Double Pane Windows

Your home's windows are an important part of its overall climate control system and window quality affects not only the comfort level of your home's living space, but also the amount of money you spend heating and cooling your Michigan home during the year. Old-style, single pane windows are inefficient at regulating the amount of heat transference going through the glass and today's industry standard has become the installation of double pane windows, which are much more efficient. Working with double pane windows is one of our specialties here at Glass Doctor® of Hastings, MI. We perform double pane window replacement and installation.

Double Pane Window Benefits

Double pane windows, also known as insulated glass units (IGUs), were designed as a means for slowing down heat transference through the glass in your windows. Glass, which allows light to enter your home and allows you to view outside the residence, is a fairly good conductor of heat and cold. Using dual panes of glass separated by a sealed void, which is how IGUs are constructed, makes a window less conductive and, therefore, more efficient.

Since less heat is able to transfer through an IGU, heated air from your furnace is slower to leave your home through the windows and, in summer, hot outside air is less capable of entering the home. This efficiency at slowing heat transference provides these benefits:

• Less work is required for your home's heating and cooling systems to regulate internal temperatures
• Less energy is needed to run heating and air conditioning appliances
• Occupant comfort levels are increased. Dual pane windows also reduce noise pollution levels from outside the home

Double Pane Window Construction

An IGU begins with two or more panes of glass separated by an insulating strip (spacer) that creates a void space between the panes when sealed into a single unit. Sometimes this void is filled with an inert gas like argon, which adds additional insulating capability to the unit. The entire outer edge of the window is then covered through the application of a high-quality insulating seal. This complete unit is then installed into a frame of your choice.

In addition to sealing an inert gas between the glass panes, other IGU options include special tints, low-emissivity (Low-E) glass, safety glass, shatter-resistant glass and more.

Double Pane Window Replacement

When a double pane window becomes damaged, calling on Glass Doctor of Hastings, MI, will bring you an expert glass specialist trained to affect a top-quality replacement quickly and professionally. While the entire glass unit must be replaced to fix the window, the existing frame can often be retained, saving you time and money.

Windows that appear to have moisture between the panes or that show a milky discoloration should also be replaced, as these symptoms indicate a broken seal. When an IGU seal breaks, which is not uncommon in older windows, not only will the window appear unclear and unsightly but will also have lost its insulating capabilities because the airtight void between panes will have been compromised. At Glass Doctor of Hastings MI, we're experts at fixing your panes. Give us a call now!