About Museumhouseonbloor

We Look at the Edge of the Glass First

Museumhouseonbloor works on windows across Riverside from a shop on Adams St in the 92508 ZIP. Most of what comes through the door is the same complaint told slightly differently: a window has gone cloudy and it will not clean.

There is a reason we ended up specialising in it. Every other trade problem on a window announces itself. A broken balance drops the sash. A failed lock will not turn. A cracked pane is a cracked pane. A failed edge seal does none of that. It degrades quietly for a year or two, taking the insulating performance with it, and only shows up once enough water has collected in the cavity to condense where you can see it.

What Actually Goes Wrong

The seal around an insulated unit is doing a harder job than it looks. It has to stay bonded to glass on both sides, through a daily heat cycle that on a west facing wall in Riverside can swing the cavity temperature many tens of degrees, for decades, with ultraviolet working on it the whole time.

When the bond starts to let go, the cavity breathes. Warm afternoon air expands and pushes out, cool night air draws in, and the incoming air brings moisture with it. The desiccant in the spacer bar absorbs that for a while, which is exactly why the failure is invisible at the start. Once the desiccant is saturated there is nothing left to hold the water and it condenses onto the inner faces of the glass.

Why We Give Away the Warranty Check

A lot of the units we get called to are between eight and fifteen years old, and a lot of sealed unit warranties run ten or twenty. So the first thing we do is read the spacer stamp and look for a corner label, because if the coverage is live the fabricator owes you glass and we would only be selling you something you already own.

It costs us a job now and then. It has also brought more work back through referrals than any advertising we have ever paid for.

The Advice We Will Not Change

We do not drill and defog. It clears the haze, and it leaves a vented, argon free unit with the same poor performance and, quite often, permanent mineral etching on the inner faces that no flush will touch. If somebody wants that done we will tell them where to go for it, and we will tell them honestly what they are buying.

Call (951) 721-2320.