Expert: Nazim Nice - 8/13/2009

Question
Dear Nazim,

My boyfriend is in the process of remodeling his modern style home. In the bedroom he has 5 floor to ceiling windows that are about 2 1/2 feet wide or so each. There are 2 on one wall and 3 on the other. They are all lined up next to one another in one corner of the room. At this time, they do not open. He is replacing them and as we are not familiar with the different types of windows we are at a loss of what to do. I will list the factors below:
1) He would like at least one window to open. There are no other windows that open in the room. He is open to all windows opening.
2) The view from the windows is beautiful and we are concerned about obstructing the view with screens.
3) We are concerned about having a floor to ceiling screen as this may pose a safety hazard for children. The room is on the 2nd floor.
3)We are open to all ideas and suggestions!

Thank you!

Answer
Hi Pamela,

Here are some things to consider:

If this room is a bedroom it needs an egress window (or door) to the exterior. This means a window sized to allow a fire fighter into the room. If it is a bedroom, let me know and I can give you more details.

If it's not a bedroom, it a good idea to have one anyway, although the size does not have to be as large as the code required.

The code does not allow for a full opening window below 24" because of the issue of children falling out.  This is a relatively new code item.  If the windows below 24" do open, they can only open a few inches.

For screens there are a number of manufacturers that are making screens now that are very transparent.  Anderson is one of the manufacturers.  There are other too. Here is a link.

http://www.andersenwindows.com/servlet/Satellite/TruScene-insect-screens_bug-scr...

Then consider the material the window is made out of.  Vinyl is generally the least expensive, then fiberglass, then wood and aluminum clad metal. We have an article on our website for choosing exterior materials that may be useful to read(there is a section on window colors that you can read):

http://www.motion-space.com/exterior-house-colors.htm

Let me know if you have any follow up questions.

Nazim Nice
Principal / Architect
http://www.motion-space.com
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