Custom Homes are built to higher energy-efficiency standards which provide multiple benefits to its owners. A home built with high insulation levels, air-tight construction, high performance windows and patio doors and doors offer the following benefits:
The National Fenestration Rating Council and its membership developed the condensation resistance rating more than 20 years ago. While this rating was fair, accurate and credible, the rating only provided information to compare which products had the higher rating value.
Buildings built to higher energy-efficiency standards provide multiple benefits to those who live within them and to the community-at-large. A home built with high insulation levels, air-tight construction, high-quality windows, and more efficient mechanical systems are often preferred.
By 2032, all new buildings in B.C. will be designed to be net-zero energy-ready, which will reduce building energy demand by up to 80%, with an interim step of a 20% reduction by 2022 in the BC Building Code.
Fenestration Canada’s Tech Talks webinar on April 29 gave attendees a solid grounding in the concept of embodied carbon and opened up a potentially important question regarding the special challenges Canadian window and door manufacturers may face as jurisdictions call for low-carbon building projects.
Glass isn’t perfect and can be really difficult to explain, especially when those standards don’t align to the client’s expectations. Glass industry standards – primarily visible defects, are set by the ASTM (American Society for Testing & Materials). ASTM glass standards cover a wide variety of glass issues and it’s not easy to get to the heart of the matter. Visible glass defects are the kicker in the luxury custom home niche.
Here at Westeck, we are proud to have been involved in 5 separate projects recently nominated for Georgie Awards with the Canadian Home Builders Association of BC. Today we focus on a fully custom carriage house in Mission, BC titled Inverted Elegance, built by Lacey Construction. Being recognized as a contributing company for such a project is quite the honor. We reached out to Cassidy Carew, the homeowner, to ask “Why did you choose Westeck?”
Recently, our team members had the opportunity to tour three recently completed, high-end custom homes featuring windows and doors supplied and installed by Westeck. All three homes were built to the highest standard, featuring a lot of glass, and were integrated with their landscapes, showcasing beautiful Fraser Valley views.
Over the past while, many questions have been raised about the differences between Modern and Contemporary Styles. Modern and Contemporary mean the same thing, right? Not exactly.
Let’s look at the dictionary definitions:
mod·ern – Relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past. “the pace of modern life”
con·tem·po·rar·y – Living or occurring at the same time. “the event was recorded by a contemporary historian”
It’s true, every window and door with glass in it comes with the sealed unit with about 95% argon gas in it. With today’s thermal performance requirements these products use every available technology to reach these increasingly challenging performance depths. The lower the U value the better the thermal performance.
