Window Features For Visual Impact And Effect

PART I: CHOOSING THE RIGHT WINDOW DESIGN

At their most basic, your home’s windows provide you a portal for looking out into the wider world beyond. A window, however, in the right design or style can do a lot more for your home. Whether it’s the visual impact of a particularly striking window, or the functionality that goes with a particular window design, the ways in which the different window types can affect your home life guarantee that you’ll never think of them as “just windows” ever again.

Double-hung windows are familiar and traditional, and are the most popular window type in America. They are among the easiest to work with, and work well with just about any style of home. Also, their particular style of construction makes it easy to accommodate the installation of an air conditioner.

Casement windows are noted for their ease of operation and unrivaled ability to provide ventilation. This crank-operated window is capable of catching breezes that other windows might not, especially side breezes, making it an exemplary choice for air circulation. At the same time, the window closes and latches firmly against the frame, allowing you to seal out the outside without having to worry about air leakage.

PART I: CHOOSING THE RIGHT WINDOW DESIGN

Picture windows excel at one thing: framing the view. Named for the way they capture the outside like a picture in a frame, picture windows make up for their lack of operability by giving you a view no other window type can, though they can come close. Picture windows’ wide expanse of glass also makes them good sources of natural lighting, helping to reduce your reliance on artificial sources of illumination, and can serve to reduce heating costs in winter by admitting more heat and light than other window types.

Bay and bow windows are variations on the same theme. While bay windows tend to be blockier, as compared to the gentler curve of a bow window, they both create actual usable space in the rooms they’re installed in, while simultaneously enhancing the lighting and the illusion of space in those rooms. Viewed from the outside, both present an interesting architectural feature that can only serve to enhance the impact and appeal of your home. ooooo

The material you choose to have your windows made from has as much impact as the window’s design. More on this in part II!

PART II: MATERIAL CHOICES: FRAMING YOUR WINDOW

The material you choose to have your windows made from has a profound effect on your windows. While this may seem like the commonest of common sense, it’s better to know right from the outset what you’re getting into when you pick a particular material for your window frames.

Between the associated expense (and its effect on your budget), the structural properties of the material, and the material’s aesthetics, your selection will impact both your windows and, by extension, your home.

Vinyl is one of the most commonly used materials for window frames. Having come a long way from the older, cheaper plastics of yesteryear, modern vinyl is durable, dependable, and, a deciding factor for many, inexpensive and affordable. Vinyl won’t rust or corrode, has good value as an insulator, resists scratches, and will never need to be painted, scraped or stained. It’s also easy to care for, requiring little more than the occasional wipe with soap and water.

Wood, on the other end of the scale in terms of affordability, is probably the most expensive window framing material used today. Nothing quite matches the timeless elegance and beauty of wood, however, and wood is exemplary in its ability to provide insulation. Caring for your wood windows can be rather involved, however, and without regular maintenance wood will deteriorate.

PART II: MATERIAL CHOICES: FRAMING YOUR WINDOW

Aluminum is a good and inexpensive alternative to vinyl and wood. Though aluminum requires a larger outlay than vinyl, aluminum’s structural strength and durability, coupled with its ability to maintain structural stability despite its light weight, makes it particularly suited to specialty windows, where the desired shape of the window might prove problematic for vinyl or wood.

Last, but certainly not least, composite materials such as Fibrex serve as a remarkable catch-all category when it comes to window framing materials. Fibrex in particular – a composite made from wood fiber and certain thermoplastic resins – combines the best features of its component materials and provides better performance than just about any other material. Combining the durability and low maintenance needs of plastic with the beauty of wood and a strength rivaling that of aluminum, choosing Fibrex can hardly be called a compromise choice; for many, it’s the best, if not only choice. ooooo

So you have the frame and the style, but all you have is a plain window. What else can you do with it? More on this in Part III.

PART III: ROUNDING OUT YOUR WINDOW WITH OPTIONS AND FEATURES

Having picked out the style of window you want, and the material to make the frame out of, you might think that you’re all done. From a purely functional point of view, you would be correct, but there’s certainly more to your window than just a cover and glass for that hole on the side of your home. Between options like screens, grilles, and different color combinations, you can customize your window to your heart’s content and increase your window’s impact.

Grilles and muntins are a common way to enhance the visual aesthetic of a window. Muntins – alternately called “sash bars,” “muntin bars” or “glazing bars” – are strips of material used to subdivide the surface of the window pane into grids. The particular arrangement of the muntins on your window constitute the grille pattern of the window.

The most common grille patterns arrange the muntins on the window to subdivide the glass either diagonally into diamonds, or vertically and horizontally into squares or rectangles. While window manufacturers will typically offer the most common grille patterns for your new windows, some will allow you to make up custom patterns, too. That way, you can exercise your creativity and express your personal sense of aesthetics.

PART III: ROUNDING OUT YOUR WINDOW WITH OPTIONS AND FEATURES

The way the muntins are installed has an effect on the window’s look, too. Permanent grille patterns will have the muntins attached to the glass surface, but exactly how they are attached to the glass depends on the particular look you’re after. You can have the muntins attached to the glass both on the exterior and the interior, with spacers (full divided lights), without spacers (simulated divided lights), with removable grilles on the interior (but with fixed exterior grille), or with the muntins in between the panes of the glass. You can even have them installed only on the inside of your home, in which case they are normally detachable.

Rounding out your choice of grille pattern and muntin style is your choice of the color for the window’s frame, grille, and muntins. With a wide range of available stock colors, some manufacturers allow you to specify two- or even three-tone color combinations for your window’s exterior and interior colors, allowing you to pick the best colors to complement or contrast with your home’s existing look.

Renewal by Andersen of Orange County 22982 Alcalde Drive Laguna Hills CA 92653 United States

(714) 916-9229 DialOneWindows.com