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Home Window Buying Guide

Home Window Buying Guide

What can you expect when buying windows for your home or business?

When it comes to buying windows for your home, the choices and indeed the whole process can be completely nerve wracking. Everyone seems to have an opinion, and meanwhile if you are like most people in the world you are paralyzed by the thought of “but what if I get the windows and they are not as good as I have come to expect?” It can be very useful to have a home window buying guide to help you work through the factors you are not familiar with and make the best choice for your own personal home windows.

• Energy efficiency factors: There are many different features that are available to choose for your energy efficient windows, and each of the features are measured in separate ways. For example,

  • Visible Transmittance: Also labeled as VT, visible transmittance refers to the amount of visible light that gets through the window. Remember that there are many kinds of light that are not visible to people. Ultraviolet and infrared light are two such examples. You can get specialized coatings that protect against light outside the visible spectrum while affecting the visible spectrum of the light minimally, if at all. To know how much light the window actually lets through, check out the visual transmittance criteria.

  • Solar Heat Gain Coefficient: Also known as SHGC, the solar heat gain coefficient is the measure of how much heat a window lets through. If the window lets in a lot of heat, the result will be close to 1. If the window does not let any heat through, the result will be close to 0. If you live in a southern climate, you will probably want the number to be close to 0 to keep your home from getting too hot in the summer. If you live in a northern climate, you will probably want the number to be closer to 1 so you can take advantage of passive solar heating.

  • U-factor: U-factor is the measure of how well a window keeps heat in. This matters a lot when you are trying to heat your house and you don’t want to pay to heat the whole neighborhood. The lower the number, the more efficient the window is.

These measurements can help you understand how energy efficient a window is that you are looking at and exactly what it is good at doing. Happy shopping!