After taking stock of how your house weathered the winter, have you noticed foggy windows? You know the type, where between the 2 panes of glass, you see water condensation there. But when the weather is nicer out, the moisture will go away, but it always comes back, doesn't it?Does that mean the window has failed and you need new ones? If you're like me, you may or may not remember when the windows were brand new..... Shoot. When was that?
According to our friends at Glass Guru, they say this is the result of the seal on the window has failed. If you leave this untreated, the condensed water between the panes can leave behind mineral deposits that can leave etching in the glass. Besides affecting visibility, that moisture is a poor insulator, diminishing the effectiveness of having dual pane windows in the first place!
So should you be contacting your mortgage lender to begin the process of trying to afford brand new windows? Not so fast they say. There's actually a technique that may be able to repair this problem! It typically takes about 20 minutes to treat a window. It works by drilling a small hole in the upper and lower corners of the window. The inner space of the window is cleaned and they install these tiny micro vents in the holes that were drilled. This allows the water to dissipate through evaporation. The earlier you treat a problem window the better. For windows that you know will have a high probability of failure (like a window that has southern sun exposure), you can use the same venting process as a preventative measure to prevent future seal failure.
If you have any doubts, give a local certified window professional a call. They can come out and give you an honest answer on the health of your existing windows, and if a repair like this is possible instead of completely replacing the windows.