Seasonal visitors to Cape Cod enjoy glorious summers on amazing beaches: They bask in the sun, take in the awe-inspiring scenery, and allow themselves to be-lulled by balmy summer breezes. Many summer visitors fall in love with the area, and many are so enamored that they decide to stay, often deciding to purchase a Cape Cod home.
Genteel Appeal
A pitched roof, end gables, a central chimney, and a simple symmetrical design are the hallmarks of a traditional Cape Cod style home. The attraction and charm of the iconic Cape Cod style home often lies in its compact yet spacious design—quite a lot of rooms can be packed comfortably into a relatively small footprint. However, a new owner will find that these popular compact homes in the New England area have a design flaw:In the 17th century when oil and heating was cheap, these homes were built with little consideration for insulation and heating.Today, year-round Cape residents are only too familiar with the woes of chilly and uncomfortable winters; they also constantly struggle with the higher energy costs associated with keeping a Cape Cod home warm.
Contractors who are charged with insulating Cape Cod homes against air leakage and heat loss issues face quite a challenge. The framing of a Cape Cod home allows homeowners to make excellent use of space: You can fit 4 bedrooms and 2 baths and as much as 1100 square feet of living space into a 600-square foot footprint. But there’s a trade-off: the design also allows conditioned air to leak rapidly, making for frigid homes in the winter.
Cape Cod style homes, while optimized for space, were obviously not developed with energy efficiency in mind. So what can a homeowner do? One highly effective approach to insulating your Cape Cod home against the winter cold is to install new windows.
Energy Efficiency
A large portion of our lives is spent indoors. Thus, not surprisingly, a well-regulated indoor climate can contribute significantly towards a person’s well-being.
It’s a well-known fact that windows can account for substantial heat loss in cold weather:In fact, according to www.efficientwindows.org, single-glazed windows with clear glass allow “the highest transfer of energy while permitting the highest daylight transmission.” Since single-paned windows are found in almost 50 percent of our homes, Americans as a whole also continue to suffer huge monetary losses due to energy-inefficiency.
Losing Heat
Old windows account for heat loss in four significant ways:
- Gaps around the edges let air leak in and out of the home (infiltration).
- The window glass itself allows heat to pass through (conduction).
- Cooler objects located close to warmer objects attract heat until equilibrium is achieved. (radiation) This can account for as much as 65 percent of your home’s heat loss.
- Relative density allows heat to rise and cool air to sink. As the cold air on a windowpane flows down towards the floor, more cold air is attracted towards the window (convection). Cold air thus continuously enters the home, causing indoor temperatures to drop. To prevent this, air flow in the vicinity of the window needs to be cut off.
We lose heat through cracks and gaps in window frames that develop as a result of age, damage, or settling. New window frames made of a composite substance—which are currently available on the market—can block thermal transfer several hundreds of times better than aluminium. If you want to keep the winter cold at bay, one of the best ways to do so is to get new windows with these frames installed in your Cape Cod home.
Cape Cod homeowners would also benefit from switching to double-glazed low-E windows with insulation between the panes. These windows have a much-improved ability to prevent heat loss, helping control indoor temperatures better.The insulation effectively regulates interior glass temperatures, prevents air leakage or convective airflow, and increases energy efficiency by keeping temperatures even throughout the home.
These new energy-efficient window frames and glass can impact significantly on your Cape Cod home, generating huge energy and monetary savings while helping preserve the environment. When you own a historic Cape Cod home,dual-pane insulating windows and spanking new composite frames are your best bet at keeping the cold out while preserving your home’s charming original features.
Author bio:
Paul’s 40 years of experience in construction and remodeling has given him the opportunity to enjoy the many aspects of the industry. Now working with My Flawless Window, Paul finds satisfaction from helping homeowners obtain the best of products and services available for them. Aside from work, Paul enjoys coaching, hockey, boating, and fishing. He plans to take on golfing next. Know about him more by checking out his blog: http://www.myflawlesswindow.com/blog
