Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1
Captain
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2010
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Local news station covered this story recently: (video clip at the link)
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/northwest/windows-have-neighbors-feeling-the-heat
(WPRI) - This is one of those stories you have to see to believe. It all started with a call from a local homeowner who says his neighbor?s windows are reflecting sunlight onto his home, causing his vinyl siding to melt. We decided to take a closer look.
There was no mistaking what house we were looking for on Rodman Street in Fall River. It was the house that was melting. "What the heck is going on," asked homeowner David Santos when the problem first started. "Until I stood in front of it and felt the heat on my face and looked up at the window, and there it was."
Interactive: Energy efficient window concerns
David took pictures, telling Eyewitness News he felt he needed proof of what he was witnessing, or no one would believe him. He says the sunlight was bouncing off his neighbor?s windows and right onto the side of his home, right where his siding was warping.
David asked both the vinyl siding company and a building inspector to look at his home. He says both agreed the problem was coming from his neighbor?s double pane windows! "It's very uncomfortable," says Santos, "very intense."
They're called "low-e" windows, and they are required by some building codes because they're energy efficient. However, as we've learned from the National Builders Association, sometimes these windows can act like a magnifying glass and reflect too much heat onto nearby homes.
Ed Ladouceur, a window and vinyl siding expert, says "this heat that's reflecting off the glass, if it reflects at the right angle, if all the conditions are just perfect... it causes the vinyl to buckle."
David Santos bought an infrared temperature sensor, and captured an image of the heat on his home at 204 degree Fahrenheit on one particular day. According to the Vinyl Siding Institute, normal grades of vinyl siding begin to soften at just 160 degrees.
We dug deeper and found this same problem is happening to homes nationwide. Both the Vinyl Siding Institute and the National Association of Home Builders acknowledge the problem, but say it is not widespread.
The Window & Door Manufacturers Association says "We're aware of the issue and continue to investigate it since there is no definitive cause of the phenomenon, and many factors can impact the performance of vinyl siding."
Gerry Brady owns a thermal imaging service called Infrared New England, and says he's inspected other homes throughout our area with the same melting siding problem. "It isn't something I would expect should happen," says Brady.
So what's a homeowner to do? Eyewitness News reached out to the vinyl siding industry which says its products are not defective. We reached out to the window industry as well.
They tell us they're aware of the issue, but says there is no definitive cause. "I called the Mass. Department of Public Safety," says Santos, "the building inspectors, fire inspectors. By the time I was done, I was back to square one... nobody knows the solution."
One solution we're told, is to cover the double-pane windows with a full screen to diffuse the reflected light. David Santos is lucky; his neighbor did just that for him. As for other homeowners, the National Association of Home Builders recommends putting up tall shrubs to block the sunlight off the neighbor?s windows.
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/northwest/windows-have-neighbors-feeling-the-heat
(WPRI) - This is one of those stories you have to see to believe. It all started with a call from a local homeowner who says his neighbor?s windows are reflecting sunlight onto his home, causing his vinyl siding to melt. We decided to take a closer look.
There was no mistaking what house we were looking for on Rodman Street in Fall River. It was the house that was melting. "What the heck is going on," asked homeowner David Santos when the problem first started. "Until I stood in front of it and felt the heat on my face and looked up at the window, and there it was."
Interactive: Energy efficient window concerns
David took pictures, telling Eyewitness News he felt he needed proof of what he was witnessing, or no one would believe him. He says the sunlight was bouncing off his neighbor?s windows and right onto the side of his home, right where his siding was warping.
David asked both the vinyl siding company and a building inspector to look at his home. He says both agreed the problem was coming from his neighbor?s double pane windows! "It's very uncomfortable," says Santos, "very intense."
They're called "low-e" windows, and they are required by some building codes because they're energy efficient. However, as we've learned from the National Builders Association, sometimes these windows can act like a magnifying glass and reflect too much heat onto nearby homes.
Ed Ladouceur, a window and vinyl siding expert, says "this heat that's reflecting off the glass, if it reflects at the right angle, if all the conditions are just perfect... it causes the vinyl to buckle."
David Santos bought an infrared temperature sensor, and captured an image of the heat on his home at 204 degree Fahrenheit on one particular day. According to the Vinyl Siding Institute, normal grades of vinyl siding begin to soften at just 160 degrees.
We dug deeper and found this same problem is happening to homes nationwide. Both the Vinyl Siding Institute and the National Association of Home Builders acknowledge the problem, but say it is not widespread.
The Window & Door Manufacturers Association says "We're aware of the issue and continue to investigate it since there is no definitive cause of the phenomenon, and many factors can impact the performance of vinyl siding."
Gerry Brady owns a thermal imaging service called Infrared New England, and says he's inspected other homes throughout our area with the same melting siding problem. "It isn't something I would expect should happen," says Brady.
So what's a homeowner to do? Eyewitness News reached out to the vinyl siding industry which says its products are not defective. We reached out to the window industry as well.
They tell us they're aware of the issue, but says there is no definitive cause. "I called the Mass. Department of Public Safety," says Santos, "the building inspectors, fire inspectors. By the time I was done, I was back to square one... nobody knows the solution."
One solution we're told, is to cover the double-pane windows with a full screen to diffuse the reflected light. David Santos is lucky; his neighbor did just that for him. As for other homeowners, the National Association of Home Builders recommends putting up tall shrubs to block the sunlight off the neighbor?s windows.
