Posted by admin on May 18, 2011 under Window Replacement | 
AIR EXCHANGE AND YOUR HOME’S DOORS
Doors are the biggest source of air exchange in your home due to large gaps around and under the door. What is air exchange? If a door leaks air around the sides and/or under the bottom it will allow air to get in causing positive air flow through the door into your house. If you have another poorly sealed door on the other end of your house or even on another floor it will cause negative air flow. As the wind blows up and over the house it creates negative air flow on the other side meaning the air is being pulled out your house through these doors causing what is called air exchange. Again, because the first door (on a windy side of house) has wind blowing against it causing positive air flow inside the house and as the wind blows up and over the house it creates negative air flow meaning the air is being pulled out of your house through these doors causing air exchange. Just two leaky doors can exchange the air in your house every hour, making the floors cold and the house very hard to heat during winter and very hard to keep cool and air conditioned during summer months.
A new energy efficient entrance door have great compression style weatherstripping and triple door sweeps on the bottom to block out all the drafts and cold breezes that run along your floor. These doors come factory spray painted in many colors and have many energy saving glass configurations. We offer free estimates to discuss cost and different door options, or check the internet for more information on energy efficient doors. An excellent web site is provia.com,
The new sliding patio doors have interlocking rails where doors meet at center and multiple weatherstripping around sides and across the bottom of the door so no air can get in. Because there is so much glass these doors have excellent energy saving Low-E Glass & Argon Gas glass options.
If you want to check your door for leaks, close and lock the door, look for any light around the door especially down the sides near the locks or under the door. If light is showing, you have a big draft. Then feel all around the door for smaller drafts. If you do feel small drafts around the door and want to keep your old door you can have it repaired. We can install weather-stripping that nails around the outside of the door frame and the foam pushes against the face of the door to stop the drafts from getting in around the three sides. For under the door you can seal it with a door sweep that goes on the inside or outside of the door to stop drafts. Call Thermal Specialties for all your Door & Window energy saving concerns.
There is an Energy Tax Credit for 2011 up to $500.00 on energy efficient Entrance Doors & Patio Doors
Thermal Specialties & Installation offers all your energy service needs.
✔ Replacement Windows with Double Pane Low-E Glass and Argon Gas
✔ Patio Doors with Low-E Glass & Argon Gas ✔ Solar & Electric Attic Fans
✔ Insulated Entrance Doors ✔ Attic Insulation ✔ Draft Inspections
CALL TODAY AND START SAVING TOMORROW 1-800-449-3950
Posted by admin on February 15, 2011 under Attic Insulation, Window Replacement |
With the rising costs of fuel, it is more important now to save money and energy by doing small projects around your home .
During the winter the struggle to stay comfortable is a bigger battle than it is in the summer because we feel the drafts in the winter so much more than the summer. Although the drafts are really still there and the air is still escaping, the air conditioning keeps the humidity down and we don’t feel uncomfortable. We are still spending money on energy to run the air conditioning.
It is important that we look for, and try to seal the house during the winter when we can feel the cold air coming in around the doors, windows and around the foundation. If you do this now, in the winter months, you could make your house more comfortable this winter and next summer with only a couple of dollars worth of caulking and foam, along with a hand full of insulation to stuff in the cracks. You will save money, energy, our air and our natural resources.
Around Your Home The winter is the best time to find drafts in your home especially on a cold windy day because you can feel the cold air coming through the cracks. You can also (very carefully) use an incense stick, cigarette or smoke device as you hold it near a potential draft, the smoke will be drawn to the outside towards the cold draft or flutter and flicker if there is a draft in the area.
Entrance Doors Close and lock the door and see if there is any light coming around the locks or under the door, if light is showing you have a big draft, then feel for smaller drafts all around the door. If the drafts are around the door you can get Thermal Specialties & Installation Co. To install weather-stripping that nails around the outside of the door frame and the foam pushes against the face of the door to stop the drafts from getting in around the three sides.
For under the door you can seal it with a door sweep that goes on the inside or outside on the face of the door to stop drafts. You can install a new sill under the door that has it’s own weather-stripping to stop drafts, but this is rather difficult to do sometimes, it depends on how hard the old one is to get out or how straight the floor surface is or will be after you take up the old sill under the door.
Foundation You can feel around where the house walls meet the slab floor or foundation and this can be sealed with caulking or foam sealant. If you have a open crawl space with air vents like many here in Montgomery County Maryland, the floor under the house should also be insulated so your floors are not cold in the winter or air conditioning does not get down through the floor and out of the house in the summer.
Posted by admin on January 12, 2011 under Window Replacement |
How an Ice Dam is Created
In a snow storm and days after the storm heat from inside the home goes up through the ceiling that has insufficient attic insulation, the snow melts on the roof and runs down the roof under the a layer of snow. Then when it gets over the cold overhang and the gutters it can be slowed down in the gutter because of leaves, twigs and debris, it refreezes and the ice starts to build up creating an ice dam. As the ice dam grows from the continuous snow being melted and freezing 24 hours a day it starts to get high enough for the melted snow to run up the roof and work up under the roof shingles creating a roof leak around the first couple of feet of your ceiling leaving stains or worse, brings down the ceiling. This creates a lot of drywall damage and can also damage furniture, window treatments, and anything in the area. Sometimes damaging the entire perimeter of the home. This sounds hard to believe but these ice dams happened all around the Rockville, Gaithersburg and Potomac, Maryland areas during the snow storms of 2010.
How to Prevent Ice Dams
Keep your gutters clean of all debris, leaves, and twigs or have some new gutters with gutter guards installed like Leaf Relief from Alcoa so when the sun melts the snow and it reaches the clean gutters it runs down the down spout and out onto the ground and away from your house.
Have your attic insulated in the Montgomery County area to an R-38 or R-49 with Johns Mansville fiberglass attic insulation from Thermal Specialties & Installation Co. and be sure you have the proper attic ventilation (i.e. soffit vents, baffles, ridge vent and solar attic fans) to keep the attic cold in the winter, this will stop the heat from going up through the ceiling and melting the snow on the roof. If the warm sun melts the snow and it runs down to a clean gutter it will continue down and onto the ground and away from your home.
You will reap many rewards from these improvements. With the insulation you will have a cooler house in the summer, a warmer house in the winter and even temperatures in the house all year round. The roof will last longer and of course lower energy bills in the summer and winter, this will pay for the attic insulation in a couple of years. Beautiful new gutters with invisible hangers (no spikes in face of gutter) will enhance the look of your home and you will have no more overflow in summer thunderstorms specially if you get Leaf Relief gutter protection and oversized down spouts (3″x4″ instead of 2″x3″) from Thermal Specialties & Installation Co.
The Problem with Gutters
The biggest problem with gutters is they require cleaning at least once if not several times a year. Leaves , twigs and other debris fill the gutter and they get stopped up and do not drain properly. In the winter they fill up with ice and cause ice dams. The overflow of water or ice can cause damage to your house or the gutters could come lose from the weight and fall off the house damaging your home and lawn furniture or other items outside.
The Importance of Gutters
Gutters are the most important water diverting system of your home. They collect all the water from your roof and deposits it on the ground away from your home. If your home did not have gutters the water falling from the roof would cause a trench around the exterior of your home. The water from the trench would seep into your basement or under the foundation. The dirt from the trench could splash up on your house two or more feet and get into crevices around the house and hold water like a sponge which would lead to rotted wood and other water damage requiring thousands of dollars for very difficult repairs.
Posted by admin on September 8, 2010 under Attic Insulation, Window Replacement |
Thermal Specialties & Insulation Co. Newsletter September 2010
THIS IS THE LAST YEAR OF THE ENERGY TAX CREDIT,
DON’T LET THIS OPPORTUNITY GET AWAY!
Get 30% of energy saving products given back to you as a TAX CREDIT at the end of the year. This is the last year to take advantage of this generous stimulus program before it ends on December 31, 2010. You can get 30% of all the energy saving material costs back, up to $1,500.00 on all types of small projects like attic insulation, solar or electric attic fans and weatherstripping. You can get your part of the investment back in about a year or so with energy savings and the energy tax credit giving you 30% money back to jump start your return. It is a win win situation! Larger projects like replacing patio doors, entrance doors, installing replacement windows with energy saving Low-E glass and Argon gas takes a little longer to get back your investment but again the energy tax credit helps to jump start the monetary return and some of the other benefits are; your home is so much more comfortable and cost less to operate the heating and air conditioning systems.
We have not heard of any extensions of this two year program but have heard of cash for caulkers, but that has not been funded yet and will be a lot of paperwork. They might also move the tax credit to an energy audit or mandatory energy type home inspection with energy code requirements at the time of the sale or transfer of ownership of the home.
Don’t wait until the last minute. Last year numerous customers who wanted the tax credit for their 2009 year end taxes waited to long and not everyone had their job completed by year end due to the bad weather and back log of jobs to schedule and complete. They will be able to get the tax credit on this years taxes. The law states, the work must be completed and in service by December 31, 2010. This is the last year, don’t wait until the last minute and get caught up in the back log of jobs and lose this great opportunity for a tax credit of up to $1,500.00 for the purchase of energy saving products.
We all need to concentrate more on energy conservation projects and we can benefit from these projects because we are paying ourselves back with energy savings. There are not many things we can do to receive such a fast reward, so we need to focus on rolling up our sleeves and get some of these jobs done. These projects make our homes worth more money, look better, a lot more comfortable and help keep those home energy bills down.
Thermal Specialties & Installation offers all your energy service needs.
✔ Replacement Windows with Double pane Low-E Glass and Argon Gas
✔ Patio Doors with Low-E Glass & Argon Gas ✔ Solar & Electric Attic Fans
✔ Insulated Entrance Doors ✔ Attic Insulation ✔ Draft Inspections
CALL TODAY AND START SAVING TOMORROW
1-800-449-3950
Posted by admin on September 2, 2010 under Window Replacement |
Here is a little information on how those new replacement windows kept you so warm and comfortable during this very cold and very windy last couple of months of winter here in the city of Rockville which is in Montgomery County Maryland.
It all started in the early 1970s when it was discovered that by placing two or more pieces of glass together with dead air space between the panes gives a lot less temperature transfer across the two panes of glass. Now the use of silicone wrapped U shaped metal spacers help to seal out the moisture, and even better warm edge spacers (true seal and dura seal) made of a rubber tar like substance seal out the moisture almost indefinitely. This reduces heat transfer around the perimeter of the glass.
In 1979 came the big breakthrough in the slowing of heat transfer across the insulated glass it’s called Low-E glass (E stands for emittance) it reflects heat back to it’s source. Meaning in the summer it reflects the heat away from your house and back outside keeping your home cooler and running the A/C less, in the winter it reflects the heat back into your house keeping your furnace from running as much. If you notice it only reflects heat, not cold, cold mostly stays where it is. Also Low-E glass cuts out more than half the damaging ultra violet light from getting into your house fading furniture, carpeting, clothing, wood products and all your treasured items.
Along with Low-E glass, Argon gas and Krypton gas is also used in the space to slow the heat transfer, this odorless colorless non-toxic inert gas provides better insulation than air and is kept between the glass by the enhanced sealing qualities of the new warm edged spacers.
Weatherstripping has improved also it is called Fin Seal and is polyester pile with a mylar fin held between the piles as to make contact with designated surface. It resists mold, mildew and fungus.
The vinyl frames have improved a lot in the past 20 years with new ultra violet light stabilizers to stop the break down of the vinyl, so you get a vinyl that lasts almost forever and never needs painting inside or out, does not chip peel or if it is scratched you can not tell because the color is solid throughout.
If you already purchased these new windows from Thermal Specialties you would have noticed the big difference between your new windows and your old single pane windows or even the old double pane windows. Take some time one day to have a good look at what these new windows have done for your home and take into account how they tilt in for easy safe cleaning, cut down on the outside noise and make your home so much more comfortable and how the energy savings pay for approximately two or three windows a year. It all adds up to a very smart home improvement and investment.
Don’t forget to tell your friends, family and co-workers about the benefits of having new windows like yours. Tell them how much more quiet and comfortable your home is and how much warmer the rooms are in the winter plus how much cleaner and brighter your home and windows are, but especially tell them about the energy savings, how the furnace runs less, how you don’t feel drafts and cold spots anymore.
http://www.energy.gov
Be part of our customer referral program if we get a job referral and sell the job you get $75.00
Posted by admin on under Window Replacement |
Thanks for checking out the Thermal Times blog. I’ve been in the window replacement business in the Rockville, Germantown, Potomac area for over 25 years with hundreds of satisfied customers.
We use this blog to help consumers get the most up to date information about window replacement technologies and methods.
As always, our customer referral program is our best source of new customers; we thank each referring customer with a $75 gift.
Please comment if there are any topics you would like us to cover.
- Steve Plumley, Owner Thermal Specialties .
