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Today’s Decisions Impact Long-Term Success

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Allow me to borrow an example from the residential window market for a moment. Talk in the industry has revolved around the critically stringent new ENERGY STAR 7.0 criteria, set to take effect at some point in 2023. Window systems meeting the current criteria will in most cases need to make significant design alterations to achieve the thermal efficiency performance required to maintain the ENERGY STAR label.

The question for window manufacturers is this: How to go about making these changes? There are options, and some of them are more complicated than others. To date, residential manufacturers have typically relied on their insulating glass units to meet previous ENERGY STAR criteria; low-E coatings and high-performance spacer systems have gotten the job done.

But the new ENERGY STAR 7.0 numbers — requiring a < 0.22 u factor and > 0.17 solar heat gain coefficient in the Northern Zone, which covers much of North America — will trigger more dramatic changes. My colleague John Ryba has written extensively about the options manufacturers have at this magazine’s sister publication for the past year. Triple-paned IG could be a necessity if manufacturers don’t want to alter their window systems completely. Elsewhere, switching to energy-efficient vinyl systems can help manufacturers meet the new figures with greater confidence.

The latter process involves a greater upfront investment. Changing your vinyl systems is a big shift — but one that might be worthwhile over the long term for residential manufacturers who want to remain at the forefront of energy efficiency trends in the industry.

What does this have to do with the commercial glass industry? First, it’s important to remember that energy efficiency standards, barring some major regulatory shakeups, never go backward. ENERGY STAR is just one example. Government bodies around the world, from the local level to the national stage, are more concerned than ever with fostering greater sustainability in all areas of society. We’ve seen the effects in North America as new building codes in major municipalities are implemented, demanding higher and higher levels of performance from all types of buildings. That, of course, includes glass and glazing codes.

It means that the case is strong for commercial fabricators (both window and door and glass) to invest in innovative and forward-thinking technology today — before it simply becomes the cost of doing business. For example, high-performance vinyl systems have proven themselves to be viable in commercial window and wall applications, while delivering an outstanding thermal performance that metallic options can’t match without major modifications. Warm-edge spacer systems have likewise delivered outstanding efficiency gains in major commercial applications, including architectural glazing. The right products can also provide nice efficiency improvements in manufacturing.

Technologies like these represent not only a way for commercial fabricators to prepare themselves for a future where more stringent efficiency standards come into effect; they’re also a means to create separation from the competition. As we round out 2022, it’s worth keeping these things in mind while making plans for 2023 and beyond. It’s incumbent upon the commercial glass and glazing industry to remain innovative as codes and regulations change. Investing in high-performance technology is one path to get there.

Joe Erb is the national account manager for Quanex

Three Tips to Ensure High-Quality Commercial Insulating Glass

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October is national manufacturing month — an opportunity for manufacturers everywhere to celebrate the important things we make, do and deliver for applications around the world. It’s also an occasion to help shepherd new young professionals into the field, where there are plenty of rewarding, lucrative careers to be made.

When I think about manufacturing in the commercial fenestration industry, I tend to focus on the craft of it. Making high-performance insulating glass (IG) that must stand up to the rigorous demands of forward-thinking architecture is no easy task. It requires precise attention to every part of the process, and everyone involved in production on your shop floor should be familiar with the proper best practices. Their ability to understand both how and why certain elements of production can lead to unit failure is important.

With all of this in mind, I thought it was worth casting some attention to what our teams at Quanex frequently see as pain points in the fabrication process for commercial IG of all edge seal construction types. And while all parts of IG manufacturing are important, uncompromising quality on the following three points can best help you prevent unit failure:

Ensure a Good Primary Seal
A good primary seal, which acts as your unit’s main moisture/gas barrier, starts with a good sealant profile. Make sure your primary sealant is properly placed and not over- or underfilled. Avoid skips or voids in the primary sealant.

After you have a good seal profile, it’s essential to close the start/stop points or joints. If these are not joined/sealed properly, you’re creating a potential path for moisture/gas — and potential for desiccant to get into the air space. After you’ve pressed the unit, verify that the primary sealant is fully pressed out and wetted to the glass and spacer. Fully wetted PIB should be a solid, flat black. Checking these criteria on the first few units out of your press should indicate whether you need to make any adjustments to your processes.

Properly Applying Your Secondary Seal
Your secondary seal ensures the structural integrity of the unit, helping it to withstand the inherent temperature fluctuations and dynamic pressure changes of demanding commercial applications. First, the spacer should be consistently inset to allow for a proper secondary sealant depth. Work with your sealant supplier to identify proper sealant depth recommendations to meet structural performance standards. And remember that thicker glass, larger units or units intended for highly demanding applications may require more sealant depth.

Next, be sure that your inset is properly filled — structural effectiveness is at stake. Avoid slumping or dishing in the center. Sealants can sometimes flow up the sides of the glass, making the inset appear fully filled when the center might in fact be too shallow. Once the proper depth is achieved, check for and close any joints or gaps, and fix any bulges that extend past the glass edges.

Finally, good racking can help protect your units while the sealant cures. Your racks should be clean and free of dust, debris and old sealant material that can become embedded in a freshly applied secondary sealant, compromising performance. Support strips should be firm and wide to fully support the weight of your unit without compressing. If your unit sinks into the support, the strip can displace the secondary sealant. Poor racking can cause an otherwise good unit to fail earlier than expected.

Protect the Desiccant
Desiccant prevents moisture accumulation within the unit’s interior. Even a perfectly sealed IG unit can begin to show condensation in the air space shortly after it’s been assembled if the desiccant has been compromised.

Whether your desiccant is a separate, powdered component or is incorporated into the spacer material, its job is to adsorb moisture from its surrounding environment. Molecular sieve is the most common desiccant used in IG, which has a very strong affinity for moisture even at very low humidity. A desiccant-filled spacer left out and exposed long enough, to even a modest 20% relative humidity, can potentially adsorb up to 80% of its total moisture capacity before it even makes it into your IG unit.

What to do? Protect the desiccant from exposure to fresh air as much as possible at all stages of production. Storing it properly when not in use limits its potential to waste desiccating capacity before it’s applied, helping it to deliver proper performance once sealed into the unit.

These are some things to keep in mind throughout your manufacturing processes. Keeping a keen focus on the craft of IG fabrication can help ensure high-quality units that will last. Happy manufacturing month!

Joe Erb is national account manager for Quanex.

Color Considerations for Commercial Window Fabricators

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If you’re in the fenestration industry, and you stay up to date on home décor and design trends, you’re likely aware that colored vinyl windows have made an impact on homes everywhere. Homeowners are looking for darker hues that match modern living spaces — and window frames can make a statement.

But this is a commercial blog. Why are we talking about residential vinyl? There are a few reasons that I’ve been thinking about recently.

The first is because apartment or condominium dwellers have desires too, and builders have taken notice. My colleagues and I have been hearing increasing chatter in recent months about the demand for new color options in multifamily housing and high-rise applications. The second is because commercial-grade vinyl is an ideal choice for applications like the ones I just described for several reasons (as regular readers of this blog know), and it’s an ideal material to pair with an increasingly wide range of available color options.

For commercial window manufacturers, there are a few things to think through as you’re thinking of developing new color options or expanding your current portfolio. Let’s take a look:

Color Quality
Branching into new colors involves evaluating the different technology options that are available to commercial fabricators. Generally, paint and laminate options are the ones most frequently considered when it comes to offering colored windows. However, both methods have their drawbacks. Each needs additional labor on the plant floor (i.e., applying the paint or laminate), and at a time when fabricators are struggling with manpower, such steps can be limiting. Meanwhile, paint and laminate quality is of utmost importance. Lesser materials may be susceptible to longevity issues over time, especially in commercial applications and in most extreme climates.

But advanced color technology available today can solve each of these challenges. Co-extruded color technology, for example, sees that color becomes an integral part of the vinyl profile itself. Such technology delivers significantly enhanced scratch resistance, high durability and the ability to withstand harsh weather conditions seen by commercial windows. It’s an option worth exploring for each of these benefits.

Thermal Efficiency

I’ve written extensively about the performance benefits of select commercial vinyl window systems. In a regulatory environment that’s increasingly concerned with sustainability and stringent demands for commercial buildings, high-performing vinyl window systems can deliver outstanding energy benefits in applications where metallic systems have traditionally held the majority of the market share. The energy benefits can be striking, and these systems have increasingly proved their ability to deliver long-term performance.

Your ability to pair a high-performance commercial window system with high-quality color technology as described earlier can be a powerful differentiator in these types of markets. Think dense metropolitan areas especially, where aesthetic design considerations collide with stringent building code requirements.

Ordering and Availability

One challenge for manufacturers offering multiple color options is the added SKUs doing so involves. For example: Let’s say you offer one commercial profile in four standard color options, but several new project opportunities are requesting additional color options and some dual color configurations. If your supplier can offer these options, it could open new business opportunities, but also lead to added inventory challenges.

From an inventory perspective, things can quickly become complicated. You don’t want to have countless varieties of colored units sitting around in your warehouse, either. And your vinyl supplier won’t be hanging on to all that inventory themselves. A good one, however, can help deliver on your needs in step with your demand with a reasonable lead time. Open these kinds of conversations with your vinyl supplier to ensure you can both stay nimble.

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As the commercial construction industry continues to demand more from its fenestration systems, I think that increasingly broad color options represent one way we can continue to innovate. Pairing those options with high levels of performance and efficiency is even better.