Broken or fogged, the glass comes out, not the window.
Cracked and broken panes replaced, and failed sealed units renewed in the frame you already have. A fraction of the cost and the disruption of a full window replacement.
Broken glass and fogged units.
Broken glass is obvious and urgent. A fogged unit is neither, which is why people live with it for years without realising what it is costing them. [COMPANY NAME] usually solves both the same way: the glass comes out and the frame stays where it is.
A sealed unit is two or three panes with a sealed cavity between them. When that seal fails, humid air gets into the cavity and condenses on the inside of the glass, which is why no amount of cleaning touches it. What most people do not realise is that by the time the fog is visible, the unit has lost the argon fill and the dry cavity it was built around, and moisture is working on the Low-E coating too.
- Cracked and broken panes replaced in the existing frame
- Fogged and moisture-affected sealed units renewed
- Low-E coating and argon fill that older windows were built without
- Tempered and laminated glass where the opening requires it
- A single pane through to every window in the house
Single panes through to whole-house work.
A single cracked window is a small job, and it gets treated like a real one: measured properly, matched to the glass around it, and fitted by the same [COMPANY NAME] crews that run replacement programs on towers. There is no job too small to call about.
What makes a sealed unit give up.
Fogging is not random and it is not a manufacturing fault. It is the end of a process that started the day the unit was installed.
The unit breathes whether you like it or not.
Air in the cavity expands in the sun and contracts overnight, and the seal flexes with it every day for years. Eventually the material fatigues, and the moment it opens the cavity starts drawing in humid outside air.
There is a drying agent, and it has a working life.
The spacer bar between the panes holds a desiccant that absorbs the small amount of moisture that gets in. It works quietly for years. Once it is saturated it stops, and that is the exact point at which visible fogging starts.
South and west windows go first.
The elevations that take the most direct sun cycle hardest and fail earliest. It is why fogging almost never appears across a whole house at once, and why the same window on the north side can still be perfectly clear.
The fog is the symptom, not the cost. A failed unit has lost the argon fill and the dry cavity it was built around, and once moisture reaches the Low-E coating that goes with it. That window has been adding to the heating bill for every winter it has looked like that.
Glass repair, answered.
The seal around the sealed unit has failed and humid air has got into the cavity. Once the desiccant in the spacer bar is saturated it can no longer absorb it, so the moisture condenses on the inside of the glass where it cannot be cleaned.
In most cases yes. If the frame is sound, [COMPANY NAME] takes the sealed unit out and puts a new one in, so you keep the frame, the finish and the opening exactly as they are.
[COMPANY NAME] makes the pane safe and secures the opening first. The replacement unit is then made to the measured size, so the timing depends on the glass rather than on us. Call and we will talk you through where you stand.
It is worth fixing. The fog itself is cosmetic, but it is evidence that the sealed cavity has failed, so the window is no longer performing the way it was specified. The argon is gone, and moisture in the cavity works on the Low-E coating that does much of the insulating.
Usually, yes. If a window is old enough to be fogging, the unit in it is probably plain glass with air in the cavity. A modern replacement carries an invisible Low-E coating that reflects heat back into the room and an argon fill that slows heat on its way out. You keep the frame, and the glass in it comes back better than it was when the house was built.
[COMPANY NAME] matches coating, tint and thickness as closely as the current product range allows. On an older window an exact match is not always available, and we will tell you at the measure if that is the case.
Have a question that isn't covered here? Ask us directly
Tell us about your project.
Tower or home, send us the details and we will come back to you within one business day.