Why do my new windows have a blue tint

We are building a house and just got our windows installed. We didn't pick them, our builder just said they'd be low e windows. They are decidedly blue tinted. I had no idea this could even happen. Should I ask my builder to replace them? They are ClimaGuard 55/27. It says they're energy star rated for Florida. We live in NC.

Alison

Don’t want to ask what may be a stupid question but is the plastic wrapper off them? I’m shocked that if this is a custom home you weren’t more involved in the decision of what the windows would look like. We are being asked to sign of on every detail.

Comments (37)

• 

  Alison

  Picture? How did you not pick them? Didn’t you confirm colour, style, size etc?

• 

  handymac

  Sounds like the low E addition is the cause.

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• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  They look even more blue in person, but no, we weren't given the option. The model homes' windows didn't look like this.

  

• 

  Alison

  Kind of hard to tell with it open. Is this a tract home? If so then it is what it is. If you didn’t get to choose then it wasn’t your choice and won’t be changed now.

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  Not a tract home. Here are a couple more pics

  
  

• 

  alex9179

  4 years ago

  last modified: 4 years ago

  My lowE windows have a green tint, Cardinal's LoE3-366. There are various coatings and tint/light transmittance is a side effect of them. I think it's hard to tell how different it will be until they've been installed. I was meh on the coating's look but wanted the benefits.

  It's the price we pay for reducing glare, UV, and solar heat gain in the south.

  Edit: Talk to your builder. Mine are replacement for single pane aluminum, so a drastic difference! If the model home had different windows, ask about them.

• 

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  The thing that most upsets me about this is that I paid for all those windows looking out at my beautiful lot and now these windows are darkening everything and look terrible! I wanted a bright, sunny space.

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  Well that would be something to check! I doubt that's the problem, since they look so clear though.

• 

  3pinktrees

  I second checking for the protective film. It's actually pretty easy to miss if you don't know it's there and it does have a blue tint. Our film coating was attached to the sticker, so the fact that the sticker is still on your window makes me think it's possible the film hasn't been removed either.

• 

  dan1888

  4 years ago

  last modified: 4 years ago

• 

  millworkman

  Where in NC, it looks like at least part of NC is in the region they suggest this glass? Did the plans or contract state the glass you were getting? Code mandates Low E everywhere that I am aware of today so you WILL have some tint regardless.

• 

  just_janni

  I wouldn't fret too much. you want / need low e, and your house is at it's darkest stage right now with no drywall. You've doubled up all the windows exacerbating the problem - how often will you do this in NC? (In my area we have about 3 days post pollen, before HOT + HUMID, and then about 3 days post HOT+HUMID where it's reasonable. (and then sometimes at night, but that won't be a tint issue)

  I would expect that once you drywall and paint, and add some lights, the tint will be unnoticeable with a single windows.

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  Millworkman
  We are in Northeast NC. We were only told that they would be low e windows. I would have noticed this much blue if they had this in their model home. I'm really hoping that it's just a protective film that's so clear I just didn't notice it.

• 

  Pinebaron

  I'm fairly positive your windows are covered with a protective film which is standard and not blue glass at all; hopefully you'll let us know.

  All our new windows and patio doors have a bluish protective film on both sides of the glass; can't wait to move in when complete and have clear views.

• 

  _sophiewheeler

  Custom homes do not have “model homes”. That is a tract build, in which you may get a few menu choices. You cannot choose something completely off the plate. As evidenced by the builder putting in the windows that he specified. Obviously, windows is not one of the choices open to change, or you would have been given options. If it is open to be changed, the change order expense to you will be twice what you think it will be.

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  I went back and looked today. I don't see anything that I can peel off. One contractor says it's the low e coating but that it will fade once they're in the sun for a bit. The other contractor says it's a protective coating. I don't see how I could be expected to ask if I was getting clear windows. I'd think that would be standard, not blue windows.

• 

  alex9179

  Get the info from the label and call the manufacturer. Also, there are a variety of LowE options. I'm not sure how flexible the builder can/will be at this stage but it can't hurt to ask if you can make some changes.

  All of your interior decorating will need to accommodate the tint.

• 

  millworkman

  "One contractor says it's the low e coating but that it will fade once they're in the sun for a bit."

  
  What? Really he said that? Tells me what you are dealing with to some extent.

  
  Again the building code is Low E Glass everywhere in the US. And Low E Glass will have a tint, no if's, and's, or but's about it. Might not all be blue but it will have a tint.

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  My house is designed for maximum light and the palette is white with gray. This seems like it will color everything in the house.

• 

  Alison

  Sorry but this is ridiculous. How can they not know what it is? Contact the window company. But again if you didn’t get to choose these you won’t get to change them. And as Sophie said custom homes don’t have a model home.

• 

  jn3344

  Sure its not the protective film?

• 

  cpartist

  Custom homes do not have “model homes”

  No technically they don't have a model home but many builders will put up a spec home that they call a model. My builder used the design from the local big shot architect here to put up a sugar cube house in my development. However every single house in the development is technically custom. I say technically because while I designed something totally different, some of the folks are taking the basic model and adding and subtracting from it.

• 

  alex9179

  This seems like it will color everything in the house.

  Everything will look blue. You can embrace it or trial colors that work around the light. It's not as easy as using orange/yellow to cancel out the blue, though that can be a general direction.

  You will have some tint to your windows. But the glowing blue frames, that should be white, is more than anyone would expect!

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  thank you. My builder has 2 homes to show. They have plans to use, but they'll also build whatever plan someone wants. They have a sheet of standard items they put in their homes. It lists the windows as low-e. Should I have expected blue windows? We've always had low e windows. They're never been blue like this.

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  apparently it's some low-e HD tint. A couple of pics from today:

  
  

• 

  millworkman

  Unfortuately a builders grade window that larger builders stock. They order the windows on a Monday for delv the following week. They are not going to chnage them of that I would be sure. I think honestly once you have your house finished, the "blue" will be non existent to your eye for the most part. Right now it is the only thing you are concentrating on.

• 

  dan1888

  4 years ago

  last modified: 4 years ago

  There are different grades of Low E to choose from. There are 55/27. 53/23, 62/27, 70/36, 72/57 and 80/70. The first number is the percentage of visible light transmitted. Your windows have to meet U-Factor and SHGC (solar heat gain)criteria.

  

• 

  strategery

  You did have an option.

  As Rush says: "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  strategery,

  I believe that was for NT in the last election, no? Thanks for the laugh

• 

  _sophiewheeler

  Neal Peart. Thumbs up emoji.

  Any decision that isn’t important enough to you to specify on the front end, isn’t important enough to agonize over now. It does not get a do over on the hind end. Not without a lot of money being spent on your part, and incurring delays, which also costs money.

  You may want to wait until the home is completed, and you have been in it a while to see if it bothers you enough to spend 1K per window to correct it.

• 

  patriceny

  Amy, I can tell you when my house was built I felt like my new windows had a distinctly green tint.

  Once the house was drywalled, finished, and filled with my things I never noticed it again.

  My hunch is this seems so glaring right now because you don't have anything else to look at. Hopefully once you move in it becomes far less of an issue than you expected.

• 

  dan1888

  The individual glass units are removable for cleaning. The manufacturer can swap those for units with more light transmission.

• 

  Amy Lewis

  Original Author

  fantastic idea! Thanks

• 

  dan1888

  In fact just swap them with the model if they're the same windows.

• 

  fuzzy wuzzy

  I got used to the green tint in my low e windows. Be sure to test your wall paint colors in the exact rooms you want and on every wall. Paint chips mean nothing with tinted windows. We bought samples of several paint colors and went around painting all the walls. It was amazing that the colors changed dramatically depending on whether or not there was glare or reflection from the tinted windows.

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