WeatherGard Windows Last Longer
We’re offering an energy-efficient replacement window that’s proven stronger, more durable, and longer-lasting than the otherwise comparable products sold by our competitors. We don’t buy bottom-dollar, lightweight imports and mark them up for resale—we’re bringing you a window that’s engineered, constructed and quality-checked in our factory in Oak Park. It’s the most affordable high-performance window we can possibly build.
Longer-Lasting, Rugged Frames & Sashes
Residential Grade Replacements: Weak Frames & Limited Lifespan
Most replacement windows, including those offered by many of our major competitors, are built on unacceptably weak frames. A frame which is poorly designed, or which is made from a low quality material, can become a problem after just a few years of normal wear.
All buildings flex and shift subtly throughout the year, especially in climates like ours, where temperature extremes cause substantial expansion and contraction. As a structure flexes, the shapes and sizes of the door and window openings in the walls change, putting enormous pressure on window and door frames. If a window frame flexes to accommodate the change in the shape of the opening (usually leading to cracks and leaks), the sashes will no longer fit, will become difficult to move, and will often be impossible to latch. The window must then be replaced—all over again.
Because of bad design, poor construction, and inferior materials, many replacement windows will have to be fully replaced in as little as ten years. Frequent window replacement is enormously costly to homeowners, and it produces unnecessary waste to be dumped into landfills.
Replacement Windows That Won’t Need Replacing
The only way to ensure that a window won't require premature replacement is to build it to resist the pressure exerted by the structure in which it will be installed. Ordinary residential grade replacement windows give way whether they're made of wood, aluminum, vinyl or fiberglass. That’s why we don’t sell a residential grade window, like our competitors do. We’re building a commercial grade product, meant for residential use.
A WeatherGard window will last a lifetime—guaranteed.
To achieve commercial grade strength, we start with the highest quality vinyl we can buy—pure virgin uPVC, which will never crack, fade or blister. Then, we use approximately twice as much vinyl as is found in a residential grade vinyl window of comparable size. We’ve also engineered internal reinforcing crossbeams to allow the frame to withstand enormous physical pressure. Finally, instead of mechanically fastening each corner with screws and glue, as is done on fiberglass windows and some vinyl windows, we fusion weld the vinyl to create a high-strength, permanently airtight joint.
The bottom line is this: the replacement windows sold by other contractors and manufacturers in the area cannot be installed in structures taller than three stories, by law, because of the structural forces involved. Our window, on the other hand, has been installed in apartment complexes with buildings as high as 16 stories. Our window is drastically stronger and therefore lasts substantially longer. Compare us to Hansons & Wallside »
Competitive Energy Efficiency
A New Standard in Insulated Glass
Metal spacers that sit between the glass in ordinary multi-pane windows are a drain on energy efficiency. Being made of metal, the spacers transfer thermal energy in and out of the home and therefore make the edges of the glass on the inside of the home cold during the winter and warm during the summer. This, even when the center of window remains within a few degrees of room temperature.
WeatherGard windows don’t suffer from this inefficiency because we use a recently developed, thermally inert structural foam in place of metal spacers. To ensure that the foam never deteriorates, and to make certain that water vapor cannot enter the argon-filled space between the panes of glass, the foam is sealed with multiple layers of MylarTM.
When the securely sealed foam spacer is combined with a thick layer of insulating butyl, the result is an insulated glass unit which maintains a uniform temperature from edge to edge. This substantially improves the overall efficiency of our windows in a way that our competitors can’t match.
Titanium Dioxide Low-E
Since the 1970s, chemists have been developing new and better ways of controlling the emissivity of transparent materials in order to block the transfer of radiant heat energy. On a window, that means keeping heat inside during the winter, and outside during the summer. WeatherGard’s titanium dioxide is among the most effective low-E materials ever developed, and allows us to achieve superb energy efficiency.