Conservation of energy is of serious concern in building design as a large amount of energy is expended in heating or cooling interior spaces. One of the priorities is to cut down on the internal illumination by increasing glazing to allow for increases in ambient light. This however increases the heat loss or gain to these spaces as windows in Zimbabwe and South Africa are notoriously bad insulators.

We are able to evaluate the thermal performance of building material by utilizing the U-Value Measurement. To put it simply, U-Value is the measure of the rate of heat loss through a material. Thus in all aspects of home design, one should strive for the lowest U-Values possible because the lower the U-value the less heat that is unnecessarily escaping. For example, clear single glazed aluminium windows have a typical U-value of 5.6 while clear double glazed aluminium windows have a typical U-value of 2.8. The calculation of U-values can be rather complex - it is measured as the amount of heat lost through one square meter of the material for every degree difference in temperature on either side of the material. It is indicated in units of Watts per Meter Squared per Degree Kelvin or W/m²K.

Note that Kelvin is used as the scale of temperature difference, but this is numerically equal to °C. So for example, one square meter of a standard single glazed aluminium window will lose/transmit 5.6 watts of energy for each degree difference on either side of the window or a U-Value of 5.6. A double-glazed aluminium window will be significantly better with a U-value of 2.8 i.e. only transmitting 2.8 watts of energy in similar conditions.

All of our products come complete with a comprehensive warranty. We offer a full two years on our doors, windows, garages and balustrades. If a job is done on a supply-only basis, Open View Aluminium & Glass still guarantees the manufacture of the products, but cannot guarantee the quality of a third party’s installation work, meaning if anything hasn’t quite gone how you would like it we can come out to asses a third party’s work for a small charge – but if you’re having an issue your first point of contact should be the person who installed the doors/windows.