Three Upgrades To Consider When Getting Your Window Glass Replaced

Window glass replacement probably seems more like an expensive responsibility than an opportunity, yet looking at it as a chance to improve your windows can help you get the most benefit out of the replacement appointment. When your residential glass replacement technician lets you know that the damage is too extensive and you need a replacement, you'll need to discuss the extent of the replacement needed (a single pane of glass or a complete window replacement), but you can also inquire about options that can make your new window better than the old one was. Here are three such upgrades.

1. Double or triple glazing

If you had single or double glazed windows before, it's always possible to level up. There's a huge difference in insulation value between a single pane of glass and a double glazed window. It doesn't look that impressive; it just looks like two sheets of glass sandwiched together. But the trick is that in-between the panes there's a vacuum layer or a layer of inert gas, such as argon gas, used as insulation. A vacuum layer works because it's very difficult to transfer heat through a vacuum (it's much easier for heat transfer to occur between particles), and a layer of inert gas works because inert gases aren't nearly as good at transferring heat as normal air.

2. Low emissivity glass

Having low emissivity glass installed can also improve your window's insulation value. If you use low emissivity glass for double or triple glazed windows, you can create very well-insulated windows indeed. Low emissivity glass is specifically engineered to reduce the amount of sun coming through your windows while still allowing as much light as possible to enter. It does this with specifically targeted reflectivity that reflects heat rays rather than rays of visible light. It can also reflect heat back into your house when it's colder outside than in, which means that it's a great form of window insulation for both summer and winter. 

3. Window films

Low emissivity glass uses a basically invisible coating to reflect heat rays, but there are other coatings, such as sacrificial anti-graffiti coatings and tinted privacy coatings, that can serve a variety of other purposes. Anti-graffiti coatings reduce damage to the window if it happens to be etched with graffiti, and tinted coatings can keep people from spying on you as well as keeping out even more sunlight. You can also get coatings that make your glass stronger and more shatter-resistant, so it's much harder for any intruders to gain entrance through the windows

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