Ideas for window insulation

[lporter]

Hi, we have a 400 sqft garage (north facing garage door) with 3 windows on the west facing wall in central Florida. They are basically thin pieces of glass without insulation. We are trying to better temperature control the garage. We received a quote to replace them, and it is around $4k. This is much higher than we'd like to spend. Any ideas for improving window insulation without breaking the bank?
Thanks!

 

[Sumboodie]

Decent windows are around $300-400, depending on size.

Just bought a 3x5ft slider to replace the up/down they installed sideways, was around 300

 

[dcg9381]

Treat it like an RV (they all have ****** insulation). Tint it or otherwise put up a "heat shield" on the inside of the window.

Have you put a thermal camera on this? Generally even the best triple paned argon filled window is inferior to the same insulated R value of wall. And "in general" 75% of your heat loss and heat gain is coming from your roof, not your wall structure.

Window replacement gigs are high margin ripoffs (in general) and no real guarantee that you're getting a much better window. "Picture windows" (no moving parts can be a lot cheaper). You're still putting a hole in the wall. Bet you good money that 4k of spray foam on the roof deck does a lot more to solve this than 3 new windows.

 

[Bert_]

Solar gain or still a problem when it's in the shade?

 

[gregs]

I have a similar situation with large south facing plate glass windows. I looked into having them replaced with insulated glass and found it to be very expensive. The other issue that I considered is that I like the solar gain in the winter and dont want to lose that. I had the windows tinted 20 years ago and it helped a lot but its starting to fail and degrade now. My plan is to redo the window tint. Not a 100% sure what product I am going to use yet. And then I am going to add some type of exterior sun shades. Ideally they would be a motorized roll shade that anyone could operate but they might be out of my budget and have to go with the manual crank style. But having the "shade" on the outside acts just like the shade from a tree and reduces the solar gain inside.

 

[loganb]

Assuming your problem is the space is getting too hot in the summer and not necessarily too cold in the winter? If so, the problem is more needing to reduce the solar gain/solar heating thru those windows and less about the poor thermal performance from the single pane, possibly laminated glass or just cheap dual pane glass in the windows.

Cheapest, fastest solution is to get a solar controlling film (aka tint them) to reduce the amount of solar energy that comes in. You can get a DIY tint/film kit or there are likely several companies who will do it for your. I'm in the window business but this isn't part of what I do, but when I talk with our sales team/distributors the most common manufacturer of tints/film they work with is 3M. That's just who makes the product, not who is installing it, but I don't think you'll have an issue finding a local company to do this for a fraction of the cost.

 

[Fav Onefour]

Take out a cheap thermal temp reader and start pointing around the garage when temps normally rise. Aim at walls, ceilings, floor, doors, and the windows.
That will help determine what is getting hot. I'd start by addressing the hottest spots first.

I've been around the window business. I can tell you that they are rarely the miracle cure for a structure that is too hot or cold.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Shop around. You can find places that will manufacture double or triple glazed window panes to your spec. Prices are reasonable if you pick it up (deliver will kill you). You have to make your own frames. Poplar is cost effective. Just make sure to give it 2 coats of an alkyd (oil based) wood primer before you set the glass.

 

[PoorUB]

Hi, we have a 400 sqft garage (north facing garage door) with 3 windows on the west facing wall in central Florida. They are basically thin pieces of glass without insulation. We are trying to better temperature control the garage. We received a quote to replace them, and it is around $4k. This is much higher than we'd like to spend. Any ideas for improving window insulation without breaking the bank?
Thanks!

Can you add a "storm" window to either side? Perhaps simply cut some plexiglass and fit to the inside? Maybe custom storm windows?

Much of it depends on how picky you are with how they look at the end.

 

[Bert_]

Can you add a "storm" window to either side? Perhaps simply cut some plexiglass and fit to the inside? Maybe custom storm windows?

Much of it depends on how picky you are with how they look at the end.

I did something like that with my basement windows. I think they look very good for a utility window. I'll grab a picture when I am back at home.

 

[WisJim]

In one house, I made insulating panels that fit snugly inside the window. I used 1" foam board with foil facing on one side, foil facing out. At the time, there was a company making a "U" shaped channel that fit around the foam board and had thin fins on the outside so it fit snugly into the window frame. Since it was in the living room (large uninsulated picture window) I put a fabric on the inside of the foam. In our situation, we used them in the winter when we were happy to have a warmer room rather than the view.

 

[Bert_]

These are my homemade storms on my basement windows. Didn't cost much, work well and look decent.

You do need to be careful with plexiglass, a couple of these windows are a little wavy since it can change with temperature.

This isn't going to fix any solar gain issues