Glass walls...planning to make two 20ft walls in my house?
Question:I'm planning to have two sides of my house entirely build of huge windows from the floor to the ceiling. So glass will be the only thing in between the inside and the outside. Considering I'm building the house in maine and the temperature can drop below 32 for 4 months a year, how will my project do? Is it feasable? Is it crazy? How does glass on heat insulation?
Answers:
Anything is possible. I don't remeber what these walls are called, but they are used a lot in commercial construction. Use a good glass. Don't go cheap here, it will cost you later. Also you may want a reflective coating to keep the house from heating up too much in the summer. Having this much glass will increase your heating and cooling loads. Set up your heating system to wash the windows with air. This will help to keep the cold out in the winter (also works with AC).
you know what they say.
just don't throw bricks.
Unless the glass is triple or quadruple pane with argon between each, you will literaly be throwing your money out the window. Windows are the biggest source of heat loss from the average home. Considering that you are in Maine and it gets quite frosty up there the room that you put them in will be cold constantly no matter how much you turn the heat up. If you lived someplace like AZ or Hawaii, this would be awsome, but I think that you will regret it in Maine!
It will be too expensive.
Glass is slightly flexible, it's also brittle.
The wind and weight loading on the glass would mean it would have to be about 1/2" thick and at full height, laminated and also probably heat treated. For the cold it would then need to be double glazed.
One job like that and a man could retire - seriously.
I estimate in US dollars $45,000.00.
Seriously.
Ask a local glazier what "I" value is required for a pane of glass 20' high and about 60' long. That's the inertia value. Then based on that you calculate the thickness, find the price for that, double it for laminate, double that for heat treated, double that for double glazed - that's your answer.
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