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Building a Home

Will tinted Marvin windows on some windows look awful?

12 years ago

We are building a historic-looking Georgian style home and are doing simulated divided lite with spacer bars windows from Marvin. In order to protect my artwork and home furnishings, I am debating adding the extra coat of uv protection on some of the windows, but the Marvin rep tells me it will ad a little bit of a colored darkness to the windows. Will this look awful on this historic-looking home? Unfortunately we will also need screens on the windows and this will slightly darken them as well and I'm wondering if screens and the window tint will just be terrible looking. I need to decide by tomorrow. The windows in question are on the front of our house. Thanks!

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Comments (4)

athensmomof3
12 years ago
I wouldn't do both for sure. They will definitely look darker. My parents have them at the beach and the next condo does not. It is pretty obvious. If you decide to do them, I would do them on all windows. It would be really obvious if there are some that are not tinted next to the ones that are. . . Do you need them on the front or back or both?
energy_rater_la
12 years ago
I don't find that the low e coating makes a big difference.
on older windows you could tell easily
but on newer ones the low e is a light blue or greenish
tint.
low e is a good savings as it keeps heat out in hot climates and keeps heat in in cold climates.
the location of the low e coating determines which window
is for which climate.
here is a link that shows the nfrc sticker. lots of good info on this little tag.
http://www.nfrc.org/label.aspx
this org rates most all windows, if you are looking at
windows that are not independently rated..shop a little more and get nfrc certified.

if the windows have full screens you could do solar screens
but these are always dark. solar screens can be 70% or 90%
depending on what amount of light you want to block. maybe
lower %..these are just common to my area.

look for the nfrc sticker on windows. this shows the location for the window (see above) and the visible
light that comes thru the window.

as a retrofit...I'd look at both low e windows
to determine if the slight tint is ok
and solar screens.
sometimes it is difficult to properly flash replacement windows.

best of luck.
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In doing my "due diligence" on the subject, I found that energy code requirements very much depend on region. One of my considerations is that I'm replacing only some of the windows in the house. I had a couple of replacements in the kitchen in 2001 by Renewal by Andersen with "low E", but I can't see any difference from colorless. They now offer as standard a darker coating, but I can still get the lighter coating at no additional cost. I'm also looking at Marvin Infinity and their standard is like Andersens. But now I've been told that there is a lighter coating and they are FedExing me a sample this week (a slightly higher price, but not much). They didn't have the sample in the showroom which surprised me, given that surely some of us would prefer it (I'm in the Mid-Atlantic on a shady lot) - especially as I've now told Marvin that the darker glass is a deal-killer (DH does not want it), even though Andersen's cost will be 1/3 higher than Marvin for essentially the same product. TexasGal, I've found out what the numbers mean. The first digit for you, "3" means three coatings, "2" is two and "1" is one coating, which is what I want. I've found a very good wonky website that you might like that supplements all the qualitative information you can find about these low E windows. You can input your region and get recommendations, and there are also fact sheets by state. Here is a link that might be useful: Window Selection Tool
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@Kathleen, if you could post a picture of the home and note the locations it would be helpful. I agree with the sentiment that uniformity is best (both product and install type), however replacing all of the windows in your home just to match one that you no longer prefer doesn't make a ton of sense either... There are ways to minimize differences in appearance from the exterior, but it also depends if these are right next to each other (or across the wall), size differences, etc. @Ron, you had the full frame of your old window removed and replaced with a new window of the same size, but without a nail fin and the subsequent flashing/sealing practices that are normally associated with a new construction/full frame installation. This is not preferred by most, however its also not without precedent and is generally accepted. I believe that Pella in particular refers to it as their "express" installation. Basically they took a window designed for replacement (3 1/4" frame depth and no nail fin) and installed to replace the full frame. There is a lot of gray area between the basic terms "pocket" and "full frame", and this falls within that. Closer to a full frame by definition, but again, without some of the added layers that are most often implied with that verbiage.
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millworkman
12 years ago
I don't believe he is looking for Low E, he is speaking of extra UV protection which will definitely darken the glass. It will be quite different in appearance from the other windows. I would agree with the Athensmom and attempt to do all teh windows on the same face elevation if possible. If this is the back of the house don't worry about it just put them where you need them to be.
SpringtimeHomes
12 years ago
I agree with millworkman. Visible Transmittance VT is the window variable you should research. I dont think its necessary for ALL windows just same elevation. The whole point of windows is to see outside and you dont want all your windows dark.

As this excellent article from GBA points out, a VT below .4 will be very noticeable.

Here is a link that might be useful: GBA window glazing article

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