You’ve made your decision: it’s time to replace those ugly, worn-out windows in your Colorado home.
You visit a showroom to check out your options. Wow! So many choices. Dozens of styles, in an array of trim colors. Several different manufacturers. And materials… who knew replacement windows could be made in so many different ways? And in so many different places?
The salesman tells you about a “great deal” they’re offering for windows made by an out-of-state manufacturer with a solid reputation. You’re just about to sign up, but first, you do a little research… and you learn that there are at least a couple of good reasons to go with windows made locally.
The Altitude…
Ever notice what airline travel does to a half-empty plastic water bottle? You take it out of your carry-on after landing, and you see that it’s a bit misshapen. The change in altitude has collapsed the thing a little.
No big deal – you unscrew the cap, and the plastic bottle resumes its former shape (or close enough).
But with windows, it’s a bigger deal.
Altitude affects the gases used to “seal” your replacement windows. And since less than one percent of the nation’s population lives at elevations above 5,000 feet, the standards used for these sealing processes were established without regard for us high-country folk… and that can spell trouble for you if you go with windows from out-of-town.
By the time those “great deal” windows arrive here in Colorado from the factory out east, they can be bowed and misshapen, just like your in-flight beverage bottle. And the options for dealing with that situation are not ideal. They usually mean your windows, which were designed to be weather-tight, won’t be as efficient as they should be.
But if your windows were created locally, they were sealed locally. The altitude effects have already been accounted for.
It’s like they never “left the ground.”
… And The Weather
If you live in Colorado, you’ve heard it plenty of times: “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes… it’ll change.”
It’s funny because it’s true. But the weather changes everywhere, doesn’t it?
It does. But few climates feature the extreme temperatures – and extremely quick changes in temperature – that we experience here in Colorado.
It’s not uncommon to see the temperature drop ten, twenty, thirty degrees or more in just a few hours here in The Centennial State.
Conversely, you could spend today shoveling the snow from your driveway, only to awaken tomorrow to a sunny, warm spring day.
Such extremes in temperature (and such radical shifts in the weather) can wreak havoc on standard window materials. That’s why the most reputable Colorado window manufacturers choose materials and processes which account for these extremes. These materials resist expansion and contraction, and other problems that can be caused by extreme weather.
And it’s not just about the temperature. Here in Colorado, we get the aforementioned snow… but we also get rain (sometimes a LOT of rain), and wind (which can send the rain sideways – right into your windows), and dust storms, and hail, and… well, what DON’T we get?
Do you really want windows that were made without accounting for our particular Colorado climate?
The Good News
There is a GREAT manufacturer of replacement windows right here in Colorado – Amerimax Windows – with a reputation and track record to put your mind at ease as you approach your window replacement project.
So even if the salesman at the window showroom offers you a “great deal” on those out-of-town windows, don’t be hasty. That window deal might be great for somebody in New Jersey. But here in Colorado, if you stop to consider our special altitude and weather factors, well… you’ll see right through it.
September 27, 2018
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