mixing window coatings in the same room?

12 years ago

Hi all,

The experts on this board have guided me to install high SHGC on our south facing windows to take advantage of free solar heat despite lacking generous roof overhangs. Most of the research I have done also concurs with this advice (we live in Ontario, Canada so our heating season is longer than our cooling season).

Here is my current dilema. With our open concept plan, and our decision to have windows on at least two sides of most rooms, I am afraid windows of two different coatings will look odd together. For example, in our great room we will have large south facing windows which will have a hard coat low e on them together with an east facing window that will have a soft coat low e. Across from the great room is the diningroom (no wall between) that will have south and west windows in the same room. I have also heard that the hard coat will look a little hazy or smoky on bright days which is different from windows with the soft coat.

Has anyone mixed window coatings in the same room for windows of different orientations? How did this look? Would it be better to add a few more hard coat windows to the windows that are close to the south facing windows for a more consistent look?

Thanks in advance for all opinions.

Carol

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Comments (4)

PRO
Windows on Washington Ltd
12 years ago
Very normal.

Mixing them side by side is probably noticeable but no one, unless they know what they are looking for, will be able to discern the coatings.
montel (CA US 10b/Sunset 16)
12 years ago
We have mixed coatings in our great room, living room and kitchen.

We put the "Smart Sun" coatings on our west and south facing walls and used standard glass on the others. I can't see a difference at all. And while we could have used less of the Smart Sun coated glass in a few areas, I wanted to make sure that the entire wall and any corners where two windows met had the same coating.

We had more interest in stopping extra heat gain as we are in a temperate zone, and we have tons of open glazing on our upper floor. We felt it would have cooked us much of the year. Our home is also reverse floor plan, so living space is upstairs and we have little to no shading or trees on those exposures...
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brickeyee
12 years ago
Opposite sides of the room should be far enough apart, and under enough difference in lighting conditions that no on will be able to tell.

I have had customers go so far as to use a less inte3nse shade of paint on walls receiving less light in the same room.

You would stand there and swear the walls are all exactly the same color.

Even the colors on different sides of an inside corner look the 'same' since they are receiving different light anyway.

You 'expect' the variation to be there.
ontariomom
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks Montel, WindowsonWashington and Brickeyee for your reassurance that different coatings will work asthetically for different sides of a wall.

It looks like we will also need to have a different coating on a french door that is on a south wall inbetween two south facing windows. We are getting the french door from a different manufacturer than the windows so the glass suppliers are different and the window company uses a high SHGC via a soft coat (Guardian)and the other uses a high SHGC via a hard coat (Pilkington). Will this also be okay. Also, the door will have a grill (prairie style) and the windows will not have grills so perhaps that will distract from the different glass? What do you think? Am I okay to have these differences along the same wall.

Thanks for your continued help.

Carol