Window Replacement in Greenville, SC

ENERGY STAR Certification and What It Covers in the Delta

Windows USA windows are ENERGY STAR certified for the South Central and Southern climate zones, the zones that cover the Mississippi Delta. According to ENERGY STAR, “Replacing old windows with ENERGY STAR certified windows lowers household energy bills by an average of up to 13 percent nationwide when replacing single-pane windows. Lower energy consumption also reduces greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and homes.”

Water First: Why Rain Drives Window Choice in Greenville

Most window advice starts with heat. In the Delta it should start with water. The National Centers for Environmental Information (opens in a new tab) record 50 to 80 inches of precipitation in a typical Greenville year — an enormous amount for a window to shed, and it arrives with wind behind it as often as not. Three features in a Windows USA unit deal with that load in sequence. The sashes interlock, so the joint where two moving parts meet becomes one continuous seal against air and water infiltration instead of the weak point it usually is. Intercept® Ultra spacers seal the insulating glass unit airtight, keeping moisture out of the space between the panes where it would otherwise fog and stain. Weep holes finish the job, draining water that reaches the frame back to the exterior rather than letting it stand in the sill.

The Temperature Range a Greenville Window Has to Cover

Heat is the second problem, and cold is a real third one. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (opens in a new tab), Greenville (opens in a new tab) averages 35°F to 52°F in winter and 70°F to 92°F in summer, and the record book goes further in both directions — 10°F above the normal summer range, 20°F below the normal winter one. A frame that conducts heat gives all of that straight to your living room. Ours does not: Windows USA windows are built with multi-chambered frames and sashes, and that chambered construction both interrupts thermal transfer and makes for an unusually rigid, strong window.

Sunlight Over the Greenville Area (opens in a new tab) and What It Reaches

According to the CDC (opens in a new tab), Greenville and Mississippi generally sit at the higher end of the scale (opens in a new tab) for Average Daily Dose of Ultraviolet (UV) light (opens in a new tab) among states in the continental United States. Flat, open country and few tall obstructions mean a Delta house gets the full share of it. Two things pay the price:

• Everything on the inside. Ordinary window glass, as the International Ultraviolet Association (opens in a new tab) explains, lets UVA light straight into a room — where the Skin Cancer Foundation (opens in a new tab) identifies it as a leading contributor to premature skin aging, and where it steadily fades furniture, fabrics, flooring, and artwork & photos (opens in a new tab).
• The window itself. ultraviolet wavelengths work their way into solid surfaces and damage most materials exposed to too much of them (opens in a new tab), and unprotected vinyl carries mechanical, physical and chemical consequences of degradation from solar radiation (opens in a new tab) — cracking, chalking (opens in a new tab), fading color, and material that has quietly gone brittle.

Which is why our windows and patio doors are protected on both fronts. The vinyl has a UV inhibitor in it, so exposure leaves it neither chalky nor peeling nor several shades lighter than the day it went in. The glass (opens in a new tab) uses a triple-layer coating engineered to reject the sun's heat without spoiling visibility — it turns back more solar gain and reflects more heat than the tinted glass frequently sold for warm climates, while daylight still fills the room. Ultraviolet is cut by 95% at the glass, which spares rugs, drapes and wall coverings the slow bleaching they take behind an ordinary pane. And its insulating value keeps the interior glass surface warm in cold weather, which improves comfort dramatically and makes indoor relative humidity easier to control and maintain at a healthier level.

One thing worth doing before you decide on glass for a given room: look at the path the sun takes (opens in a new tab) over your address each day (opens in a new tab). Which way an opening faces determines how much heat and fading it has to absorb, and that in turn tells you where tinting and coating matter most.

The U.S. Department of Energy reaches the same conclusion in its own guidance: orientation can change the technical requirements you should be specifying for a window.

Air Quality in Greenville and the Value of a Sealed Opening

Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality System (AQS) rates most of Mississippi's air as very good, with modestly higher particulate readings in the state's metropolitan areas. Agricultural dust and pollen are a more familiar issue in the Delta than industrial haze. Either way, air that gets in through a leaking window is unfiltered air, and that is a practical reason to care about the airtight Intercept® Ultra seal and the unbroken seal formed where our sashes interlock.

Noise Where You Live in Greenville

The U.S. Department of Transportation's measurements of aviation, highway, and rail noise put Mississippi well below the loudest parts of the country, though cities including Greenville do register higher readings than the countryside around them. State-level data cannot tell you what your own house hears — proximity to a highway, the rail line, or the airport changes that completely. The Environmental Protection Agency treats the issue seriously, describing noise pollution as something that “adversely affects the lives of millions of people”, with “direct links between noise and health”. Two panes of glass in a sealed frame will not silence a train, but they take a real bite out of what reaches your living room.

Here is what all of that construction adds up to in a Greenville house:

• Lower cooling and heating costs. Argon gas fills the cavity between the panes, and heat crosses it far more slowly than it crosses ordinary air, so the system cycles less often.
• A frame suited to Delta humidity. Vinyl shrugs off the swelling, rot, and corrosion that wood and aluminum suffer in this climate, and it never needs a coat of paint.
• A quieter interior. The sealed double-pane assembly damps traffic and neighborhood noise.
• Better security. Current locking hardware replaces latches that were often decorative by the time we take them out‡.

Windows Sized to Your Greenville Home

Because every window is manufactured to the opening it fills, an older house with settled framing or unusual sizes is no obstacle. Professional crews install‡ throughout Greenville (opens in a new tab) and the surrounding Delta, including Itta Bena (opens in a new tab), McGehee (opens in a new tab), Lake Village (opens in a new tab), Leland (opens in a new tab), and Indianola (opens in a new tab), along with the rest of the Mississippi Delta (opens in a new tab).

Is It Time to Replace Your Single-Pane Windows?

Original wood and aluminum single-pane windows are inefficient by design and expensive to live with. If your monthly bills climb every summer, if the rooms nearest the glass never hold the temperature you set, or if you are weighing what would most improve the house before selling, those old openings are the place to start. Double-pane vinyl replacements insulate where single panes never could, put an end to the drafts, and reset how the house presents itself to the street.