Does anyone have PGT's Graylite II tint on a single story residential home in Florida? I like dark windows that hide the green color that shows from low-e coatings but I'm wonder if the visible light transmission will appear too dark when looking out the window from inside the house.
Thanks for the info. I'm seeing 34% vt with Solargray (the middle gray) but only 6% vt with Graylite II. Do you think Solargray does a good job of hiding the green cast created by Solarban70XL? Green windows will not look good with my house colors.
I Ithink you are over estimating the green hue (not really a tint, tint would be more like Solexia or Atlantica). But yes Solar Gray would definitely help eliminate the color.
Millworkman, I hope you are right that I am overestimating the green. However, I've seen some windows in my neighborhood that look quite green from the lowE coating but the glass appears to be clear. To add to my confusion, a local window sales rep. tells me I cannot order PGT vinyl impact windows unless I go insulated but a rep. for PGT tells me I can. I don't want insulated.
PROFloat glass will have a greenish hue to it already. The Low-e obviously adds to that, but I can honestly say in the 15 years of doing this and thousands upon thousands of windows....we have never had a customer complain after a day or two. The difference is stark from clear to insulated...but once they were in the home for a day or two...they honestly didn't even notice any longer. I can't say that will be your experience, but these are my customer observations.
I have seen a posting on the web (not sure which site) where a woman freaked out because her windows arrived with an ugly color. I believe is was violet or red. Nothing like what she ordered. Before I drop $12K on impact windows I want to be sure to order something I will like. And in south Florida even in my neighborhood I have seen many windows with the lowE green hue and didn't like it. They were probably clear glass/lowE. So I'm thinking the addition of a gray tint should hide most of the green hue. I ordered some gray samples but am still hoping my sales rep. can point me to an actual finished home/building containing gray and lowE which I can view both inside and out.
PROAs has been stated previously, I would suggest that you get a sample of the different insulated glass packages and look at them for yourself in daylight hours. Most vendors should have samples of the glazing schedules that are available for you to take home and observe in a real time scenario.
The green reflectance is due the iron content in all standard glass. This is exacerbated by the substantial thickness of impact glass.. If you go to low-iron glass such as PGT Acuity (or Starphire) it will mitigate/eliminate the green reflectance. With the low-e coating, the glass will read as a light to medium gray. Note, low-iron glass is incredibly clear, and beautiful. It is also more expensive.
Windows on Washington Ltd