Page 40 - Green Builder April 2017 Issue

CREDIT: THE GLASS GURU

Fixing failures. The Glass Guru company franchises its technology around the country to contractors interested in getting into the window
restoration business.
few years to replace windows.
The repair and reconditioning of failing IG windows is possible
Window Orientation and within easy reach for big companies. It’s time for them to stop
thinking of their products as throwaway commodities, and close
the life cycle.
Should Dictate offers IG glass repairs. It’s called The Glass Guru, based in Roseville,
There is at least one U.S. company (not a window maker) that
Calif. At present, they have “restored” about 75,000 windows. They
Composition add a 10-year warranty to the glass after the repair. Clearly, there’s
plenty more room in this niche. In fact, it’s not a niche—it’s more
like an abyss of opportunity.
NE OF THE building industry practices that’s all too The founders of The Glass Guru picked up the idea from Canadian
common is the use of the same window frame and firms that were drilling the glass in IG units to release condensation.
glazing spacer type for every elevation of a home. The The Glass Guru drills a small hole through the glass at the top and
O problem with this approach, from a building science bottom of the unit, then inserts a tiny sprayer and flushes the glass
perspective, is that it ignores the effects of UV and heating; the sun with a half-dozen different liquid cleaners in sequence. The company
is unkind to certain plastics, particularly vinyl window frames and owners claim that with this process, they can often repair a window
uPVC-based spacers. for 10 percent of the cost of replacing the whole unit (with frame).
UV stabilizers have improved, but PVC’s coefficient of elasticity, The company has about 60 franchises, but there are still many
combined with the effects of extreme heating cycles simply shorten regions nationally where the service is not available.
the life of these products. Again, here’s where window manufacturers
could step up their game and offer window specifications aimed at
durability. For example, why not put aluminum-clad wood frames or SOURCES/LINKS
composites on the south and west face, some nice-looking darker
2015 EPA Report: www3.epa.gov/warm/pdfs/Glass.pdf
colors of vinyl or composites on the north, and leave the east side
of the home to builder discretion?
The Glass Guru: www.theglassguru.com

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