The garage conversion looks like the house. We got matching bricks and a bay window; there was no siding difference; none was needed. Drive to nowhere serves to park two cars. It's not an eyesore. It doesn't snow here more than one day a year or so. We talked to the relator about the conversion. She said in this area it doesn't matter as much; mostly because people looking for a garage won't even go to view the house if that's on their wishlist. So your pool of buyers that would come in, it is not a deal breaker. She pretty much said it's half and half. Half the people would rather have a garage (ours was a ONE car anyway. Not big enough for a car and a work area/storage etc. Duct work was low in there couldn't even put cabinets on the wall), while the other half would rather have what we did (pretty much is a second huge master suite). We use it as an exercise/game room with a ginormous walk in where we have built ins, a freezer and store my granddaughters bike and hubby's golf clubs. The built-ins include two pantries hold every tool, paint and all those sorts of things. Another bank of cabinets hold extra food, water and stuff like that and a freezer. I re-purposed my circa 2000 oak cabinets from our old kitchen to do it; (used all but four cabinets) and it looks great. Put some butcher block on the top of one wall of cabinets. Use that for projects. I should post a photo but don't know how to do that

Hi oberon! I hope that you realize that part of my exasperation at this point was that Guardian showed us what was possible, and now we are just trying to achieve that goal. But on to your questions... Guardian was the supplier to Benor well before we entered the process. When we went looking for windows and found Benor, and when our architect realized that the Guardian Architectural Division was willing to participate (there are some personal relationships involved here that made this happen), we started to get a tremendous amount of involvement by a couple of their engineers. The Guardian folks were very helpful in explaining to me and my wife ALL the sources which would degrade both the VT and CRI, and then discussed all that they could do to reduce their impacts. One of the larger impacts on VT that could be mitigated was the interlayer index of refraction mismatch by supercritical choice of the laminate interlayer (including the batch number). They spent hours showing us more than two dozen samples, taught me the laser trick, and then explained why we would want to use their ultra-white glass with Saflex rather than some of the other PVB products available, and why the PET interlayer while it delivered better impact performance was not the right one for us. That decision alone they explained would improve our VT dramatically. They then introduced us to the Munsen Color chart as a way to assess color neutrality, and a myriad of other details that would appeal to the artist in my wife. As we went through this process, they kept plugging the various lite selections into a program ("Windows 5.2") that predicted the performance of the whole glass assembly. Here is where I received the real education. What appeared to be relatively small changes in the components of the glass assembly (such as using the the ultra-white glass with Saflex) were responsible for increasing the VT by 5% (which I have come to find out is HUGE!) The spacer that they suggested was a specialty, "two polymer, warm-edge" system that separated a dual pane glass system. The gap was was about 0.267" and filled with krypton. No window glass on our house was wider than 32" (based on the advice of Guardian engineers). After Guardian designed the complete glass assembly, Benor used that data to estimate "whole window" performance (including frames) and based on these data Benor suggested that they use a "fully foam insulated" vinyl sash and frame for our windows. After this good experience, I had been very disappointed speaking with nearly all of the "established" window brands. Since then however, we have found a couple of specialty window makers that appear to be willing to work with us. The glass samples that they have sent us for inspection appear to be quite good and I am hoping that we end up with a positive outcome. If anything, I think I am the product of "raised expectations" that were the result of a specialty window manufacturer who had tremendous pride in his work and a glass supplier who (for whatever reason) decided to show us the "bleeding edge" "art of the possible" for our house.

Yes while the U-value is important, what is more important is to know where the value comes from. If the company is providing the u-value is it a value that is center of glass or is it a whole unit value.. You can not compare the two numbers if they are from separate measurements. An example is I have the Architectural Information for a major window manufacturer. This manufacturer actually provides the whole unit value when you ask for their measurements, but if you dig you can get the center of glass measurements. Their philosophy is they want you to know how the overall unit is going to perform not just the center of the glass which is the most efficient. The center of glass on their casements for a insulated glass two pane system is .25 but the whole window performance is .34. if you went to their triple pane system you could get a center of glass reading of .16 with a whole unit reading of .25. Many companies will only give you the center of glass readings because they put the window in the best operating light but it is not reflective of how the overall window will perform. The second factor you want to take into consideration is the DP rating (design Pressure)Some manufacturers will call it performance number and may be specified with an R or a C r being a residential classification and C being a commercial classification, the reason they give two different readings is due to installation differences and construction types. I just happen to have some Pella readings here in front of me and on a Pella casement it gives a DP of 50 on a venting unit for their architect series and a rating of up to 70 on their designer series. The higher the number the better it is going to stand up in bad weather conditions such as driving rain and high winds. Pellas double hungs are performing at a dp rating of 50 also. Pellas 8 foot wide by 6/8 high slider is posting DP ratings of 65 which is one of the best rated sliders on the market. The third factor you want to look at is the VLT or visible light transmittance...how much sunlight is let through as a percentage of possible light that could come through. The fourth major rating you need to consider is the SHGC or the heat gain coefficient. This is kind of a catch 22 becasue in the winter time Heat Gain is a good thing, and in the summer it is a bad thing. SO when you are considering this number you want to think of what is the most important season to your area. On casements if you are going to have them open most of the summer then it is not as much a factor but a double hung will let heat in all summer. If you are in the city or a high noise area such as near an airport, or race track, maybe even a busy lake with al ot of boats then you may want to consider the sound transmittance not only inside to out (STC rating) which helps protect your privacy, but also the Outside to Inside rating which is how does outside sound travel into to the inside of the window, in other words how much road noise, boat noise, plane noise are you going to hear inside the house. Well that is a short lesson for window operational efficiency. I hope it helps

Greetings! I need some advise I lived in South Florida, and I am planning to install high impact sliding door (patio) that is on my master bedroom (HOT room). My master room is my HOT room in the house and receive DIRECT sun light all DAY (10 am to sunset) ! My main goal is to FIGHT the heat. I planning to buy a high impact sliding door with LOW-e 366 or 70XL. Measurements are: 108 by 81 I have couple of quotes but I am confused. Some companies are advising for PGT Windguard 770 series and other CGI Sentinel . Some companies are telling to NOT buy insulated glass (filled with argon) due to possibility of outside glass could break. My questions are: 1. Vinyl vs Aluminum frame. And really worth it 2. If I add tint to an low e-366 or 70XL glass would increase my SHGC factor 3. Insulation with argon gas, will leak? and How common this could happen 4. How easy the exterior glass (thin) of an insulation door fill with argon could break? Does PGT and CGI used stainless screws? 6. How I know that the door I bought has the low-e 336 or 70 glass I bought and not other lower version. Thank you in advance Thank you.