The Impact of the Sun on Your Window Selection

You may not know, but just picking the most thermally efficient window doesn’t mean you are maximising your home’s energy efficiency potential. Having the right windows for the right place in your home can ensure you get the most benefit from your double or triple glazing.

 

Anglian Home Improvements have just launched their most thermally efficient window ever, but they believe you should pair this up in your home with their A or A+ rated double glazed casement windows.

 

Before we dive in the technical part, it’s good to understand what Window Energy Ratings are. In short, they’re a rating given to measure the amount of energy gained through the glass, the amount of heat escaping through the glass and the air tightness, which gives an overall rating.

 

This rating is acquired in test conditions with a fixed orientation. This isn’t the case in real life as our windows will have a different orientation and are subject to different amounts of sunlight.

 

Why?

 

Windows on the North sides of your home won’t be bathed in as much sunlight as those on the south side. It is this simple reason that Anglian believe you should pair A++ triple glazed windows with A or A+ double glazing.

 

A++ triple glazed windows are ideal for the North facing side of your home, as triple will retain more precious heat that’s already in your home.

 

 

A+ double however works very well at retaining heat, but has much better heat gaining abilities. The 2 Low E glass panes allow more of the Sun’s heat to pass through it, trapping it within your home thanks to it’s reflective microscopic layer of precious metals.

 

The more free heat you gain from the Sun, the less your heating has to be on and the more money you will save.

 

How to Work Out Sun Orientation (North, East, South, West)

 

The obvious route would be a compass, but I can’t imagine everyone having one of these at home. If you have a smart phone, there are free apps you can download, which will show you.

 

If you’re in the UK, a simple way would be to go outside on a clear day at 12pm. As the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west (a great way to find out the Sun’s orientation in conjunction to your home), due to our location in the northern hemisphere, if you face in the direction of the Sun, you are facing south.

 

Alternatively, you can see where the Sun will rise and set with SunCalc an online tool which uses Google maps – you can see exactly which windows in your home will be saturated in light and those that won’t.

 

How Where You Live Effects Your Window Decision

 

This is possibly a little more obvious – the more North you are in the UK, the slightly less sunlight and warmth your home will get. Due to the Earth’s curvature, sunlight has a larger area of atmosphere to pass through, reducing the amount of sunlight hours and therefore warmth. This is known as Latitude.

 

With this in mind, you may want to consider which windows you go for – if you’re on the South Coast where temperatures, on average, are warmer than those in Manchester, you may want to consider just having A++ triple glazed windows installed as they will bring and keep in more than enough warmth.

 

Whereas in Manchester, you may want to consider a mix to get maximum warmth into your home. On the south facing side of your home have A+ double glazing and triple glazing on the northern side of your home to make sure the warmth coming in, doesn’t go anywhere!

 

Know Your Rooms

 

Now, although the above is true, we don’t know if each room in your house has a tendency to be too cold or too hot. For example, if you had a south facing window in your living room and it was always too hot in the summer, we wouldn’t recommend fitting A+ double glazing – it will only make the room hotter and less comfortable to be in.

 

Obstructions

 

The final thing that may change your mind on which type of window you choose is shading from trees or neighbouring buildings. If these are going to prevent the Sun’s warmth getting into your home, stick with A++ to keep any heat you generate within the 4 walls of your home.

 

The matrix below should help you decipher which window is best for your room based on how easy or hard it is to heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	I Need New Windows and My Room is…
	Comfortable all year round	Prone to   overheating in summer	Hard to heat in   winter &/or it has a cold spot next to the window	Hard to heat in   winter &/or has cold spots and is prone to overheating
The room   receives lots of sunlight & is south facing	Our A rated windows will provide a great all   round performance	Our A rated windows will provide great all round   performance.     Consider how   ventilation options may help make things more comfortable in the warmest   weather.	A+ will maximise the energy your window harvests   from the Sun to help heat your room.	Our A++ product can limit the impact of the   warmest & coldest weather to create a more stable, ambient   temperature.     Consider   how ventilation options may help make things more comfortable in the warmest   weather.
The room receives an average amount of sunlight
The room receives little sunlight			We   recommend A++ to benefit from our lowest possible U value.

 

 

 

So, if you’re ever told that triple glazing throughout your whole house is the best option, mention this little bit of science and make sure you get the most out of your windows.

 

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A Ming-Inspired Cabinet (34)

The stands are set aside for the time being, and I am starting in on the main portion of the cabinet.

 

 

Here’s the cabinet carcase design as of this morning, elevation view:

 

 

 

 

There a mix of solid plank carcase and frame and panel. Web frames for the drawer supports with some joinery enhancements of my own.

 

 

Another view, in perspective:

 

 

 

 

The backside:

 

 

 

For the past couple of days I’ve been moving stock along through the re-sawing, jointing and planing steps. It’s not all that often I find my 510mm jointer at capacity:

 

 

 

It was very helpful to re-wax the tables as it was a grunt to push the board across the cutter:

 

 

 

The rear middle panels however, are slightly too wide for the jointer:

 

 

 

These panels were slightly cupped across the width – about the thickness of a ruler, maybe 1mm:

 

 

 

I shimmed the hollow portion of the board and ran it through the planer, then surfaced the other side, and ended up with a flat board, still considerably over dimension:

 

 

 

Also tackled some milling work on the shedua panels – here’s the fixture I built for that process:

 

 

 

The screws are what fix the board in place, and allow me to mill the boards flat even when they are non-flat:

 

 

 

After a milling pass, the surface looked a lot better, though there was a very slight amount of tear out:

 

 

 

The backside of this board has some fine cracks as well, however they do not go all the way through to the other side. I think the result was much improved over the planer, and if the shell mill was fresh and sharp there probably would have been zero tear out. It’s all good though, as the panels are still 0.1″ over dimension. I think I’ll be hitting up another shop for some time on a wide belt to get these down to close to finish dimension.

 

 

Jointed and planed pieces begin to stack up:

 

 

 

This work was fitted in and around some work I was doing on another project:

 

 

 

All for today. Thanks for dropping by the Carpentry Way.

What to Do During a Home Renovation

This is the second part of a three part article discussing what you should be thinking about, preparing or doing during a major renovation in your home. The last article covered what you should be doing to prepare for an installation of a new bathroom, kitchen, conservatory or even windows and doors.

 

During Renovation

 

If you are planning a large renovation project, then you may need to consider the idea that you may not be able to stay in your home whilst building work is underway. Therefore it’s probably best you not only account for your material costs, labour, fittings and furnishings but also the displacement costs that could result from the building works.

 

If you’ve chosen to undertake a major renovation project, such as renovating the basement, loft, kitchen or bathroom, remember to always take and double take measurements of all the areas involved. Knowing how much space you have available will make it easier when it comes to selecting the elements, fittings and soft furnishings to go into those renovated spaces once the building work is complete.

 

 

Try to keep on top of the building project, especially if you are outsourcing work. You’ll want to make sure that you’re a friendly face around the place and that the workers can approach you if something crops up. If you’re out at work all day and can’t get back in your lunch break, then remember to leave a couple of emergency contact numbers, and if you’re friendly with a neighbour who’s at home some of the day then ask them to keep an eye on things.

 

During the build, remember to keep kids out of work areas, a construction area can be extremely dangerous for children – with an array of power tools, nails, saws and more. If you have young children then why not try a child safety gate at every entrance surrounding the work area. Children are curious so even with the gates up it’s important to keep a closer eye on them than usual!

 

Head on over to What to Do After a Home Renovation, the final installment about what you should be preparing and organising once your renovation is complete.

 

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