Window Glass Replacement near you

Natural Resources Canada's guide to upgrading windows says a sealed unit that has fogged because its seal broke is best fixed by replacing the glazing unit, and that a window whose frame is in poor condition may be due for replacement. For a glazier, that means looking past the glass: if the sash closes well, the hardware works and the wood or vinyl around the glass is sound, a new sealed unit is usually the sensible repair.

Some windows make the glass harder to change. In certain designs the unit is bonded into the sash at the factory, so the whole sash is replaced instead, and very old windows or models no longer made may need a custom approach. When several units in the same house have fogged, compare the cost of new glass throughout with a quote for new windows before deciding.

A new sealed unit doesn't have to copy the old one. Natural Resources Canada notes that low-emissivity (low-e) coatings can reduce heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer by up to 50%, and that the space between panes can be filled with an odourless, colourless, harmless inert gas such as argon or krypton to slow heat transfer. Spacers with thermal breaks made of foam, plastic or composites reduce heat loss at the edge of the glass.

Safety glass comes in two main kinds. Tempered glass is heat-treated so that it breaks into small, blunt pieces, and because it can't be cut afterwards, each pane is made to exact size. Laminated glass bonds layers of glass to a plastic interlayer that holds the pieces in place when it breaks, which also makes it harder to force through.

Part 9 of the National Building Code, as reproduced in provincial codes such as British Columbia's, calls for safety glass in sliding glass doors, in larger glass areas of entrance doors and in sidelights wide enough to be mistaken for a door, so replacement glass in those spots has to meet the same rule. For ordinary windows, whether safety glass is needed depends on where the window sits and on the code that applies locally, for instance a large pane close to the floor or next to a bathtub; ask the glazier to confirm before ordering.

In Canada, sealed units are tested under CAN/CGSB-12.8, the Canadian General Standards Board's standard for insulating glass units, which covers the durability of the edge seal and, where a gas fill is used, its concentration. Version 5.0 of the ENERGY STAR Canada specification requires the insulating glass units in certified windows to be certified to that standard or to ASTM E2190, so asking whether a replacement unit comes from certified production is a fair question.