So while you may not want to venture outdoors on one of the many days where the mercury is hovering somewhere around the freezing mark, chances are you will want to usher as many of the day’s brilliant rays into your home as possible – which is where good window selection comes shining through. Depending on their design and placement, windows can add dramatic appeal or comforting practically to any room in your home – not to mention save you a whack of money. Many windows nowadays are built to be energy efficient, which can be a huge boon for your monthly utility bills. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s begin with the basics. Design. If you’re a novice window shopper, you’re bound to get lost in the lingo: awning, casement, bay, bow, double hung, metal clad, thermally broken aluminum. What’s it all mean? Read on.

• Awning Window: Hinged on either side, this window opens outward from the bottom of the frame toward the home’s exterior.
• Bay Window: A group three windows anchored by a fixed centre pain of glass, flanked on either side bysimilarly sized windows set at a 45-degree angle.
• Bow Window: A group of four or more windows set at an angle to create a wide, dramatic curve.
• Casement Window: Typicaly rectangular in shape, this type of window is hinged at one side, swinging open vertically toward the exterior.
• Double Hung Window: Traditionally inspired, these widows have an upper sash that slides down and a lower sash that slides up for dual opening possibilities.
• Single Hung Window: Same principle as the double hung variety, with one sliding sash rather than two.
• Picture Window: A solid pane of glass that provides uninterrupted views of the world outside.
• Slider Window: Simple system whereby one sash of a dual-sided window slides in front of the other to open.

Choosing the right window style has a lot to do with the room in which it will be placed. “The first thing to consider is the direction the window will face,” says Scott Keelan of Gienow Windows. “South or west facing exposures get a lot more sun, so you’ll probably want to consider having a solar resistant coating put on the glass to reflect and absorb UV rays. Increasing ventilation may be important too. In a bedroom, for example, a double venting window will make a huge difference in terms of getting rid of excess heat at night.”

The materials your windows are made from can have just as much impact on performance as their placement and design. Vinyl, wood and metal clad are standard material options, and each has its own unique benefits and selling features.

Vinyl windows are far and away the most common choice among new homeowners and manufacturers (in Calgary, vinyl accounts for about 70 per cent of new installations.) Vinyl’s popularity can be attributed to a variety of unique advantages, including affordability, strength, and lightweight construction. From a manufacturing perspective, vinyl is an ideal choice because it’s easily extruded into a virtually limitless number of sizes and shapes (and when you’re looking to place a massive specialty window in a formal living room, for example, it really is the only way to go.) Vinyl works well from a practical standpoint too: it resists heat transfer well, effectively keeping heat in and cold out, and vice versa depending on the season. The one true disadvantage of vinyl windows is a limited colour selection: 99.9 per cent of them are stark white. Colour options (however rare) are available, but most manufacturers don’t offer them due to warranty concerns related to sun bleaching. Wood windows hold an aesthetic appeal that’s hard to beat, but they tend to be more expensive and require more maintenance than their vinyl counterparts. When left to the elements, untreated wood will eventually blister or rot, so regular painting or staining is required. In truth, most wood windows are in fact clad windows, meaning the exterior side is covered in a protective material such as metal or vinyl to prevent extensive damage. Even with exterior cladding, however, a wood window has the visual appeal of a higher end product – something to consider if you’re building an estate home.

Glass options for windows are where you truly get bang for your buck. Look for multiple panes; the more you have in a window, the greater its resistance to heat transfer. Various types of glass are on the market (ranging from clear to heat absorbing and reflective) and most manufacturers today offer some kind of high efficiency glaze that decreases the amount of energy transfer from one side of the pane to the other. Gienow’s Sol-R® glass is a high performance product with a transparent coating that acts as a shield against heat and cold. Available in either dual or triple pane options, Sol-R® coating blocks UV rays and provides extra thermal insulation, while argon gas filler between the panes creates a further barrier from the outside elements. “Look for Energy Star rated windows,” suggests Keelan. “Energy Star conducts independent tests to ensure windows meet or exceed insulation standards for specific climate zones.”

Ray-O-Max holds the esteemed title for producing the highest energy rated window on the market today. The company’s advanced heat-reflective Power Glass™ reflects up to 90 per cent of radiant heat back to its source, so the heat from baking sidewalks and streets in the summertime stays outside where it belongs. The technology also works in reverse, conducting solar heat into your home during the winter and holding it there when the air outside is bitter cold. Combined with their trademarked Solar-Gold Superspacers™, Ray-O-Max windows are able to transmit and retain two to three times more energy during the day than they lose at night, effectively utilizing the sun’s natural heating capability as replacement heat for your home (translation: you can kiss the $300 per month utility bills you’ve been paying goodbye.) “Ray-O-Max customers are almost exclusively those who are renovating, rather than first time builders,” says sales agent, Ed Jensen. “Price wise, we’re usually not the most affordable, but you’re definitely going to see return on your investment in the long run in the way of energy savings.”

In addition to installing Low-E rated windows (Ray-O-Max’s product is a microscopic metallic coating that reflects infrared heat but doesn’t obstruct views) Jensen recommends tinting for west and south facing exposures. “The Low-E coating works very well, but if your kitchen and family room faces due west, those rooms are going to take a lot of sun. A tint will keep up to 50 per cent more heat out of those areas than Low-E glass alone.”

Because windows are more solidly built and environmentally sound than ever before, homeowners can incorporate a great number of large windows in their homes without having to worry about comfort or associated costs – either in the dead of winter or the dog days of summer. But new home owners should be vigilant about what kinds of windows they’re getting with their home purchase.  “Check with your builder as to what standard window
options they offer, and check into other options before you sign on the dotted line,” says Jensen. “Builders buy in massive quantities, so often new homes are all built with the same kind of windows. If you bring up the discussion with your builder early in the process, you’ll have more opportunity to upgrade your windows, or deal directly with a manufacturer to supply your own. Windows are something most people never
regret spending a little more on.”  NL