How You Can Improve Your Home With New Windows

How You Can Improve Your Home with New Windows






Improve-Your-Home-with-New-Windows

Home improvements come in almost infinite forms, styles, colors, etc. But one of the most powerful ways to transform a room or a space in your home, or even your whole house, is to update the windows. Windows perform several vital functions in your home; and a new window installation can really give a boost to how well those functions are performed.

Let’s talk about three specific areas in which you can improve your home with new windows:

1. Install New Windows to Boost Natural Light Levels

Several studies have shown that increasing levels of natural light in buildings, even indirectly, can bring several benefits:

  • A natural mood booster, natural light helps people feel more energetic and can have a positive impact on people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). A better mood and more energy can affect everything from your overall health to your family relationships.
  • Better lighting lowers eye strain. If you’re a reader, or you work at home, you know that working or concentrating in dimly or poorly lit areas can hurt your eyes. But bring in the natural light at the right angle and your eyes will be a lot happier and healthier.
  • Houseplants love natural light best of all. If you like to start your garden as soon as the first icicles start to melt, or you like to have a kitchen garden ready with fresh herbs to cook with when you want them, a generously-lighted window space is just the ticket.

When installing new windows, think about how bringing the new light in will impact other areas of your home. The angle of the light, the size and color of the room are all factors to consider. To bring a lot of light into an area, bay or bow windows are great. And even skylights and sun tunnels can bring light into darker, harder-to-reach spots in your home. Also consider the direction your rooms are facing when preparing to install new windows, because this can impact things like temperature as well:

  • East Facing—Brings morning light into a room.
  • West Facing—Brings afternoon and evening light in.
  • North Facing—Brings a cool, ambient, indirect light (even less direct in winter than in summer).
  • South Facing—Brings light and warmth in from different angles as the sun passes over head and varies significantly depending on the season (more shallow light in summer as the sun is higher in the sky, with light penetrating deeper into a room as the sun is lower in the south during the winter).

2. New Windows Improve Your Temperature Control Power

Saving energy is a huge factor in considering whether to install new windows. New EnergyStar windows are engineered to block more cold and reduce leaks during the winter, while special glazing on the glass helps to deflect UV rays and keep things a little less intense and hot during the summer months. Better windows also give you more ways to control the temperature via ventilation. For example, casement windows, which are popular in Europe, open all the way out in order to let a stronger flow of air through the building, and are particularly helpful for airing out stuffy rooms and kitchens when cooking. Keep the following thoughts in mind when installing new windows:

  • Direction and wind patterns—If cross breezes are important for you, figure out which way the wind blows most frequently on your property. Your proximity to a body of water, trees, hills, the prevailing weather patterns can all have a bearing on this. Windows should be placed opposite one another to enable the best cross-ventilation for your home.
  • Keep windows out of corners. Windows placed more centrally in a wall will be more efficient air movers than ones closer to corners.
  • Maximize ventilation by installing new windows so that a smaller window lets the breeze in while a larger window on the other side of the house or room lets the breeze out. This allows for maximum natural cooling and airflow.

3. New Windows Add Style and Character

Windows aren’t just squares of glass that open up in the wall to let light in. By placing them strategically to maximize and focus light in certain areas of your home, they can actually improve the sense of space, opening up rooms and making them seem bigger than they are. Bay windows, casement windows, decorative windows with interesting pane patterns, etc. can all add dimension and style to a room or to your entire home.

Affordable Quality specializes in installing new windows and we have a lot of ideas and options for how new windows can improve your home.

Just contact us at (800) 411-0030 to learn more and ask any questions you have about new windows!






Search

Our Services