Watch This Before Replacing That Broken Window

Описание: If a window in your home is broken, you may be wondering whether you need to replace the entire unit or if you can just replace the glass. You can almost always replace just the glass, but there's a few instances where it could be a good idea to go ahead and upgrade the entire unit.

Daniel Snow from Glass.com visits with Dustin Anderson from Anderson Glass in Waco, Texas to see how a window pane is replaced and talk upgrade options.

If you need the windows in your home repaired or replaced, use Glass.com to find a local service provider in your area and request quotes.

Transcription

Daniel:
So we've got a window sash here, just like you'd find in any double hung window in somebody's home. So let's say I'm out cutting my grass, and a rock flies up, hits the window, it breaks the glass, and I need to get this glass fixed. Do I need to replace the entire unit? Or do I just need to fix the glass by itself?

Dustin:
Yea, you don't have to replace the entire window and a lot of folks think you do. You can get away with just replacing the interior of this. There's an insulated unit inside this that looks just like this unit right here. It's a completely sealed unit, ready to go. A glass company will come out and they'll take this frame apart and they'll literally just replace the glass piece itself. Now, they will take both pieces of glass out because it's a sealed unit. So it's not like you can just replace one of the two pieces because it's double pane. You have to take the entire sealed unit out, a whole new sealed unit goes in, then you put it all back together.

Daniel:
So let's talk about the sealed unit for a second. This is actually considered and insulating glass unit, correct? Can you explain a little bit about how that insulation process works?

Dustin:
Sure. So you have two pieces of glass that have an aluminum spacer in between. They make spacers out of other materials, but for the most part, aluminum. And it's completely sealed and has a desiccant inside to absorb moisture. There's dead airspace in between the two pieces of glass and that acts as an insulator.

Daniel:
So it's basically a piece of glass, air space, another piece of glass, and that creates insulation.
Does the frame itself actually play a part in insulating as well?

Dustin:
Absolutely. Depending on what the frame is made out of, you could be transferring whatever exterior temperature, to the interior of your house.

Daniel:
What are some of the options for frame materials?

Dustin:
So aluminum is the old school standard if it's not wood. Aluminum is not a very good insulator. But this is a vinyl unit. This is a great energy performing product. And you also have wood windows now that are really really good. So essentially you have two really high end pieces of that. If you've got wood windows you obviously may want to look at upgrading.

Daniel:
Right, especially depending on your geographical location. If you either get really hot summers or really cold winters, this could actually probably take your heating and cooling bills down significantly by upgrading all your windows to something a little more energy efficient.

Dustin:
Absolutely. You can really pick and choose what you want. There's a lot of color options; there's a lot of design options. This has got an exterior mutton bar on it. Some units have an interior mutton bar. You can do no bars at all. And the other thing you can do is you can pick how well the glass itself performs. Depending on where you are geographically, it makes sense to have and better energy performing product that blocks out UV in more southern states than the north.

Daniel:
I noticed that this particular piece actually has a sticker that says low-e. What does low-e mean when it comes to insulating glass units?

Dustin:
So low-e is basically a coating on the interior of the glass. So you have an outside unit and an inside until. Well, in between they actually treat one of those pieces of glass, sometimes both pieces of glass. And what they treat it with, that actual product itself, becomes an energy saver. It doesn't allow UV light to pass through as easily.

Daniel:
So that could definitely keep your home a lot cooler in the summer months.

Dustin:
Absolutely.