Collection · 11 notes
Window system comparisons
A comparison is only useful when it names the condition that changes the answer. Each note takes two options that get quoted against each other and sets out where the difference lands: the sightline, the weight, the test route, the maintenance, or the cost of discovering it after the order.
- October 25, 2026Skylights vs roof windows: light, leakage and service lifeTwo products arrive on the same roof with the same job and different obligations. One is a window that happens to sit in a pitched roof, reachable by hand and openable, and counted as the room opening. The other is a factory glazed unit built to deliver light, usually out of reach and often standing on a curb. The skylight vs roof window decision starts with one measurement, arm length.
- October 14, 2026Impact windows vs hurricane windows: the differenceHurricane window is what the coast calls the product; impact windows is what the test report can prove. Both names point at the same assembly — laminated glass in a reinforced frame, rated as a complete unit. The difference that decides a Florida order is the approval path behind the name: a Miami-Dade NOA under the TAS protocols, or a Florida Product Approval under ASTM E1886 and ASTM E1996. This piece sets the two names against the two approval paths, and lists what the quotation must carry.
- October 9, 2026Aluminium vs vinyl windows: the full comparison for buildersAluminium vs vinyl windows is the material call behind most of a residential specification: vinyl is the default in North American construction, and aluminium wins on span, hardware and coastal performance. The honest comparison is not which material is better: it is which failure mode each one carries, and where on the building the opening sits. This page works through the seven points a builder actually weighs when the two materials reach the same drawing.
- October 4, 2026Argon vs krypton for windows: how to write the IGU gas callArgon vs krypton is the cavity-fill question every IGU schedule answers, and both gases are there to slow the conduction that air would otherwise carry across the cavity. Argon is the standard fill — inert, cheap, and worth roughly a third better than dry air on the U-value of a normal cavity. Krypton is the denser gas for the thin cavities: where the gap is narrow, argon loses most of its benefit and krypton holds it, at several times the cost. The rule is to match the gas to the cavity width, not to buy the dearer one by default.
- October 4, 2026PVB vs SGP interlayers for impactThe interlayer is the member that makes laminated glass impact-rated: it holds the fragments together after the strike, and the question is how much load it carries once the glass is broken. PVB is the standard interlayer, elastic and effective on ordinary impact lites; SGP is several times stiffer, carries the load longer after breakage, and is the specification for the large lite and the position that has to stay in place after an event. The choice is set by the lite size and the residual-strength case, not by habit.
- October 4, 2026Low-E coatings: soft coat vs hard coat for aluminium windowsA low-E coating controls the heat that would otherwise radiate across the cavity, and there are two ways to make it: the soft coat, deposited in a vacuum and the higher performer, and the hard coat, fired onto the glass as it is made and the more durable. The soft coat has to live inside the sealed cavity; the hard coat can face the weather. The schedule picks the coat by where it goes and what it has to do, not by a generic low-E line.
- October 4, 2026Thermal-break vs non-thermal framesAluminium conducts heat, which is its virtue in a heat sink and its problem in a window frame. A thermal break puts a non-conductive bridge between the outer profile and the inner profile, so the two do not conduct into each other; a non-thermal frame is one extrusion of aluminium from inside to outside, and it is the cheapest way to hold glass. The choice is set by the climate and the energy code, not by preference — a cold or a code-driven market needs the break, a warm interior partition does not.
- October 4, 2026Powder colours vs woodgrain transfer finishesThe finish on an aluminium frame is a powder coat, and on top of that it can be a solid colour or a woodgrain. The solid colour is the powder itself, in any RAL or a custom shade; the woodgrain is a sublimation transfer, a film applied over a powder base and baked in, so it is a pattern on a coating, not bare aluminium. The choice is aesthetic and durable both: the solid is the tougher finish, the woodgrain the warmer look, and the specification states which basecoat and which warranty the elevation carries.
- September 23, 2026Powder coating vs anodising for export windowsPowder coating and anodising are the two standard finishes for export aluminium windows. Powder coating wins on colour range — any RAL, two coats at 60–80 µm — and on corrosion schedules; anodising wins on metallic appearance, surface hardness and long-term cost for plain silver and grey series. Most export specifications use powder for coloured façades and anodised natural where the metal look is wanted.
- September 23, 2026Laminated vs tempered glass for impact ratingLaminated vs tempered: for impact-rated glazing the laminated layer does the rating: its PVB or SGP interlayer holds shattered glass in place, which is what the projectile test measures. Tempering strengthens a single pane but turns failure into full breakage, so a tempered-only lite fails the large-missile criterion. Impact lites are built as a laminated core — typically a tempered or heat-strengthened outer pane, the interlayer, and an inner pane — inside an IGU where insulation is wanted.
- September 23, 20266063 vs 6061 aluminium alloy: which suits window profilesIn the 6063 vs 6061 question for window profiles, the frame is extruded 6063: it extrudes the complex multi-chamber section cleanly, takes the anodise and powder finish, and carries the wind load the frame is sized for. 6061 is the stronger, more machinable alloy — roughly 2.5 times the yield strength of 6063 in the T6 condition — and it shows up on the window at the hardware and the reinforcement: the bearing that carries a 400 kg pivot leaf, the stiffener behind a 4,000 mm fixed pane. The frame wants 6063; the load points want 6061. The specification names both.
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Working on a project? The range in detail carries each system and its limits, and the contact page takes a drawing set.