Reusing old building components
So far energy wise I have upgraded most of the low hanging fruit in my home. When I ripped out the single pane windows I recycled the aluminum frames and tried to recycle the glass. That was the only thing single pane windows were good for!
Now I have a dual pane skylight, and two 8’x6′ sliding patio windows to upgrade. While they are dual pane they are not likely energy star. The glazing on the old units is dual pane but likely no better than U0.45. The frames don’t seal well.
I’m upgrading to double twin coat heat mirror with laminated glass – R11 center of glass. Which is similar to most of my other windows.
So what should I do with the old dual pane skylight and patio doors?
1) If I give to the local Habitat RE store, someone could benefit in the short term i.e. cheap or free materials. There’s not much additional transport miles. But in the long term free can be expensive!
2) I could deconstruct and recycle the glass metal and wood.
3) I could give to a neighbor who hopes to move to warmer climate and has been collecting free building materials in his yard for years in the hope of building in Caribbean (where he was born). That’s if he can ship all those materials!
4) Try to give away to someone locally that would only use them for an unconditioned extension.
5) I could insist that the Habit RE store label the patio doors as to only be used for unconditioned space.
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Replies
Mark,
You're probably overthinking this. Any of the options is certainly better than throwing the skylight into a landfill.
Many people in cold climates install skylights in their porch roofs, so that the porch roof doesn't block as much light to the primary windows of their homes. A skylight without top-notch glazing would work well for this application.
The patio doors are tempered thermapane and could be re-used to make a couple of hot box solar water heaters or as part of a cold frame for raising seedlings, next year you could have the first tomatoes in your neighborhood!
Smart idea Michael.
I just looked up what a cold frame is, and yes, that could work nicely. Even the skylight could be easily made into a small cold frame.
I thought about using to build a green house, but then I thought about the strong winds we occasionally get here, and lack of garden space, but a cold box is low enough not to worry about the wind.
I'm actually planning on installing a Velux solar water collector (that uses glyco, so no remembering to drain a hot box before winter).
I'm just hoping the squirrels don't like tomatoes. Because so far they've stolen my sunflowers, stripped by peach tree, birds had my cherries, squirrels started on my blueberries and pears. Birds are waiting for my grapes. All I've got left is my tomatoes!!