Windows, Part 2

But you are looking at $1,613.00. But don’t worry, the price will come down, a little.

The salesman has a problem as well. Some companies will take his measurements as gospel instead of the real numbers that they come out and measure later. So he may have measured a real “72” and put down “80” to get you up into the next price range. Rather than taking this “human error” as “packing the job” the company will just pocket the difference for themselves (see “crooks” elsewhere on this site).

The same thing happens with sliding glass doors. A sliding glass door should be about $30 a square foot or $3.00 a combined inch - either way -- and then add not more than $600 to convert from the base cost of a window to the base cost of a sliding glass door.

Finally, another way to figure out what this stuff costs is to take any window or door priced at a standard retail price you find at any major home improvement superstore and then add 50% and that is the total cost to one of these companies for that product fully installed in your home.

Your New Dual Pane Windows:

Most windows sold today are what are called “dual pane” windows. They have two pieces of glass for each pane and there is an air gap between the two panes of glass. Some companies fill the space between the panes with a heavy gas like Argon.

The reason that they fill them with Argon is because one pane of glass will be hotter or colder than the other pane of glass and the air between the panes will start to swirl due to the differences in temperature of one pane and the other. The air will thus move up and down like a waterfall. The air will pick up the heat and the cold and transfer them across the air space - just as a fan circulates air in a room.

The insulating capabilities of the new window will then be diminished. Argon is a heavy gas and does not move around any where near as much as regular air. Further, “Argon filled” sounds so incredibly scientific. This ploy is targeted to people who buy supreme type gas for their car. Econo gas will usually work just as well but they feel good / important by purchasing the “high test.

If you live in Chicago or the North Slope of Alaska this slight improvement in insulation from Argon fill may help a little. In “normal” places found in America the special gas used to stop this odd circulation is not really needed. Does Argon make the window a better insulator? Yes, it really does.

If you gold plated your car instead of painting it, the thing might last a thousand years but as with Argon fill, other than making you think you are “special,” it may not offer enough benefit to be worth the added cost.

By the way, this is the added cost to you, not to them. They have to put something between the panes of glass and it better be a clean gas dry gas so it doesn't fog or put dirt inside.

Argon is about the same cost to them as clean dry atmospheric air -- the stuff you breathe.