February 11, 2009

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

The amount of daylight in this house is incredible! Even now as the walls are filled in, there is so much light in every space, that one barely needs artificial lighting until the sun goes down. To make sure we’re not letting in too much heat along with all of the light we’re inviting in, we went with dual pane windows with low-e glazing. To compliment the style of the home we chose aluminum frames. What sets these apart from other aluminum windows is that they are thermally broken. A thermal break is a non-metallic resin or plastic material installed in the metallic window frame that physically separates the interior part of the window from the exterior part. Hence, the pathway for heat energy to be transferred or conducted through the window frame is thermally broken. The space between the panes of glass is filled with argon gas and continuous warm edge spacers which reduces temperature conductivity. The windows are glazed with the most advanced low-e coating, a microscopic coating on glass that deflects heat but lets in light.
The Heritage Thermal break system is the thermal strut system which offers better U-values and higher structural strength.

1 comment:

  1. This is a great idea for cooler climates but in a hotter area I think I would look more toward geothermal.

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