14 Facts About Windows Sure to Impress Your Friends

So you’re sitting around enjoying a drink, or you’re at the local bar playing trivia, these facts might just help you win the trivia game and make everyone think you’re not just a know-it-all but a pane in the butt too. Wow these facts will have you humming, awwing, laughing and crying (well maybe not the last one, but we’ll see) let’s start. Here are the FACTS

• Windows were first spotted in 13th Century BC. The earliest windows were covered with animal hide, cloth or wood. Later they used multiple pieces of transparent material such as flattened animal horns, thin slices of marble, or pieces of glass set in frameworks of wood, iron or lead. {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window)

• Skylights provide 30 percent more light than vertical windows of the same size.

• Grids or muntins: These are the pieces of framing that separate a larger window into smaller panes. In older windows, large panes of glass were quite expensive, so muntins let smaller panes fill a larger space. In modern windows, light-colored muntins still provide a useful function by reflecting some of the light going through the window, making the window itself a source of diffuse light.

• Solar windows are also called Photovoltaic windows, not only do they provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also convert sunlight to electricity for the buildings. In most cases, translucent photovoltaic cells are used.

• Windows make up approximately 15 percent of an average home’s wall space.

• Stained glass has been produced since ancient times. Both the Egyptians and the Romans excelled at the manufacturing of small colored glass objects.

• Double hung windows provide superior ventilation. With the ability to open the top and bottom sash at the same time, you can vent hot air out the top sash, while allowing cool air in the bottom.

• Paper windows were economical and widely used in ancient China, Korea and Japan.

• Historically, windows are designed with surfaces parallel to vertical building walls. Such a design allows considerable solar light and heat penetration due to the most commonly occurring incidence of sun angles. In passive solar building design, an extended eave is typically used to control the amount of solar light and heat entering the windows.

• Low-emissivity (low-E) glass has a thin metallic coating that reflects heat back to its source, keeping heat inside the house in the winter and out of it in the summer. Low-E coatings also reduce energy costs and block UV rays while allowing 95 percent of natural light to pass through.

• Leaky and inefficient windows, skylights, and glazed doors account for more than 25 percent of the average household’s energy bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. You can cut energy costs by as much as 15 percent by buying windows with double-pane insulated glass, heat-resistant coatings, airtight frames, and/or Energy Star ratings.

• Our special NeatGlass at Conservation Construction of Texas has dual-action coating which cleans your windows by breaking down organic matter as it collects on the glass. The sun breaks down any materials for you.

• A window’s R-value measures its resistance to heat flow. The higher the R-value, the more efficient the window.

• For the 14th fact please visit our website conservationctx.com (there’s actually more than just one fact there, but you are smart and can read all about our windows there, wink wink).

I’m sure you’ll find interesting information with our other facts about doors, and siding too. I hope you have enjoyed these little factoids and have at least learned something about glass or windows. Whip these out next time you are trying to impress your friends and please read our next article to find out more.