windows. I can't tell you much about pricing but they certainly have an impressive pedigree.

1935 Minnesota High School Football Champions Were Window Industry Champs Too

I remember when I was a little kid digging through the attic at my home. I found this gold football and a picture of the 1935 Stillwater Ponies State Championship Football team. There were just a handful of players, maybe 15 or so. I realize now that three of these guys were champions of the window industry too. Another was just a beloved champion of life and an entrepreneur but not in windows.

The three guys in that picture jumped out at me because I was working for Andersen Windows at the time and they were all still there too. Arvid Wellman, Bill Hering, and Bob Ludwig made up about twenty-five percent of that team but each of them contributed heavily to the success of Andersen Windows.

Arvid Wellman was the CEO of Andersen Corporation. Everyone in the factory new Arvid and I'd dare say he knew every one of us. He had a tremendous vision for the company and lead us into unprecedented success during the 1980's.

Bill Hering, who happens to be my father, was a great leader too. He was much lower key than Arvid but well respected. He was Production Control Manager which, at the time, was a very hard job. There were no computers so he had to calculate everything by hand. Every part and every component was calculated by Dad and his department. He knew everyone who worked there too.

Bob Ludwig was a Production Supervisor and a real character. People loved working for Bob because he was supportive, fun, and knew how to treat people. Working for Bob was being part of a team. Bob knew every job and never asked anyone to do what he woudln't do, just like the other great leaders at Andersen.

There weren't many window companies back then. The foundation for ongoing success was laid by Fred Andersen and guys like those three. Is it any wonder they were state champions in football? They knew how to lead and they new how to give of themselves. They knew everything there was to know about windows and could do every job in the factory.

That fourth character I mentioned was an affable guy named Bob Utecht. Bob was very successful in his own right. He started Let's Play Hockey Magazine and was the arena announcer for the Minnesota North Stars. He played a role with the famous 1980 Olympic hockey team and was a close personal friend of Herb Brooks, Lou Nanne, and many other Minnesota hockey figures. Bob gave of himself. He too was one of the Stillwater, more specifically Bayport, characters of all time.

I was thinking of those guys this morning and a thought struck me. The top people at my company are just like them - throwbacks to a better time. They give of themselves and they care at the same time they are leading the company.

In a recent meeting Doyle Land, our CEO asked the question "What do successful people have in common?" The answer was "they gave" in every way. "Successful people all give in many ways."

In that instant I understood what I was feeling. It was leadership at its finest. I realized how happy and content I was there. At the same time I realized how lucky I am not to be working at Andersen Windows anymore! To Fred Andersen, Arvid, Bob, and Dad I say thank you for showing us how. I deeply apologize for not being able to continue what you guys started there. I'm okay though, these Land brothers are the real deal!

New Window Nearly Triples Energy Efficiency - New Twin Cities Dealer Named

Preservation Window Company, a subsidiary of American Materials, Inc., has developed the most energy efficient window on the market today. The change in energy efficiency is not incremental, it is a huge leap. The documentation given is remarkable.

The main reason for the huge change is a break-through in glass technology. Preservation's EnergyMaxx 10 glass is the first of its kind in the marketplace. It combines the properties of the SST Spacer system, triple-pane glass, new Low E coating technology, and the use of krypton gas between the panes of glass.

In 2006 sixty million window units with metal spacer systems and argon gas were sold in the United States. Those windows were state-of-the-art at the time but two years later they will be rendered obsolete in terms of energy efficiency. In fact, the Energy Star Program has set new minimum standards for windows manufactured in 2015. None of the aforementioned sixty million window units would be a certified product at that point. Preservation Windows with EnergyMaxx 10 glass already meets the 2015 standard.

The Preservation brand is distributed by a group of dealers considered to be the elite among home improvement contractors around the United States. Today it was announced that Northland Home Exteriors from Forest Lake and Oakdale, Minnesota has become the "Dealer of Distinction" for the Twin Cities area. They are the 22nd such dealer in the country.

According to Doyle Land, owner of Northland Home Exteriors, "This window is not only exciting for us, it's exciting for the whole northern region of the country." He goes on to say "Preservation is the only window I know of that will absolutely guarantee a 33% decrease in the homeowner's fuel consumption. It's in writing and it's a money-back guarantee."

Northland Home Exteriors begins distribution Monday, January 10.

Having an energy efficiency improvement like this doesn't happen every day. It is a much larger jump than we've been used to.

Understanding Full Frame Replacement Windows

Many replacement window companies don't even evaluate whether or not your window replacement should be an insert or full frame type. After all, insert replacement is cheaper and easier to sell. The question is whether or not it's the best thing for the home.

Particularly in older homes the windows are usually wood. Even if they are clad they are more than likely caulked around the outside of the window unit. The cracks between the jamb and the house frame may be insulated but probably not.

What's happening when the caulk fails? Worse yet, what if it was never fully sealed. In twenty years of my experience I've never seen a home more than five years old that didn't have water damage around the windows - outside for sure, often inside the walls too. It's not always severe but it is there. If every homeowner could see what's behind the siding or inside the wall they'd choose full frame replacement every time. In my opinion it is needed every time.

Insert replacements leave the old window frame in the home. The rot, mold, and insects that are in there remain.

According to the most recent report from the Joint Center For Housing, 84% of all homeowners say their number one consideration is energy efficiency. Insert replacement doesn't insulate the open areas that have developed around the old window frame. That area can't be treated during the process of insert replacement.

The bottom line is that a real replacement window company will point this out and give you the choice. If they only try to sell the insert replacement what is their number one concern, your home or their commission?

Energy Efficiency Is #1 Issue For Consumers

Every year the Joint Center for Housing Survey comes out and every year it looks like last year's report. Surprise, not this year.

84% of the people surveyed chose energy efficiency as their first concern when considering new windows and siding. Not very long ago energy efficiency wasn't that big of a concern to most people, leaving me to ask "What changed"?

I have to believe that the awareness of the general public about the energy efficiency of windows is really what has changed. Concern for the environment and energy use can also be seen in the "green" movement".

The real test will happen when there is a choice to make. If the total replacement window package is $4,000 more for windows that are twice as energy efficient which window will be chosen? The ROI on double the energy efficiency more than pays the difference in cost in less than six years but how many people really think like that?

It will be interesting to see if energy efficiency and long-term thinking prevail over immediate cash outlay. Stay tuned!

What Is A "Green" Window

As we've become more and more aware of "building green" I wondered what that really meant for the window and glass industries. I needed to know what is universally set as the criteria for "green". We're actually asking how different windows score on tough environmental measures through all life-cycle stages, including raw material acquisition, manufacture, transportation, installation, use, and waste management using those criteria.

To me, all wood windows are immediately disqualified from any conversation about "Green". They use up precious natural resources, create waste, don't last long enough, and aren't energy efficient enough.

Is a man made material like vinyl considered "green"? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. I'll use Preservation Windows as an example. They don't use up natural resources, create zero waste, last lifetimes, and are way more energy efficient than most windows.

Before I really looked into it I thought Renewal by Andersen was the greenest window because of their use of sawdust and recycled materials. They were the first to receive the "Green Seal" award. What is their lifecycle? Who knows, but they only warranty their frames for ten years where many other vinyl window manufacturer's provide lifetime warranties. I wonder if that is a reflection of their confidence in mixing sawdust, recycled pop bottles, and vinyl together as a frame material?

Then I looked at their NFRC ratings on their website. Preservation Windows standard units are significantly more energy efficient than Renewal and it isn't even close.

My new impression of what "green" means certainly changes everything.

Glass Designed For Zone 5

Energy Star's proposed standards for upcoming years have added two more zones to the United States. The northern most zone is zone 5 which includes Minneapolis, St. Paul, Fargo, Green Bay, and many others. It is also the zone where u-factor is the most important rating you will see on the NFRC label.

What is the NFRC label? It is the label on every manufacturer's window that reports the independent test rating of five major components. Heat loss is the term most often tied to u-factor and that is really a function of the glass used in manufacturing the replacement window. Now you see why I say that u-factor is most important in zone 5.

When Energy Star published their proposed standards for upcoming years they made it clear that they want the Energy Star logo to mean something on windows. They are setting much higher and harder to achieve energy efficiency standards.

EnergyMaxx10 glass is the heart of what makes the Preservation Window the most energy efficient window on the market. EnergyMaxx10 has a number of key components that make it so energy efficient. It has the SST spacer system, krypton gas, two gas-filled chambers, and one inch of total glass space.

The SST spacer system is the heart of 'warm edge technology'. The specifications for the SST system clearly show why but here is the short list.

• Exclusive, patented tru warm edge.
• Patented double seal system.
• 54% more thermally efficient than windows made with conventional spacers.
• 950 times less conductive than aluminum spacers.
• 85 times less conductive than stainless steel spacers.
• Krypton gas has more than two and half times as much insulating value as argon.
• The chambers are larger than other glass types.

There are a few of the reasons for those of you in Zone 5 to go with Preservation Windows with EnergyMaxx10 glass.

Using Krypton In Window Glass

The use of krypton in high performance glass is becoming more and more popular. The question in most people's mind is whether or not it's worth it. The answer is yes, definitely.

Krypton and argon are both used in between the lites of glass in Low E and High Performance glass products. Both are inert gases that are not harmful to humans. Both have higher density than air.

Krypton is a better insulator because it's more than twice as dense as argon. Here is an easy analogy for you:

If you were looking at a swimming pool and it was empty, you could hop in and walk the full length of it quite easily. That's what air between the panes of glass is like. If the pool had water in it you would take longer and spend quite a bit more energy walking from one end to the other. That would be like argon. Now let's fill that pool with Jello, Jello symbolizing krypton gas.

I'm sure you get the drift. Krypton is a far better insulator than argon simply because of its density. Here is some more from Efficient Windows.Org if you're more of a technical person.

Vinyl Clad Wood vs. Insulated Vinyl Windows

The Efficient Windows Collaborative recently had an article that compared the various types of replacement windows. Their rankings of window types was very interesting, especially when they compared energy efficiency.

The only glass pack that rated above average was the triple pane, low e, insulated vinyl replacement window. The reason I bring this to your attention is simple. That rules out any of the windows manufactured by the "Big Three" window makers. Yes that includes Renewal By Andersen.

If you've read my stuff before you probably see that I have about four favorite windows and they are all vinyl. Preservation Windows stand out from the crowd though. When you start looking at replacement window products start with Preservation Windows and compare the features. You'll see what I mean!

Windows - Wood or Vinyl?

When someone asks me which type of window is better, wood or vinyl, I never hesitate to answer that vinyl makes a better window. It's almost like there is this little marketing war going on between the two types of window manufacturers. Most of what we hear is more urban myth than substance. I think it's simple to see that you can expect a vinyl window to last longer and be more energy efficient.

In the old days I used to think Andersen Windows were the standard because they were "the energy efficient window." If you don't already know, Andersen came out with vinyl clad windows and, at the time, they were the most innovative window on the market. The vinyl is PVC and it is like what the best vinyl windows are made of today. They used to be the prominent "vinyl clad" window in the whole world.

Now the same Andersen Windows are called wood windows. Funny, there hasn't been any structural change to the windows in 20 years. The Narroline windows are the same now as they were in 1975 except for the glass and other very minor changes. The only thing that's changed is perception. Vinyl clad was innovative back then so they were called vinyl clad windows. Now they are wood windows because natural wood is "in". Is it marketing or public perception?

My bias toward vinyl windows, especially replacement windows, is based on more scientific facts. For one, the good vinyl replacement windows have a Lifetime Warranty. Wood windows have a ten year warranty, at least the major ones like Andersen, Marvin, and Pella. Wood rots and that's just a fact. They can't possibly give a Lifetime Warranty or they would be out of business.

Vinyl is far more energy efficient than wood. The good vinyl windows have hollow chambers filled with foam insulation and offer a much higher r-factor than wood - even before the wood rots. The vinyl nowadays is uPVC (unplasticized polyvinyl chloride). Detractors often call them plastic windows because there is some kind of negative connotation about plastic. Note the "unplasticized" in uPVC. The virgin vinyl type will last a few human lifetimes without warping, cracking, or peeling. Vinyl never needs painting. Enough said about that.

I monitor one of the major window forums on the Internet and the most spirited argument I've ever seen was about warranties. One side argued that the lifetime warranty was better because it was forever. The other side countered that their windows, from the big three window makers, had a 10/20 warranty that was better than the lifetime warranty because they were still going to be in business to back the warranty. That was really interesting to me since the company that makes Preservation Windows has been in business for 68 years, has a solid reputation, and maintains solid earnings in tough economic times. They have a lifetime warranty that includes glass breakage and their u-factor rating was .19, twice as good as the big three. Nobody made that point and it didn't look like the type of argument I wanted to join. I was hearing banjo music in my head when I read some of the comments and it was very heated at times.

During that string of arguments someone mentioned Renewal By Andersen and their innovative material they call fibrex. Fibrex parts are only covered by a 10 year warranty. The material was developed in an effort to make the sawdust from Andersen's Bayport, Minnesota plant into something useful instead of burning thousands of tons of it every year. Fibrex is 40% reclaimed material. Since reground PVC has memory the polymers stretch and try to pull into their original form it's no wonder the warranty isn't longer. I'm not sold on fibrex until they prove that it's not the new "masonite". Do they seem confident with that 10 year warranty?

Preservation Windows has been named Energy Star Partner of the Year three times. They are more than twice as energy efficient as the big three and have a warranty that dwarfs theirs. Other good vinyl window makers with lifetime warranties include Simonton, Gorrell, and Milguard. My apology to any of the thousands of others who make really good vinyl windows. The two things the vinyl manufacturers have in common are energy efficiency and durability - none of them rot! And guess what, they don't expand and contract much either.

I think suffice is to say that vinyl windows, especially replacement windows, have too many important areas where their performance is far superior to wood. Please tell me what you think.

Kudos To The Energy Star Program

It is pretty clear that the Department of Energy is planning for a sound future as far as the window industry is concerned. If you haven't seen the proposed Energy Star Standards for windows in the years to come, it's worth a look. Energy Star is really going to mean something!

Right now it's hard to find a window that doesn't have the Energy Star sticker on it. In Zone 5, where I happen to live, there are windows on the market that are 2 and 3 times more energy efficient than other windows. The public should reasonably expect that one would have a higher ranking than the other. If you understand the NFRC label there is a huge difference. If you look for the Energy Star label it's virtually worthless.

U-factor, from the NFRC label is very meaningful to those of us in the north. It is the measure of heat transfer or loss. When temperatures can hit 30 degrees below zero it matters. You want to know what you're getting. If the average consumer looks at the Energy Star label on a window they believe it is an energy efficient window. Guess what? It might be better than what you have but it might not be that big of an upgrade in terms of energy efficiency.

Starting in 2009 the u-factor has to be .30 to .32 (the lower the better). There are already a few windows on the market with a u-factor rating of .16 to .20. In 2015 the standard lowers to .20 for a minimum.

The DOE is making the Energy Star label making mean something in the future. One of the windows on the market today offers a 33% fuel saving pledge. Their u-factor gets as low as .16 while Energy Star labels it the same as windows that are less than half as energy efficient. With the new Energy Star Standards maybe the general public won't need a 33% fuel savings pledge to see who really has an energy efficient window.

I know they had good intentions from the beginning. Separating the men from the boys will make the Energy Star logo mean something on windows. They are consciously making an effort to reduce the number of windows that meet their standards to less than 25% of the windows on the market. Kudos to the DOE.
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Replacement Windows Take Planning

With so many replacement windows on the market it can be confusing and frustrating to know which way to go. There are some general considerations that need to be considered and it may help you to develop a checklist of basic requirements. If you start calling contractors and listen to their recommendations you'll probably become more confused than you were going into the process.

One of the first things I recommend doing is to inspect your windows from the outside. Take note of the wood and siding around the window unit because it is as important as your window choice in the long run. If you find rotting and/or holes and cracks around the window you probably should be doing a full frame window replacement.

A full frame window replacement is one that includes complete removal and replacement of the whole window including jambs, casing, head, sill, and sash. In most homes there has been water leakage over the years that has caused rotting and, possibly, mold. When the contractor removes the old window unit they have clear access to inspect and replace any problems they find. They can also re-insulate immediately around the replacement window unit for better overall performance.

Decide what material you want. There are three basic materials used in the replacement window industry. Those three materials are wood, vinyl, and aluminum.

There is no wood window on the market with a lifetime warranty. The basic problem is that wood rots. They just can't count on it to last. It also doesn't have the insulating value of vinyl and aluminum because both of those can be filled with some type of insulation like foam. Condensation is inevitable, especially when your house is well insulated. The condensation drips down the inside of the glass and causes the water to collect on the wood sash. Wood gives you maintenance headaches and premature death of your windows.

In cooler climates aluminum windows are not a good choice either. Aluminum conducts heat and cold so they don't offer the insulation value of the same window built with vinyl.

I always recommend vinyl replacement windows. Within the classification of "vinyl replacement windows" there are high quality vinyl and low quality vinyl components used in a variety of windows. Make sure that your are only considering virgin vinyl. Recycled vinyl is not good in replacement windows and is really not a green product. Using reground vinyl creates instability within the vinyl because the polymers are trying to get back to their original shape. In the sun the various reground vinyls will crack or break during expansion and contraction.

And now we've reached the biggest item for you to consider. Glass is the single most important factor in choosing your replacement windows. 85% of the window unit is glass and glass is the easiest thing to get objective rankings for. The NFRC provides the data you need in their rating system. As you will see, there are thousands of window manufacturers that have their products rated by the NFRC (National Fenestration Rating Council). Understanding the data makes it simple to know which windows are the contenders and which ones are the pretenders but understanding the NFRC label is the easiest way for you to rank the various windows.

Surprisingly, the big three, Andersen, Marvin, and Pella don't seem to come close to some of the smaller companies in their standard offering. There are many really good ones but from what I've seen the two best overall replacement vinyl windows are Preservation Windows and Gorrell Windows. Using the criteria I talked about will help you decide which window works for you. What I think doesn't really matter, what do you think?

U-Factor More Important Than R-Factor For Windows and Doors

The window and door industry have their products measured in the form of U-Factor rather than R-Factor. U-Factor is the standard adopted by the National Fenestration Rating Council for windows and doors because it measures the rate of heat transfer (or loss) by the product being rated. It is a more important factor than the R-Factor because R-Factor measures conductivity. Windows and door are obviously not stationary so the measurement of heat loss gives us a better indication of how energy efficient a window or door is.

Radiant Heat Transfer

Radiant heat transfer is heat flow via absorption and then re-radiation. (An easy example is when you put your arm into the direct summer sun and it starts to warm up.)

The NFRC gives each window a U-factor rating. The U-factor is the inverse of the more familiar R-factor used in attic insulation. So a U-factor of .5 equals an R-factor of 2. The lower the U-factor the better.

When comparing windows, check for the NFRC label. Look for the U-factor. The first number after the words "U-factor" is the rating that's appropriate for residential purposes. It will be marked "AA" or "Residential." The U-factor marked "BB" or "Non-Residential" is for commercial window applications. Use the U-factor rating to make meaningful comparisons. Be wary of a window vendor who won't provide this number.

How far should you go? Obviously, you need to get price comparisons to make a decision. Keep in mind that a good portion of your cost is installation, so it makes sense to leverage those costs by installing a better window.

Convection Heat Transfer

Convection is the transmission of heat caused by movement of molecules from cool regions to warmer regions of lower density. The word "convection" is derived from the latin term convehere (to bring together).

Convection heat transfer is heat flow via air movement. (An easy example is when you turn on a hair dryer and the hot air is projected from the end of the hair dryer.)

Conduction Heat Transfer

Conduction is heat transfer through materials. (An easy example of conduction is when the handle of a pot on the stove gets warm. The heat is being conducted from the bottom of the pot all the way to the handle.)

An energy efficient window designed for heating-dominated climates minimizes heat loss by controlling all three sources of heat (energy) transfer.

Creating Energy Efficient Windows For Cold Climates Like Minnesota

The window industry uses the term u-value to measure heat flow. (A lower u-value means better thermal performance.)
There are a number of glass-related options that window manufacturers can use to design energy-efficient windows in cold climates. Most of these techniques improve the thermal performance of the glass. A brief explanation of each follows:

• Insulating Glass
  Insulating glass is comprised of two (or more) pieces of glass separated by a spacer material and sealed together to create an insulating glass unit (IG unit). IG units reduce convection and conduction heat loss.
• Low-E Glass
  Low-E glass has an almost invisible, microscopically thin coating that reflects long-wave infrared energy (or heat). When interior heat energy tries to escape to the colder outside, the Low-E coating reflects the heat back to the inside. The Low-E coating reduces radiant heat loss through the glass.
• "Warm-Edge" Spacer System
  The spacer material separating the two glass panes can be a source of conductive heat loss in cold climates. The thermal performance of IG units can be enhanced by using the SST spacer material that has a lower energy conductance rate and/or has less physical mass which equates to a lower energy transfer path.

Northland Home Exteriors - Dealer of Distinction

When you choose Preservation, you not only get the industry's best windows and siding, you get the best dealer. Northland Home Exteriors is the Twin Cities area Dealer of Distinction for Preservation Premium Windows and Siding. Every Dealer of Distinction is sure to posess all of these attributes:

• High quality installation and service standards
• Design Expertise
• Established, Consistent Reliability
• Results-Oriented Consulting for Energy Solutions
• Solid Reputation in the Community and Industry
• High Rate of Customer Referrals

As the newest member of the Preservation Dealer of Distinction Program Northland meets all of these qualifications. They have a proven track record and their owner, Doyle Land, has more than 20 years experience in the business. He knows a great product when he sees it, making Preservation and Northland partners with the same goal.

A Dealer of Distinction is a dealer of impecable credentials. When you choose Preservation Windows and Siding you not only get the industry's best windows and siding you get the best dealer along with it.

Preservation isn't ordinary windows and siding. Intensive research and development give you unsurpassed beauty and uncompromising quality. It only makes sense that you can only get Preservation products from dealers who meet the same standards. There are only 22 Dealers of Distinction nationwide and we think that they, and our products, will be a perfect fit for your home.

Sustainable Building- PPG's New Century of Architectural Significance

Today’s architects occupy the leading edge of a growing global environmental consciousness. While the industry’s earlier masters were celebrated mainly for the extraordinary design and functionality of their work, the contemporary practitioner is now focused with equal intensity on creating structures that harmonize with the delicate ecosystems they occupy.

Concepts such as sustainability, renewability, reclamation, upcycling and lifecycle analysis, only marginally understood a decade ago, have become common to the architect’s vernacular.

Today, these terms are being codified into a new canon of architectural standards. Perhaps the most widely recognized standards are those administered by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), whose LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ has gained primacy among governmental agencies, municipalities and major corporations eager to benefit from sustainable building.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) also has established ASTM E 2129. This is another recognized standard designed to assess the “sustainability of elements or products” used in commercial and residential construction, as well as a building’s overall design efficiency, its impact on the habits of its occupants, and its influence on the surrounding climate.

The ASTM E 2129 standard addresses the potential environmental sustainability of a building project according to five major criteria, encompassing Materials, Manufacturing, Operational Performance of Installed Product, Indoor Environmental Quality and Corporate Environmental Policy. Rather than establishing specific standards within each of these categories, ASTM E 2129 poses a series of questions. Answers to those questions demonstrate to what degree a structure adheres to the principle of sustainable building.

While LEED does not certify individual building products, it does recognize that the selection of such products can play a vital role in making a building LEED compliant. PPG manufactures a variety of glass, paint and coating products that can help architects earn LEED certification for their projects. These products also positively address sustainability issues outlined in the ASTM E 2129 standard.

A Global Commitment
While the growth of green building is a relatively new phenomenon, PPG’s commitment to environmental responsibility is long-standing. For decades, PPG has been committed to making products and pursuing business practices that help sustain a healthy global environment.

In fact, most PPG building products transcend the LEED standard by addressing long-term economic, quality and manufacturing issues that impact the environment, yet fall outside LEED performance parameters. Many of these issues, such as corporate environmental policy, are addressed in the ASTM E 2129 standard.

On the corporate level, this commitment is articulated through PPG’s EHS (Environment, Health and Safety) policy, which fosters partnerships with governmental agencies and environmentally focused groups around the world. These partnerships support programs and meet strict standards for resource conservation, habitat preservation, and cleaner air and water.

A strong environmental awareness also pervades PPG’s research and product development efforts, which span numerous industries beyond the architectural field.

The result is a vast reservoir of technical knowledge and engineering expertise that enables PPG to translate the environmental advances it makes in one industry into exciting new products that serve another.

The Benefits are Clear
EcoLogical^™ Glass for Architecture
Glass is one of the architects’ most versatile tools. Fused from raw materials that are abundant and inexpensive, glass is a low-maintenance material that has the capacity to retain or deflect the sun’s energy, while protecting building occupants from wind, rain, snow and other disruptive environmental forces.

Architects also treasure glass’s transparency, which can frame a dramatic view or present limitless color, shape and reflectivity options. Along with its decorative potential, architectural glass also performs two important functions that are critical to sustainable building, LEED and the ASTM E 2129 evaluation process.

Spectral Selectivity
For sustainable building projects, the ideal architectural glass is one that permits the greatest amount of natural light to enter a building while limiting, to the furthest extent possible, the thermal effects of infrared energy and solar heat gain.

A glass’s ability to balance this “spectral ideal” is quantified by its Light to Solar Gain ratio (LSG). Any glass that achieves an LSG of more than 1.25 is considered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to be . This designation became especially significant when the DOE, following a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL), recommended that all commercial buildings in the U.S. be glazed with spectrally selective glass.

Not surprisingly, PPG was a trailblazer in the development of these critical products more than 50 years ago. The company supplied the first spectrally selective glass to New York’s landmark Lever House Building in 1952, the first major skyscraper to use tinted glass as a design and environmental control element. PPG also made history 30 years later when it debuted the first Low-E coated product, Sungate^® glass.

Today, the technologies that originated with these two products are industry standards. The glass featured on the Lever House Building, now known as Solexia™, is part of PPG’s inspiring Oceans of Color™ collection. With LSGs ranging from 1.28 to 1.34, Oceans of Color represents the world’s most unique and best performing line of spectrally selective tinted glasses.

Meanwhile, PPG’s original Sungate technology has evolved into two of the industry’s most effective and widely specified products, Solarban^® 60 and Solarban^® 80 Solar Control Low-E Glasses.

Solarban 60 Low-E Glass and PPG’s other low-emissivity architectural glass products are especially important to architects seeking to manage infrared heat gain while capitalizing on the benefits of natural daylight. These versatile, high-performance products can be combined with clear glass—or a complete range of earth- and ocean-inspired tints—to offer clients an unsurpassed selection of aesthetic and solar control capabilities.

Through their exceptional amalgamation of light transmittance and solar control engineering, PPG architectural glasses help architects satisfy LEED prerequisites in nearly every LEED environmental category, but especially those related to energy performance, daylighting and views, and thermal comfort.

The Glass is Always Greener
Lower heating and lighting costs aren’t the only way PPG glass enhances the environment. We’re making positive contributions through our manufacturing practices as well.

PPG was a leading pioneer in oxygen-fuel furnace technology and one of the first companies to install it on a float glass production line in North America. Today, this technology is in operation at two major PPG glass production facilities.

Thanks to this extraordinary advancement, PPG has cut the amount of fuel needed to make finished glass by more than 15 percent. Carbon dioxide emissions at these two plants also have been reduced by 10 percent and emissions of nitrogen oxide have been lowered by 50 percent. Finally, more than 70 tons of annual hazardous waste has been eliminated from the production cycle in these two facilities alone.

Recycling
Buildings also can earn LEED credits based on the amount of their recycled content. All PPG glass products contain a minimum 20 percent of post-industrial recycled glass. What’s more, every PPG glassmaking plant is equipped with extensive systems to recover and store discarded glass. Otherwise known as “cullet,” these materials are combined with other batch materials during the melting process. A full 100 percent of the unused glass PPG produces internally is recycled into production.

Finally, many of PPG’s glass products are shipped in reusable steel cases. As a result, the amount of disposable packaging that accompanies architectural glass products has been reduced from 75 percent to 10 percent.

Local Sourcing
PPG Certified Fabricator^® Program
At least 20 percent of a project’s building materials must be manufactured within a 500-mile radius of the construction site, according to LEED mandates. ASTM E 2129 also advocates efforts to minimize the use of nonrenewable energy in the delivery of building products to the building site.

PPG’s Certified Fabricator^® Program (CFP) is a network of highly trained and qualified suppliers with fabricating plants throughout the United States. They specialize in the fabrication of high-performance solar control and spectrally selective glasses, such as Solarban and Oceans of Color.

By purchasing glass from a local CFP, architects not only receive the highest possible level of quality and performance from their glass supplier, but they also can claim additional credit toward LEED certification, depending on the percentage of glass material used in their project.

Energy Tax Credit Back For 2009

The National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) has confirmed that Congress approved and President Bush has signed legislation renewing home improvement tax credits for consumers.

The credits are obtainable only for home improvements completed January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009. The original credits expired December 31st, 2007, and no credits are available for home improvements made during 2008.

The home improvement credit program will work the same way it did in 2007. Consumers can receive $200 credit for all qualifying products (including windows and doors) installed during any one taxable year. There is a $500 lifetime credit limit. All credits must be requested before the end of 2009.

An exterior window or door (other than a storm window or storm door) is considered an “Eligible Building Envelope Component” when it meets or exceeds the prescriptive criteria established by the IECC for the climate zone in which the window or door is installed.

A taxpayer may treat an exterior window that bears an ENERGY STAR^® label and is installed in the region identified on the label as an Eligible Building Envelope Component and may rely on such ENERGY STAR^® label, rather than on a manufacturer’s certification statement, in claiming the § 25C credit.

The credit amount established by § 25C of the Internal Revenue Code is:
• 10% of the amount paid or incurred by the taxpayer for qualified energy efficiency improvements installed during the taxable year.
• Up to $200.00 maximum credit for windows for all taxable years (maximum $500.00 credit for all improvements combined).
• Allowed only for amounts paid or incurred to purchase the window or door.
• Not allowed for amounts paid for onsite preparation, assembly, original installation labor, other components or sales tax.
• The purchase must be made during the taxable year for which the credit is claimed.
• Retroactive and with time limits, covering product in service after December 31, 2005 and before January 1, 2008.

The Energy Tax Credit information contained on the Preservation site is not complete or comprehensive. For the entire scope of information about the Credit for Non-Business Energy Property § 25C, please see:

Energy Tax Credit Information

Claiming Your Tax Credit

After establishing your eligibility to claim a Tax Credit for Non-Business Energy Property § 25C, please complete the following to ensure accuracy:

1. Request an invoice demonstrating the cost breakout of the window or door components from your contractor. This cost must exclude the cost of onsite preparation, assembly, original installation labor, other components or sales tax.
2. Download the applicable official Manufacturer's Certificate PDF following the links below (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).
3. Retain the contractor invoice and our official Manufacturer's Certificate for your IRS records. You are not required to provide this documentation to the IRS, but you will be required to present it if audited.

Replacement Window Information For Building Professionals

The purpose of this blog will be to provide updated technical information about windows and glass technology on a timely basis. Many times new technology is released and building professionals don't hear about it in time to make better decisions.

Right now the replacement window industry is having a huge jump in energy efficiency and manufacturing technology. On the flip side, manufacturers that can't retool in order to compete are failing. Recently Kensington, a well known manufacturer, closed their doors. Unfortunately, we expect more window manufacturers and a large number of exterior remodeling companies to close their doors over the coming winter.

It's important that there is an industry source that can be counted on to distribute that kind of information. We hope to fill that role for many.

If you have any research requests or questions please feel free to email me. I look forward to helping.