Have Your Window Seals Failed?

In very old houses you may still find single paned windows, but the most common windows now used in homes are multi-paned sealed windows.  Double and triple paned windows are made from two or three panes of glass held within an air-tight frame (in other words they are “sealed”).  When the seals fail in these windows, they become less effective as weather barriers.  But how do you know that these window seals have failed?

You can’t usually tell in the very beginning that a seal has started to fail.  The window panes can compensate for seal failure a bit.  But, eventually, you begin to see moisture or fogging in between the panes because the outside air is starting to leak in through the broken seal.  Over time this will get progressively worse, and will be particularly noticeable when the weather is bad.  If you try to wipe off foggy windows it may clear them off temporarily, but the fog will come back.  The further the problem progresses the harder it will be to wipe away the condensation and the longer it will remain fogged.  Eventually, dirt and mineral deposits will begin to build up under the condensation.

Another potential sign of window seal failure is distorted glass.  If you look at the windows from outside and at a distance, if a window looks distorted compared to other windows, the seal in that window may have a problem.

If your window glass has a LowE coating and the seals have failed, you may notice a purple/blue/green iridescent appearance. This means that the LowE coating has oxidized due to exposure to the oxygen. This iridescent appearance can really stands out like a sore thumb. The simple remedy for this problem is to replace the insulated glass unit with a new replacement unit that comes with a 10 year manufacturer’s warranty.

Another unfortunate and costly sign of window seal failure is a higher heating and cooling bill.  If your window seals have failed you have to use your air conditioner more often during the summer months. During the colder winter months, you’ll need to crank up the furnace to compensate for heat loss.  Because of this loss in energy efficiency, your energy bill will be impacted depending on how many windows have failed seals.

At Dick’s Rancho Glass we have many years of experience in window glass repair, dual pane glass replacement, as well as window installation, and we are happy to serve homeowners throughout the Sacramento Area.  To keep your home beautiful and fog free, we are proud to offer a large selection replacement windows, including high quality Milgard® windows.  Begin exploring your replacement window options on our windows page, give us a call, click here to contact us, or visit one of our two glass showrooms in the Sacramento region:

Dick’s Rancho Glass Sacramento at 2900 ROUTIER ROAD Or call us at (916)363-6554
Dick’s Rancho Glass Fair Oaks at 5349 SAN JUAN AVE. Or call us at (916)863-2500