With half the year down it won't be long before the cold of the winter months are upon us again. Rising fuel cost seems like a daily event and will definitely effect your heating costs this year.

One way to ease the crunch is to inspect your home for air leaks where cold is able to get in and your heat can get out. If you have a craw space make sure there is enough insulation in the proper locations. Foam insulation is a great way to seal up any cracks that may have occurred over time.

Old windows are big energy eaters. Think of the time period when your old windows were made, fuel cost were relatively inexpensive and the technology was primitive. From an energy-efficiency standpoint, one of the most important improvements to modern windows is the in-crease in the performance of weather stripping that stops air from infiltrating. Anyone who has lived (or is presently living) in a house that has leaky windows knows how the wind outside can rustle draperies inside. That leakiness adds up to wasted energy. New windows, if properly installed, won't leak air and will save energy as a result.

Window Ratings

The nonprofit National Fenestration Rating Council rates some manufacturers' windows based on air leakage, U-factor (a gauge that represents the window's rate of heat loss), visual transmittance (a measure of the amount of light the window lets into a room), and the solar-heat-gain coefficient (a measure of the solar heat gain possible through that window).

Labels on windows rated by the Council tell you what to expect from the manufacturers' products, and this information allows you to select different windows to satisfy different criteria for each area of your house. For instance, good properties to have in a southerly facing window in a house located in the northern part of the country would be a good solar-heat-gain coefficient rating, low air leakage, and an excellent U-factor. For a window in the same house facing in a northerly direction, the solar-heat-gain coefficient wouldn't be worth paying for, while the U-factor and air leakage rating would be even more important.

Installing Windows Right

Even good windows will not live up to their billing if they are installed improperly. That's why selecting an experienced, conscientious installer is important to maximize both the energy efficiency and your satisfaction with the windows you purchase.

Window installation is complex. Any part of the job that is left to chance can come back to haunt the homeowner with water leaks, dysfunctional opening and closing, poor energy performance, and air leakage -- everything you paid good money to avoid. This is particularly true when it comes to replacement windows, where old materials have to be incorporated into the new installation.

Purchasing and installing new windows might seem like a large investment up front, however, it adds immediate value to your home and continues to safe your money on heating and cooling cost.

Give us a call today, we will come out, measure your windows and give you a price on replacing them.

Tip: JUNE 08: