Also when I was inside Lyndhurst at 3am on Tuesday morning, I felt the aluminum frame of my Fleetwood Westwood 250 window. It was cold, far colder than a thermal break window meeting Energy Star requirements should be. I later checked my bedroom window, which is ordinary aluminum, and it was exactly the same.
I'm now thinking the builders did not install the Fleetwood window correctly so that the thermal break is working. Instead, it is installed so the "inside" part of the window is exposed to cold temperatures in the wood sheathing. Installed like this, it functions little better than a standard aluminum window not having a thermal break.
Unfortunately, it's probably not worth fixing either, not unless I know Mr Perfect Carpenter and am doing some other work on the building anyway. I've just been cheated out of the performance of my window. But to make it better would cost a lot and would create a big mess, and could lead to worse problems. To fix the problem might require cutting through fiber cement, solid core polyurethane, and sheetrock. And doing all this while not breaking the window.
But it's of little consequence because the main energy drain will be the A/C, and this window is on the north side so will not be overheated much during summer. Even with this installation error, I am requiring very little energy to heat the building.
Speaking of A/C, it's interesting that the aluminum frame of the Friederick air conditioner (not running) felt warmer than the Fleetwood window. I had always wondered how much energy is lost through an unused wall A/C unit, and it doesn't appear to be huge now that the unit is completely sealed on inside and out.
It could be worse too. (Or maybe it is...) I was talking to a co-worker today who says she discovered recently that every window in her house was likely installed incorrectly. A carpenter discovered the problem when installing a replacement window. Now she knows why many of the windows in her house leak water during heavy rain.
At least I don't have that problem. Or at least I don't think I do, I've never seen water come in that way. But just after the window had been installed, I was very worried that it had not been done correctly, and I complained many times to the contractor supervisor, who insisted that it had been done correctly. And I did not know enough then to refute him.
I did provide the workers with the Fleetwood instructions. I doubt they read it. The house wrap, siding, trim, the french doors, and the window were all installed in a big hurry on a drizzly Saturday afternoon. It seemed to me that all the most critical work was done in a big hurry. The building wasn't actually finished for two months after that, the interior work taking the most time.
So if I can't trust builders to install thermal break windows correctly, what other alternatives are there? I'm thinking I might actually use wood windows for my house, either wood or fiberglass. This is a big change in my thinking, as only yesterday I was planning to get two more thermal break windows for my house.
I'm now thinking the builders did not install the Fleetwood window correctly so that the thermal break is working. Instead, it is installed so the "inside" part of the window is exposed to cold temperatures in the wood sheathing. Installed like this, it functions little better than a standard aluminum window not having a thermal break.
Unfortunately, it's probably not worth fixing either, not unless I know Mr Perfect Carpenter and am doing some other work on the building anyway. I've just been cheated out of the performance of my window. But to make it better would cost a lot and would create a big mess, and could lead to worse problems. To fix the problem might require cutting through fiber cement, solid core polyurethane, and sheetrock. And doing all this while not breaking the window.
But it's of little consequence because the main energy drain will be the A/C, and this window is on the north side so will not be overheated much during summer. Even with this installation error, I am requiring very little energy to heat the building.
Speaking of A/C, it's interesting that the aluminum frame of the Friederick air conditioner (not running) felt warmer than the Fleetwood window. I had always wondered how much energy is lost through an unused wall A/C unit, and it doesn't appear to be huge now that the unit is completely sealed on inside and out.
It could be worse too. (Or maybe it is...) I was talking to a co-worker today who says she discovered recently that every window in her house was likely installed incorrectly. A carpenter discovered the problem when installing a replacement window. Now she knows why many of the windows in her house leak water during heavy rain.
At least I don't have that problem. Or at least I don't think I do, I've never seen water come in that way. But just after the window had been installed, I was very worried that it had not been done correctly, and I complained many times to the contractor supervisor, who insisted that it had been done correctly. And I did not know enough then to refute him.
I did provide the workers with the Fleetwood instructions. I doubt they read it. The house wrap, siding, trim, the french doors, and the window were all installed in a big hurry on a drizzly Saturday afternoon. It seemed to me that all the most critical work was done in a big hurry. The building wasn't actually finished for two months after that, the interior work taking the most time.
So if I can't trust builders to install thermal break windows correctly, what other alternatives are there? I'm thinking I might actually use wood windows for my house, either wood or fiberglass. This is a big change in my thinking, as only yesterday I was planning to get two more thermal break windows for my house.
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