the verdict... i went to speak to the folks at the mountain horticultural research center in asheville, nc and they gave me the info i was looking for. we did a par reading this morning at about 10. the ambient reading was 560.4 micromoles/second/metersquared. two readings from behind the glass averaged 476. this indicates about a 15% reduction in photosynthetically active radiation. while it would not be ideal to use glass like this for a large commercial operation, the gentleman i spoke to seemed confident that i could design around the 15% shading for my personal use greenhouse. i plan to use a different material for the ceiling and possibly the east/west sides. this will allow for much more light than if i were to solely use the tinted windows. i still want to build a cold frame this winter as an experiment, but i am pretty sure that this can work. the par meter provided an instantaneous reading (15 seconds). as a matter of reference, most commercial growers require an average of 15 moles of light/heat energy per day. when we did our calculations, estimating only six hours of sun, my glass would provide between 9 and 10 moles per day. this number is significantly lower than what commercial growers would look for, but i think that my greenhouse location will recieve more than 6 hours a day, even during the winter months. maybe i will have to supplement with some artificial light in the winter, i will only find that out once the greenhouse is operational. pat tea... i would suggest doing what i did and contact your local horticultural research center to do a par reading. seems that this is the only way to really know what types and amount of light are allowed to pass through your glass. the combination of the tint and your location might not be the best. i live in western nc and it is super sunny here the majority of the time, even in the winter months. we have a naturally long growing season. i don't know if the cloudier weather in the pnw would pose an issue, but that is something you might want to talk to your local researchers about. i spoke to a number of folks before i went to the research center - glass manufacturers, tinting companies, even the greenhouse companies that were referred to in a previous post- and no one really had any solid info to give me, only their personal opinions or another reference. other than getting a par reading done, the only other option seems to be building a cold frame. practically speaking, this would be the best way to experiment, it will just take a full winter to know your results. good luck with it, i hope you can use those windows. free glass rocks! thanks to everyone for your ideas and suggestions... now on to design ideas. who's got some for me?

My husband and I are very much "do-it-yourselfers" but when we had our 4 large floor to ceiling windows and sliding door tinted we elected to have a pro do them. In order to get a smooth finish, that lined up correctly with the glass without bubbles or wrinkles it was worth having someone install the film. I think it cost around 300$ (maybe less) for someone to install it. We used a three M product, and it has cut down the heat into the room considerably. We used a medium tint and yes the room became somewhat less bright but not at all dark. It has been a year and our eyes have adjusted to it and we think it was to blindingly bright before the window tinting. I would imagine the tinting will last a good long time unless my cat severely scratches it (in fact, the film was placed and integrated on the window so well that I can not see an area that I could even begin to remove it off the window).

IâÂÂve replaced several windows in my brick/stone home. HereâÂÂs how they were done (in 1950): From the outside: removed brick moulding, the 2x4 framing extended about þâ into the window opening. The window opening was framed with 1x4âÂÂs. The 1x4âÂÂs were attached to the 2x4âÂÂs. The windows were set inside, and attached to the frame. The brick mould was about 1 ýâ it overlapped the þâ of 2x4 and the þâ of the 1x4. Before you start, see what width brick/sill moulding is available. All I could find was 2â so I made my window framing (the 1x4) wider with ýâ plywood. The flange moulding is really meant for siding or stucco. I donâÂÂt think it will work well to nail brick moulding over it. IMO, you just need a few screws: The window and door foam does a good job at holding the window in place.

Our window were the typical glass pane. My husband sprayed them white so from the outside they look like shades. Yours are obviously different and you only want to do half. Looking at your examples I think neither choice is ideal. Since you do have other natural light, I personal would close them both in. For me, glass block is not particularly pretty. Added to having half of one window on that wall. I know people like to save windows at whatever cost. One of ours was a bathroom that we added using space from the back of our garage. We couldn’t keep the window and have an efficient layout. This was an extra bathroom for our oldest daughter. She absolutely loved it not having a window!