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Some signs that it's probably time to replace your windows:
- You live in a northern climate, and have really old windows with single-pane glass or metal frames.
- Your double-pane windows have broken seals or cracked glass, and are fogged and pitted between the glass.
- Your windows don't close and latch, or don't open.
I'm a big fan of cellular shades as an insulating window covering. Personally, I like the way they look by themselves, but you can also install them behind drapes or wood blinds or whatever. When they're raised they fold up to almost nothing. The name-brand ones can be pretty expensive but I've had good luck ordering the "house brand" from one of the online blinds stores, which are *much* less expensive.
Some signs that it's probably time to replace your windows:
- You live in a northern climate, and have really old windows with single-pane glass or metal frames.
- Your double-pane windows have broken seals or cracked glass, and are fogged and pitted between the glass.
- Your windows don't close and latch, or don't open.
I'm a big fan of cellular shades as an insulating window covering. Personally, I like the way they look by themselves, but you can also install them behind drapes or wood blinds or whatever. When they're raised they fold up to almost nothing. The name-brand ones can be pretty expensive but I've had good luck ordering the "house brand" from one of the online blinds stores, which are *much* less expensive.
Yeah that's we have- cellular shades. They do a fantastic job.
Some signs that it's probably time to replace your windows:
- You live in a northern climate, and have really old windows with single-pane glass or metal frames.
- Your double-pane windows have broken seals or cracked glass, and are fogged and pitted between the glass.
- Your windows don't close and latch, or don't open.
I'm a big fan of cellular shades as an insulating window covering. Personally, I like the way they look by themselves, but you can also install them behind drapes or wood blinds or whatever. When they're raised they fold up to almost nothing. The name-brand ones can be pretty expensive but I've had good luck ordering the "house brand" from one of the online blinds stores, which are *much* less expensive.
My windows are 113 years old, and I'm keeping them. With good storm windows, original single-pane windows can be about as efficient as modern windows. And, it's pretty unlikely that modern windows will last as long. So, even if modern windows are a bit more efficient, by the time they pay for themselves, they'll need replaced again, anyway.
I've read through almost 200 pages on this forum and finally just had to register! I know this is an old post, but after reading through of the comments, i wanted to tell my story. We live in a nearly 100 year old house in southern Iowa so we get hot, humid summers and cold winters. Just in the past year, we've had plenty of upper 90's days with high humidity and lows of as low as -25F. A handful of the windows were replaced back in the 90's but all of the others are the original windows including a large picture window in the living room which are all double pane? windows (they have storm windows on them with screens, so there are 2 panes of glass when closed). About 5 years ago, i went around to all of the windows and put new silicone caulking around all of the seams inside and out of all of the windows. We also put "heat control window film" on the inside of every single window. With the window film on, then now on a 95F day with the sun shining in the picture window, we cannot feel the sun's heat whatsoever whereas before, it would nearly bake you. We cannot feel any cold drafts around the windows now either. We had an energy audit done on the house where they did a blower door test to check for air leaks and our house ranked "almost too tight". We were told that it's rare to find this old of a house that is this air tight but it's not Too air tight. The person actually told us that they wish more houses were this air tight and recommended that there was nothing else that needed done to improve the numbers. I know there are lots of people who are against the window film stating it makes no difference and can damage the window seals, but we've had them installed for 5 years now and no cracked windows or any signs of accelerated aging on the seals. In fact, a couple of years ago we had installed a brand new low-e window upstairs and when the sun shined on it, we could still feel the sun's heat, so i put the window film on it too and it helped tremendously. We heat with a heat pump with a 15k back-up heat strips and also a wood furnace that we fire up when it gets down in the single digits or lower and we never hit higher than $175-200 electric bill at any point in the year. I agree with others that state that older windows can be just as efficient or moreso than new ones!
Same here, no matter how hight the heater is, close to the windows (good and thick ones) I can still feel the cold. It is what it is, after all, it's glass...
I agree with others that state that older windows can be just as efficient or moreso than new ones!
That is simply impossible, one of the best insulators is trapped air or a gas. In fact this is how most insulation works whether it's a coat you are wearing or whatever is in your wall, it doesn't trap heat but traps air that contains the heat. The gases used between window panes have a heavier gas than "air" making them even more effective. In addtion to that they are more tightly sealed preventing the fastest way heat escapes/infiltrates a home which is through convection. Heat moves through convection, conduction and radiation and it always moves to cold. Insulation can only stop convection, it only slows down conduction and radiation. You're windows will always be cold or hot depending on the season because they will have the least amount of insulating effect.
From personal experience in the heating industry I can tell you I could always tell when my customers made significant changes to their homes like adding insulation or new windows. I had a family that bought an old country church perhaps with 3 or 4 thousand square foot. When they first bought it they were using about 24 ton of coal a year, this is the equivalent of about 4,300 gallons of oil for some perspective. With new construction and insulation they cut that down to about 17 ton over about 5 years, when they put new windows in they were down to about 12 ton or half the original amount of energy.
I live in coastal GA, and the summers are blistering. We replaced the metal windows in our house with Andersen 100s, which I gather are 3x worse than your’s. It is night and day difference, heatwise, so I don’t get why you didn’t find yours to be the same.
That is simply impossible, one of the best insulators is trapped air or a gas. In fact this is how most insulation works whether it's a coat you are wearing or whatever is in your wall, it doesn't trap heat but traps air that contains the heat. The gases used between window panes have a heavier gas than "air" making them even more effective. In addtion to that they are more tightly sealed preventing the fastest way heat escapes/infiltrates a home which is through convection. Heat moves through convection, conduction and radiation and it always moves to cold. Insulation can only stop convection, it only slows down conduction and radiation. You're windows will always be cold or hot depending on the season because they will have the least amount of insulating effect.
From personal experience in the heating industry I can tell you I could always tell when my customers made significant changes to their homes like adding insulation or new windows. I had a family that bought an old country church perhaps with 3 or 4 thousand square foot. When they first bought it they were using about 24 ton of coal a year, this is the equivalent of about 4,300 gallons of oil for some perspective. With new construction and insulation they cut that down to about 17 ton over about 5 years, when they put new windows in they were down to about 12 ton or half the original amount of energy.
Yes, single-pane windows, alone, will be less efficient than double-pane windows. It's adding storm windows (after refurbishing the originals) that makes them equivalent.
Glass is a terrible insulator. Double and triple pane glass is only a little bit less terrible. Cold will radiate through glass, there is no getting around that. If cold air is blowing through however, something is wrong. In that case, you ahve an installation issue, not a window issue.
Windows sellers massively exaggerate the benefit of new windows (to you, they under-exaggerate the benefit to them of you buying new windows). If you want to make more of a difference, put in some interior storm windows. If they are sealed, this will put an inch of two of air between the panes. Air is a better insulator than glass is, so a big pocket of trapped air may help quite a bit.
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