Insulated Glass

Insulated glass or double pane glass is what most new homes have today unless your house is very old when it was more common to have just a single pane of glass. Do you need a glass repair? We replace thousands of double pane glass every year and a few hundred of single pane glass. Every year the single pane glass service is less and less and insulated glass becomes the norm. So it is important to know what type of glass you have and ask your glass company everything about it before they leave. What is insulated glass? Or double pane glass? While for some is clear which is which for others is not that easy.

As you can see from the picture to the left a sample of a insulated glass window. It simply means two pane of glass stick together with a spacer between them. The overall thickness of the insulated glass unit from one side of the glass to other side of the glass range from 7/16 to 1″. While this is simple to know, it is very important to know other quality or specification about the double pane glass windows for your home. When you call a glass company for a broken glass repair or foggy window replacement, they will usually measure the glass, get all the info they need, and give you price for the job. They will not tell you much about it it unless you ask them to give you that information. We normally don’t go into detail with our clients simply because some of them don’t care and they just want their window repair. In other cases we take our time to answer all their questions from customers that like to be informed about their windows. So I have compiled a few frequently ask questions that apply to most home owners.

What is the warranty? Keep in mind that warranty don’ apply to broken glass. Normally your windows should last at least 5 years without getting foggy. If it does in less than that time call the glass company you used to get replaced free of charge. You also have the option to have a double seal for an extra charge and the warranty is for 10 years. Single seal is 5 years and that’s what you will get if you don’t ask. In my opinion it is worthy because you will peace of mind for at least 10 years which is a lot. This is why it is important to contract a company that will be there for that long.

You could also ask for thicker glass. Why? Well, most residential glass is 1/16. Ask for 1/8 glass which is twice as thick and a little bit stronger. 1/8 glass could resist an impact, would not break that easy if your windows are not leveled. When you get a broken glass try to see why it broke and the chances are that your windows are no longer square. The other day we replaced a glass that has been broken more than three times just because the window was not installed correctly. It was to much pressure for the glass to resist when there was small shift in the window frame.

Do the bars between the glass are important? No. Mutin bars are there make your windows look better. It is ok to have them or go without them. They come is white, bronze, and mill color. 5/8 or 3/4 is almost the standard wide side for most of them. You can create a lot of different pattern to fit your needs.

What type of glass do I have? It used to be clear glass for both panes. Now we installed much of the time the more expensive glass called Low-e. In this case you will have a clear glass that goes inside and the low-e glass that goes outside. They are more energy efficient than the regular insulated glass. It also becomes more expensive for you to replace your glass because low e glass is becoming very expensive. There are basically three types of low-e glass that most residential homes used no matter where you live. I will name them in order of popularity and the last one is very expensive.

1. RLE
2. PP2
3. Cardinal 240

Your windows most likely will have one of the above choices. Do you have a lowe glass installed at your house? If you can see any special color or tint then your windows have low-e glass. Cardinal 240 is the most expensive of all, but this type of glass reduce glare and is the best when compared with rle or pp2. A tip that I would like to share is about the price for replacing insulated glass no matter what type of glass is that a glass company will tell you a different “story”. Obviously the price will vary but not because it is more expensive means your are getting a better quality glass. Why? Because most glass companies use the same glass suppliers that make the windows for them. I would think twice about someone that tells you that they make their own insulated glass. Anyway I have seen potential customers pay twice as much for the same glass just because they thought were getting a better double pane glass.

Take into consideration the shape or pattern for your windows. It will be more expensive to replace any special shape glass, so don’t get surprise when you get a quote for the following shapes

1.  Half Circle
2. Full eyebrow
3. Half Eyebrow
4. Continuous Jamb
5. Half Continuous Jamb
6. Rakes
7. Out of Square
8. Triangles
9. Full Circles
10. Octagons

The bigger the size of the glass for any of the above pattern expect to pay good dollars for that glass service. It takes for someone to know what they are doing and measure that glass to fit your windows because if there is a miscalculation during this step the glass company most likely will lose money.