Patio Enclosures for Summer

Imagine being able to enjoy the beauty of your Denver backyard in the comfort of your own home, safely and securely.

Santa Fe Glass can make it happen with the installation of a beautiful sun room or screen room. Our glass installation professionals will make sure your new patio screen enclosure is everything you hoped it would be and more. From replacing the glass in your existing patio enclosure to installing a completely new glass solarium in your Denver home, the experts at Santa Fe Glass have you covered. 

Some of the patio enclosure services we offer for your Denver home include:

• Complete Patio Screen Enclosure Installation Services
• Patio Enclosure Repair and Replacement
• Emergency Patio Screen Enclosure Services Available
• Low-E Patio Enclosure Glass Available
• High Performance Patio Enclosure Glass Available

Even if you’ve never really thought about it before, there are actually many benefits to having a solarium in your house. Here are only a few of the reasons we think that patio enclosures are the best way to enjoy the outdoors from the comfort of your own home:

• Patio Enclosures are More Cost-Effective than Constructing a New Room
• Patio Enclosures Expand a Room to Provide Additional Space
• Sun Rooms are Easy to Install
• Your New Sun Room Will Help You Save Money on Heating and Cooling Costs
• Installing a Solarium Allows You to Experience the Beauty of All Four Seasons Indoors
• Your New Patio Screen Enclosure Allows You to Enjoy Fresh Air and Natural Sunlight
• Sun Rooms Add Value to Your Home

Call us today at (303) 777-4491 to learn more about our patio enclosures and sun rooms. We can’t wait to get started so you can enjoy the good weather as it approaches!

Turn Your Glass Scraps into Art

When you remodel a part of your home or office, it’s best to order extra materials in case something goes wrong and fixes need to be made. However, you don’t always end up using that extra product. Don’t let it sit in your garage unused; instead, make something new from it!

If you have extra panes of glass just gathering dust in your home, pull them out and make some time to take on (or more!) of these fun weekend projects. It can be a good way to wind down alone from a busy week, or an excuse to get friends or family together for some bonding time!

Wall Art

A mosaic is probably one of the most versatile and creative ways to use left over glass pieces. Whether it’s standard or stained, you can make any kind of picture you want, or just abstract wall art made from little pieces placed at will. Use a sturdy background to attach the glass to, like thick canvas or a sheet of acrylic. After you’ve safely broken the glass panes into small, irregular pieces, the possibilities are endless. Lay your design out before to make sure everything looks right, then hot glue gun each piece to your backing. This is a great activity to do with friends and family, you could spend a whole day making tons of art to cover your walls.

Mirror Frame

Decorate a plain old mirror with pieces of stained glass. Just like with wall art, take small pieces of your leftover colored glass and arrange them in a pattern around your mirror. Be sure not to crowd the area, as you still want to be able to see your face in the mirror itself! Use either a hot glue gun to attach the pieces or simple craft glue that you can get at any home goods store. Let them dry for an hour or two to ensure proper setting before you hang your re-vamped mirror up to show the world.

Pieces like these make for the best creative mosaics!

Sun Catcher

Especially with summer just around the corner, creating your own sun catcher makes for a fun weekend activity with family. This project is also the perfect opportunity to get rid of even the most irregular and oddly shaped pieces of leftover glass. Glue colored or stained glass to a flat glass panel so it’s completely covered. Once it’s dry, securely hang it using fishing wire near a window or outside so it can catch the optimum amount of sunlight. 

Jewelry

Last but not least, you can use leftover glass pieces to make your own one-of-a-kind jewelry. Use sandpaper to soften the edges of the glass pieces you want to use so it’s safe to hold and wear against your skin, and glue your design to felt for comfort using craft glue. You can use all kinds of colored, clear or textured glass for this kind of project. To turn your creation into wearable art, glue the pendant onto jewelry cording or attach a jump ring to the felt to use as a bail.

When it comes to making your own art or fun creation, there’s no wrong way to go, as long as you’re being safe. If you’re making something with children, don’t let them handle glass shards on their own and always wear gloves while handling sharp materials. Have fun and craft away!

How to Insulate Windows

We love having windows in our homes. They provide beautiful natural light and fresh air when the weather is nice. However, windows are not a great way to insulate your home from the weather outside, whether it’s from the heat or cold.

Instead of doing away with windows altogether (because nobody wants to do that), we’ve compiled a few ways that you can insulate your windows to help regulate the temperature of your home.

Weather-stripping: Even if you’re a new homeowner, you’ve probably heard of weather-stripping before. Not only does it keep out, that’s right, extreme weather, but also seals your windows completely closed and can lower your heating and cooling bills up to 20%.

Blackout curtains not only diminish heat and cooling loss, but cancel out noise and light too!

Blackout Curtains: Blackout curtains are actually multi-purpose, and tend to be on the inexpesive side. They keep your home from losing up to 25% of the cool or warm air that you want inside. However, they can also cut down on outdoor noise pollution by almost half. It’s a win-win!

Energy Film: Unlike blackout curtains and weather-stripping, energy film tends to be more expensive. Energy film has increased transparency, and you can actually use it with blackout curtains to really cut down your heating and cooling bills to practically nothing.  

Storm Windows: Storms windows are a sort of all-in-one product. As you can probably guess, they help protect your windows from damage during a storm, but they also can placed on either the interior or exterior of your windows to prevent heat or cooling loss. If you add a low-e coating, which we do at Santa Fe Glass, your windows will be even further insulated. 

There are so many ways you can insulate your windows to keep heating and cooling costs in your home as low as possible, but we think we’ve given you a great head start with some of our favorite options!

How To Clean Up Broken Glass... With Bread

When you break a glass item on the floor, cleaning it up can certainly be a pain. You have to break out the broom, then the vacuum, sometimes even the mop, and even THEN you don't always pick everything up.

Instead of being worried that you've left some microscopic shards behind, we're discovered a very.... well, interesting technique to make sure you've grabbed every little piece, and you might be surprised to learn that it's already in your pantry.

That's right, bread. Not only can you use it to pick up glass shards that you might have missed while sweeping, but leave the loaf out and treat yourself to a sandwich when you're finished cleaning the kitchen!

Denver Emergency Commercial Glass Repair

When you have a broken glass window or door at your Denver area business, it is critical to get it repair immediately! Broken windows and doors can cause a safety concern for your employees and customers. It is also a security issue as a broken window or door is an invitation to criminals to get in. If the glass in your company's windows or doors is broken, call the commercial glass repair and board-up specialists at Santa Fe Glass. We offer businesses throughout the Denver metropolitan area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week emergency glass repair and board-up services.

Broken glass at you business can happen for a number of reasons. Vandals, bad storms and accidents are some of the most common reasons for broken glass doors and windows. Santa Fe Glass specializes in commercial glass repair and board-up services. Our glass professionals understand the intricacies of commercial glass and are able to make repairs as soon as possible. When you have broken glass in your Denver metropolitan business, make the first call to Santa Fe Glass at 303-777-4491.

Benefits of Glass Repair and Board Up Services From Santa Fe Glass

The only question you have as a business owner in the Denver area when you have broken glass is how do I get it fixed as soon as possible? The answer is easy...Santa Fe Glass. When you call us, we sill immediately dispatch one of our commercial glass experts to make the needed glass repairs or install temporary board-ups to secure your company. The glass that we use in the replacement will meet or exceed your previous glass type.

Other benefits of using Santa Fe Glass for emergency commercial glass repair include:

• Experienced Glass Repair and Board-Up Professionals
• A Family Owned Company
• 24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week Emergency Service
• Experts in Commercial Emergency Glass Repair
• Affordable Glass Repair Rates
• Complete Cleanup of All Glass and Broken Business Materials

No matter the time of day or day of the week, Santa Fe Glass will be there immediately to make repairs and get your business back to normal and secure.

Contact Santa Fe Glass

When you have a glass window or door broken in your Denver metropolitan business, make the first call to Santa Fe Glass. We will immediately dispatch one of our professional glass repairmen and get repairs and new glass installed. Call us at 303-777-4491 to learn more about our commercial glass repair and board-up services. You can also reach us with any commercial emergency glass repair and board-up service questions that you may have through our Contact Us page.

How to Reduce Noise from Windows

Windows are a great way to allow natural light and fresh air into your home while enjoying the outdoor scenery. It’s become popular for people to have over-sized windows installed in their home to better connect with the outdoors, sometimes even requesting entire walls of their home be made of glass. And while glass is undoubtedly beautiful, it’s also undoubtedly thinner than a wall with insulation in it.

 

What does this mean for a home or business with many windows, especially large ones? Noise, and depending on where you’re located, there could be a lot. Whether it’s an apartment located downtown, a home on a street full of kids, or a company in the middle of the business district, windows allow more outside noise to be heard inside your home, even if they’re closed. And by seeping through your windows during work hours or the middle of the night, outside noise can quickly become a disturbance.

Soundproofing your windows is essentially the best option to keep your home nice and quiet without sacrificing your beautiful view. However, ‘interior soundproof glass’ can be very expensive, making it a luxury that not everyone can afford. However, there are a couple of options that are less expensive and will block noise just as well. 

Double Paned Glass

The easiest and least expensive way to cancel out noise from your home is to switch out your single-paned windows for double or triple pane windows. In one of our previous blog posts, Double Pane v. Triple Pane Windows, we discuss the pros and cons of double v. triple pane glass. Either one you choose will block out more noise than single-paned windows without a doubt, but of all the options to soundproof your home, this tactic tends to be less effective than others.

Laminated Windows

If you want a step up from simple double-paned windows, laminated windows are a popular choice to block noise as well. Laminated windows consist of a thin plastic strip sandwiched between two glass panes. The process of placing the laminate in between panes makes the glass sturdier, which in turn, makes it vibrate less. This reduces the amount of noise that your windows will let into your home. Unlike double-paned windows, laminated windows can run on the expensive side, however, you can actually make them yourself, which can greatly reduce the cost.

Thick Glass

Another idea, and it seems obvious, is to replace your windows with a very thick glass. A single-paned window doesn’t always mean flimsy and that it allows noise, especially when you’ve opted for thick ones. Due to the thickness and the fact that these windows use only one pane, the amount of vibrating from noise is GREATLY reduced, perhaps more than any other option. To get the maximum amount of protection from thick glass, make sure you choose windows that are twice the density of regular ones.