Windows and Doors are Integral to Your Home Design

You’ve just put a great deal of thought, time, effort, emotion and money into the perfect architectural design for your new-build or remodeled luxury home. You’ve decided on the particular wood, brick, stone, tile and other materials that achieve the perfect balance between the feel you want and the performance you need. As for the windows… At last, an easy choice! After all, they’re just glass in a frame. They need to match your style and fit your custom openings. You can decide on them later. 

We suggest a more clear-eyed approach. That can save you trouble and money in the short run.

There is a great deal more to windows than meets the eye. Windows and doors are integral to your design goals, not accessories, so there are very good reasons to consider all aspects of your fenestration early in your planning and design process. Windows and doors for luxury homes – whether new builds, remodels, or retro-fit or replacement – are our specialty. So we’d like to lend you the benefit of our expertise and make the process of selecting exactly the right doors, windows, and installation teams for your project as transparent as possible. 

It will take about half an hour to read this blog. But it may save you months of time, costly construction slowdowns, and not a little regret. And it will help you make choices that will delight you for years to come. 

Not only are windows one of the biggest single expenses of any building project, they are one of the most crucial for the look and appeal of your home as well as, importantly, its performance. So while all windows provide light and views, and all doors provide access, there are many factors to take into account, including look and style, quality level, performance specifications, cladding materials, and functionality. Installation is critical as well. Your builder or remodeler may be able to install simpler windows. Other, more complex windows, require the expertise of specialized installation teams. 

How much light is too little? How much is too much? It all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. Visible light transmittance (VLT) is the measure of the amount and spectrum of visible light that glass allows to pass through. In cooler, northern climates a greater VLT may be desirable; in warmer climates that may contribute too much solar gain. In such a case, you may want to use spectrally selective glass that blocks infrared light while still allowing high levels of visible light. 

VLT is just one measure of performance that should be taken into account when figuring the overall contribution of windows and doors to the comfort and efficiency of a home. Your Glacier representative will also help you consider the U value energy efficiency – which measures the ability of a window or door to transmit heat – the solar heat gain coefficient, air infiltration rating, and overall performance grade. 

What is the optimal level for each of these? It depends on personal taste, the goals of your project, and budget. Most homes now seek high energy efficiency, and we can help select the best grade of products to achieve that. Others strive to go beyond those goals, to create passive houses that must meet air tightness standards, heating and cooling energy demands, and overall energy consumption goals to be certified. Net Zero houses must create as much energy as they consume. While most of this energy is created by solar panels, the correct windows and doors contribute greatly to reducing energy consumption, an essential component of achieving the net zero certification. 

You can spend days researching the technical performance and efficiency ratings of a large array of windows and door systems. Save some personal energy! The more efficient way is to rely on the long experience and working knowledge of the Glacier team. 

Choose a High Performance Team for High Performance Windows and Doors

Time was a door was just something to open and close, and a window was something to look through. Today’s fenestration and portal products have become increasingly complex to handle the combined demands of aesthetics, function, and efficiency. 

Glacier provides a number of simpler door and window products that can be installed by your construction team, or an outside installation crew that we can recommend based on long experience. This includes turnkey solutions for retrofits or older window replacements. 

For our more complex systems, we firmly believe that the purveyor should also install the doors and windows. After all, who understands them better? We sell precise products, such as multi-slide pocket doors, retracting screens, motorized door systems and complex entry systems. All of these products have been custom built for you. Their installation needs to be equally precise or their functionality suffers. 

The average builder or installer has little to no experience with such systems. Mistakes may lead to construction slowdowns – which often translate into cost overruns – and frustration all around. Components can even be damaged. Builders commonly complain about the finger pointing that goes on in the door and window trade, with manufacturers blaming installers for failures and installers turning round and accusing manufacturers. That sort of disruptive behavior has no place in a finely orchestrated construction process where each sub-team needs to get its work done correctly and on time.

Glacier maintains very close relationships with our manufacturers, and our installation team is highly trained on all the products that we sell. Technical installations are our specialty. If there is a flaw in the product, we’ll know it early on, and work with the manufacturer to replace or fix it. In the event that something goes amiss during installation, the responsibility to quickly make good squarely falls on us, without hesitation. For the customer that means one point of communication, and one point of responsibility. We believe that the process should be as satisfying as the result. 

Transparency, Trust, and Teamwork

Luxury homes are created at the confluence of excellence in materials and craftsmanship. Every component, and every team, counts towards the final result. Because window and door systems are integral to the design, function and efficiency of the building, consultation with an expert should take place at the beginning of the design process. As well, custom fenestration and door systems will require custom manufacturing, which takes time. Since a smooth construction process depends on the interlocking efforts of specialized teams, issues of availability and manufacturing times need to be addressed early on. 

Luxury homes are made of steel, wood, stone, concrete and glass; a compendium of premium materials. But the invisible component that makes the flawless creation of luxury possible is relationship. Relationship between fenestration and portal experts and the manufacturers they work with. Relationship between specialists and the architect or designer and building contractor. And, most important, the relationship with the customer. 

At Glacier, we understand that a good relationship is built on solid communication, timely execution, superbly installed products, transparency throughout the process, and respect. From working with the customer and designer to preview and pick products, to arriving at the house for investigations and measurements, to coordinating our expert installation crews, we are here to help meet the desires of the customer, never to pressure. 

While it is beautiful in itself, the ultimate task of a window is to frame the passage of light in the most pleasing and unobtrusive manner possible. Likewise, your window and door team should be the transparent medium that brings the right mix of products and knowledge, experience and skills to facilitate the perfect execution of your design driven luxury home.