The House Gets Eyes
(March 2020) Windows give a house its eyes (and sometimes ears) and our architect selected ones that would perform optimally based upon our climate and our home’s orientation to the sun while also providing us new views of our community in addition to aesthetic appeal.
The Specs
We are using ENERGY STAR-certified Marvin casement windows with frames made from pultruded fiberglass (8x stronger than vinyl) that expands with the glass it surrounds during temperature extremes, which ensures the window remains air-tight.
There are two main performance ratings for a window’s energy efficiency: U-factor and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC).
Our windows use two panes of glass separated by an insulating layer of argon gas, and the glass itself is glazed with three layers of metallic silver. That gives our windows a U-factor of 0.27 and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of 0.18.
The U-factor indicates how well a window keeps heat inside the house (below .30 is good). The insulating layer of argon gas reduces thermal transfer to the outside, which makes our .27 U-factor windows particularly suited for cold Chicago winters.
The SHGC indicates how well a window prevents heat from getting into the home (ranges between 0 and 1; the lower, the better). The low-emissivity glazing reflects radiant heat from the sun, which makes our .18 SHGC windows particularly suited for… hot sunny Florida!!!?
WAIT A MINUTE!
If we live in Chicago, wouldn’t we want our windows to allow radiant heat from the sun to pass through into the house during the winter? Isn’t that what we’d want in a colder climate, anyway? Don’t we want a sunny window for a dog or cat to sleep in during a cold winter’s day?
It depends on the home’s orientation to the sun and at what level the windows are installed. Our new master suite is the highest living space in the home. Heat rises, so during the summer, the master suite would be warmer. And with two windows facing south and six windows facing west, that’s a lot of sun exposure for an upper floor. So the decision was to select a glazing that keeps the sun’s heat out as a way to reduce the overall cooling needs.
That means our windows are designed to perform well during the winter and the summer!
Our full window inventory also includes two Marvin sliding glass doors for both our 2nd floor offices facing east, the new Marvin two basement windows facing north, our Velux skylight facing north, and our existing 2nd floor bathroom window facing south. Each of these have slightly different U-factor/SHGC values.
New Views and New Functions
New windows also mean a new way to interact with our community, which really excites us!
The real interesting one on the main floor is the new window facing south in our new prep kitchen. Functionally, this one will have two stainless steel shelves in front of the window to ripen tomatoes, but it will also provide a view straight down Drury Lane, allowing us to see neighbors as they walk up the street.
Our new south-facing kitchen window (just to the right of the old kitchen door)
As seen through the framing of the entryway
Up on our 2nd floor, it will be a wonderful experience to be able to look out of both our offices through new sliding glass doors that open onto our new deck, granting us excellent views of our landscape.
Up in the master suite, all new windows provides views we’ve never seen before! We can see onto our garage roof terrace, all the way down Drury, and even over our neighbors to the north to see the rest of the neighborhood!
Amy’s side of the bed
Mike’s side of the bed
Master toilet room!
And… our grand master suite front windows!