Let's Talk About Windows and Insulation! (Try to contain your excitement.)

[Bill]

Air Conditioning season is right around the corner and I'm giving serious consideration to either new double pane windows, or to window film to repel the heat and UV rays. Anyone have experience with this type of film?

3M offers a product, "Thinsulate," that they tout as not only able to repel heat, but retain heat in the Winter. The catch is, you can't buy it as a D-I-Y item, you have to have it installed by one of their contractors, which I'm sure isn't cheap, which makes me think about replacing the windows, at least the ones that take the afternoon Sun in the back.

Anyone have experience with this stuff or comparable film like Gila?

Also thinking about either putting in a solar attic fan or redoing the insulation up there. I had blown in insulation from the builder and replaced some of it with R-30 and could tell a difference. I was thinking about getting some more r-30 rolls and moving the loose fill on top of existing loose fill. Which would give me the biggest bang for the buck? I have ridge vents, but the attic temp is scorching in the Summer and I don't want to put up the foil radiant barrier because I have a TV antenna up there.

[Knooger]

I use Windows to surf porn, to insulate me from getting caught I use Incognito Mode. Hope this helps.

[MrPeabody]

The only thing I can think of is the window tint products will help you in the summer, but not in the winter. In fact they will have the opposite effect in winter. Maybe not a big deal in Houston, I don't know how cold it gets there.

Dual pane windows will give you increased insulation 24/7/365.

[Black94lt1]

I’ve used film in commercial buildings and it helps but not sure how much financially (thermal imaging showed a difference). It is not cheap though, especially on essentially an entire glass structure

[mrvette]

Houston hotter than Jax.Fl. and even here with the lightest gray roof shingles, in summer 1130 am the shingles hit 165f....seriously took my skin off, I was shocked.....I clocked the heat on the underlayment 145f...... no wonder my AC bills were through the roof, and no amount of insulation was going to help that either.....

I painted my roof white, dropping the temps inside by some 40f......

IF/when I redo the roof, it is going to be WHITE METAL!!!!

as to windoze......I noted the large LR window facing directly west like the house, was really allowing an easy 20f LR temp, and loading the system....so I put in a 6'w5'h plastic window from HDespot.....I forget the exact price but it was like 350 bux....but this was some 20 years ago.....I redid ALL my windows and spent only a grand on them, material, since I was a contractor, I did it all myself, of course.......I also ditched my dark blue old wooden garage door with windoze in it, also facing west.....put in white metal.....

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Black94lt1

I’ve used film in commercial buildings and it helps but not sure how much financially (thermal imaging showed a difference). It is not cheap though, especially on essentially an entire glass structure

I can tint 10 windows and cover the back of my house, probably not more than 300 square feet. The problem is there are metal strips making grids, so I'd have to cut out a bunch of little squares. Time consuming, but not a big issue.

[boracayjohnny]

Originally Posted by Knooger

I use Windows to surf porn, to insulate me from getting caught I use Incognito Mode. Hope this helps.

Incognito mode isn't 100% incognito. As you well know, back doors get used all the time.

[Wathen1955]

When I lived in Hemet, CA which gets very hot 100+, I had these installed:



What sold me is when the sales guy took a hair dryer with the heat on, and blew on the shade. With my hand on the other end, I could not feel the heat.

[markids77]

I'm no pro but here are my thoughts. If the film is not successful you will end up replacing the windows anyway. Why not do it up front and increase property value as well?
Insulate the living shit out of the place but be certain you provide for proper ventilation from soffit to peak. A solar fan will add to the effectiveness of the insulation a bit as well. I would strive to have it all in this instance.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Wathen1955

When I lived in Hemet, CA which gets very hot 100+, I had these installed:



What sold me is when the sales guy took a hair dryer with the heat on, and blew on the shade. With my hand on the other end, I could not feel the heat.

Some of my neighbors have those, but they certainly make it dark inside, especially in twilight.

Originally Posted by markids77

I'm no pro but here are my thoughts. If the film is not successful you will end up replacing the windows anyway. Why not do it up front and increase property value as well?
Insulate the living shit out of the place but be certain you provide for proper ventilation from soffit to peak. A solar fan will add to the effectiveness of the insulation a bit as well. I would strive to have it all in this instance.

The double pane windows seem nice, but I worry about them losing their seal somewhere down the line. Lose the argon, and you just lost the insulating value. The other issue is, my house has lots of windows. I'm looking for something with a quicker ROI. A few rolls of bat or a weekend with window tint would be my first preference. For well over 20 windows, I'm sure I'd be looking at well over $ 10K. I might do that sometime, but as my Summer high bills rarely top $ 150 the ROI would take a loooong time.

[69camfrk]

Originally Posted by Knooger

I use Windows to surf porn, to insulate me from getting caught I use Incognito Mode. Hope this helps.

You too?

[Stangkiller]

Have you started with solar screens for the sun facing windows? That’ll be your cheapest starting point. I did new windows in my last home, which was concrete and stucco, the replacement windows were significantly smaller, I wasn’t a very happy camper.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Stangkiller

Have you started with solar screens for the sun facing windows? That’ll be your cheapest starting point. I did new windows in my last home, which was concrete and stucco, the replacement windows were significantly smaller, I wasn’t a very happy camper.

A couple of neighbors have them. They do make a difference, but it makes things really dark, especially when combined with wood blinds, and I'm not crazy about the look, although since I'm mainly concerned about the back of the house, that's not a deal breaker.

How are replacement windows smaller? Aren't you filling the same hole once you remove the old window?

[Stangkiller]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

A couple of neighbors have them. They do make a difference, but it makes things really dark, especially when combined with wood blinds, and I'm not crazy about the look, although since I'm mainly concerned about the back of the house, that's not a deal breaker.

How are replacement windows smaller? Aren't you filling the same hole once you remove the old window?

New construct8on windows can fill the frame, on the stucco home they can’t do that without replacing the stucco. They didn’t tell me this till after the install, plus the newer hurricane windows had a much thicker frame, so again less glass.

[SnikPlosskin]

Buy a Mac. /thread

[tjfontaine]

I used to work for 3M. Our window films are significantly different than just the tinted cheapo stuff. It uses microreplication technology (think small prisms) to BEND the light. It is not available as DIY you need to hire a contractor that is trained in how to install these films.

The plus is they are clear and don't darken the room - they bend / reflect the light away.