Month: February 2018

The sliding glass door is a pre-WWII design element that originated from North America but based on Japanese paper panel doors or Shoji. The traditional design consists of two glass panels wherein only one of the two panels is mobile. The other sliding door designs are the Disappearing, Trackless and Disappearing, and the Opening Corner.

Initially used to give access to balconies and patios, sliding doors are now being used in bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and as room dividers instead of walls. The rationale behind using sliding doors inside the house is to create the perception of open space while providing the option for privacy.

Choosing the sliding glass door is not a matter of design aesthetics alone. Other factors that must be considered include:

• House design
• Personal lifestyle
• Space
• Climate
• Budget
• Time for Maintenance and Glass Cleaning

Choosing your Sliding Door Design

Today, you can also have up four stacking panels and can select the size opening. More important than the number of panels is the track design. The sliding door design has two tracks: top track and bottom track. The model you select will either be top weight heavy or bottom weight heavy which means the weight of the system will rely more on the top or bottom track. Some experts believe that if the top track supports the weight of the glass panels, you achieve a cleaner look because your bottom track can be hidden or flush against your floor. This support means no more accidental tripping which is one of the leading reasons for accidents with sliding doors.

Top track support also allows you to have amazing panel curves, prevents misalignment, and gives you a much smoother sliding performance. Furthermore, it’s easier to clean, and some suppliers can offer a design wherein the top track is also concealed. These kinds of flushed designs protect your home from strong wind pressure and forced entries.

Quick Tips

• Consider your interior layout when planning the sliding door. For example, if you have limited space, opt for the two-panel design or one stationary panel with one swing door instead of a two-panel sliding door.
• You will have a choice of aluminum, wood clad, fiberglass or vinyl frame. Choose based on weather, maintenance, and durability
• If the glass panels lead to the outdoors, opt for impact-resistant e-glass especially if you live in hurricane-prone areas. E-glass, on the other hand, will help keep your monthly energy bills manageable and give you UV protection.

One of the 2018 design trends for sliding door systems is a taller and broader frame to suggest more extensive, organic space extending naturally to the other room or your outdoors.

Have you ever seen professionals retrofit windows and doors? Doesn’t it look reasonably straightforward since you don’t replace the existing frame? It should be an “open and shut” DIY project, right? Unfortunately, professionals make it look easy because they’ve done it a hundred and more times. For a homeowner interested in saving money with a DIY retrofit window or door project, there are some caveats to take into consideration.

• You will need to know what type of store-bought replacement windows to get. They are not just based on size and aesthetic design. You will have to understand the design structure and differentiate new construction windows from replacement windows.
• Window replacements sold in hardware stores that perfectly fit your existing frames are not that easy to find and can be almost impossible at times.
• If you’re buying several replacement windows in the hardware store, expect to be charged a delivery fee, which you should anticipate and add to the total cost to find out if the project will be cost-effective.
• Exterior cladding is part of the job. You will need the special tools to handle the cladding stage.
• If there is any aluminum in your replacement window, best to learn first how to work with aluminum seeing that it isn’t that easy to do it with finesse as an amateur.
• Often the damage to windows and doors are hidden from plain sight and will only be evident after you have removed the window. Therefore, you might bite off more than you can chew or not have enough experience to fix the structural damages safely.

The simplest and easiest way to retrofit windows and doors would be to contact a professional window replacement company with a good reputation. Granted, the automatic assumption is that it will cost but the question to ask: will it cost more than a DIY taking into consideration unknown factors and the level of skill that you can bring to the project?

On the more serious side of a retrofit window or door project is the time element. A DIY project could take as long as several weeks, especially if there are structural damages to the frame or other components. A professional team can do the job in a day depending on the number of windows and doors to retrofit. This means the inconvenience will be cut by more than half the time of a DIY and you can proceed with other items on your agenda for the month. Getting it done and getting it done quickly carries with it a great many advantages worth considering. Get a quote from East Coast Windows today and find out for sure just how cost-effective, simple, and easy it is to repair your windows and doors.

In 1992 when Hurricane Andrew hit South Miami, the damages to houses were extensive and severe. Looking back at the property development market in the 1980s, according to the History of Miami Museum, a significant fact shows that there was overbuilding and less than stringent regulations on property development. The Category 5 hurricane proved how poorly the buildings were constructed, destroying around 63,000 houses and damaging approximately 100,000 other dwellings.

Some of the reasons for the magnitude of the damages were in the construction of the buildings and houses. For instance, the roofs in Country Walk, a suburban neighborhood near Homestead that was practically flattened, were made of low-grade plywood and attached using staples, not nails. In just three hours after the storm hit land, second floors of homes were being ripped off by winds.

After Andrew, government officials had no choice but to strengthen building codes and strictly implement them. Since 1992, many hurricanes have come and gone and the most recent Category 5 was Hurricane Irma last September 2017, 25 years after Hurricane Andrew.

Irma was described by Florida Governor, Rick Scott as “This is bigger than Andrew. This could be worse.” Fortunately, many buildings and houses remained standing after the storm. Some of the changes that were enforced were the roof integrity and wind resistance codes. Impact resistant or hurricane windows became standard for all new buildings, and cheap construction materials were banned altogether.

A new statewide building code was implemented in 2002, and based on a 2005 study by the University of Florida, houses built after 2002 sustained fewer, if any, damages compared to homes made under the old codes. In fact, 30% of the houses under the new code suffered not a single shingle damage during Hurricane Charley (2004) while those built before 2002 had some shingle loss at the very least.

Now, in 2018 there are even the “storm-proof houses” that can resist up to Category 5 winds with 100% survival rate – intact! Windows that can handle 250 mph winds are possible because reinforced glass is used and the glass is tested under controlled conditions and given a rating for consumers to appreciate.

Other innovations that are making sure Floridians are safer and more secure in their homes during fierce storms and hurricanes include:

• Use of nails that are one centimeter longer than the building standard (extra $10)
• Use of hurricane straps ($200) for roofs to be 40% stronger
• Other cutting-edge materials like mechanical connectors tie the house parts to strengthen the frame

If you decide to install hurricane windows and doors or reinforce your house in any other way, do it the right way with East Coast Windows.