What is a double pane unit?
Double pane windows can also be referred to as thermopane units or insulated units. They are two pieces of glass which are separated by air an space. This type of setup helps reduce the heat transfer between the inside of your home and the outside temperatures.
We have equipment on-site which provides us the ability to custom build these thermopane units. What this means is you will not have to wait a week or longer if you find yourself with a broken window. If you bring it into us early enough, we will get it back to you within the same business day!
We stock many different thicknesses of clear glass ranging from 1/16″, 1/8″, 3/16″, and 1/4″. We also stock low-e glass for higher performance windows. Bronze glass is also an option, however normally reserved for commercial buildings.
Broken glass in windows
and how to get it fixed
Accidents happen! Broken windows are not as big of a deal as you may think. Many people believe they need to replace the entire frame – however that is not the case. We are able to replace the double pane glass inside your current frame for a fraction of the cost of having a contractor or handyman replace the entire window.
You may think that you only need to replace only the broken piece instead of both. This is not true for several reasons. A thermopane unit takes several raw materials (glass, aluminum spacers, desiccant, butyl) and is custom built as a final product. It’s very difficult and not worth it to try and separate the broken piece of glass from the spacer. Secondly, even if you did reseal one piece of glass back, the desiccant has already been exposed to the elements, and is no longer able to serve its purpose of absorbing moisture. Doing this will just result in a window that will fog up in the very near future, and be a waste of money.
Fogged or cloudy glass
and how we can fix it
As with anything else in our lives, double pane units have a life expectancy to them. Over time the weather and the elements take its toll on the sealant used to hold both pieces of glass together. With the constant expansion and contraction of the sealant, over time it eventually dries out and fails. This is when you end up with a foggy or cloudy window.
When the sealant fails, regular outside air containing moisture is allowed to enter the space between the two pieces of glass. When the moisture eventually dries up, it leaves behind a mineral buildup on the inside of the glass. The longer this process continues, the whiter and cloudier the window will become.
Depending on where the location of the window is, sunny side of the house, shaded side, or close to the ocean salt water, it all plays a role in how long a thermopane unit will last.
The good news is we can repair the window the exact same way we fix it if it had broken glass. We take the current unit out, and replace it with a new one. We use the existing frame, all we replace is the glass.
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