Eze-Breeze Is A Clear Alternative To Glass Porch Windows

Eze-Breeze may be the solution you've been looking for. Eze-Breeze 4-track vinyl glaze windows are a great alternative to plastic sheeting for your screened porch and it can be left in place year round.

How Did I Find Out About Eze-Breeze?

Mom & Dad.

My parents saw them advertised in the local newspaper and decided to give them a call. They had measurements made, an estimate performed, and made the decision to have them installed.

Why Did They Have Eze-Breeze Windows Installed?

• Less work around the house. You see...they are recently retired (Dad is semi-retired, it seems) and this was one more thing that they wanted to mark off of their to-do list for the constant upkeep of their house. They live in sunny South Carolina so they really enjoy sitting on the screened porch passing the time, watching the multitude of birds that visit their feeders and they especially enjoy watching storms roll through. Taking part in the latter is quite a site to see with Mother Nature showering down all around you...without getting soaked.

  

• Plastic sheeting looks like...well...like plastic sheeting and is translucent. That kind of defeats the purpose of a screened porch. Vinyl glazing is clear, like a window, but costs less than glass. It looks much better than plastic sheeting. Enough said!

I mentioned earlier that they enjoy sitting out back watching the birds. I asked them if they have any holes in the vinyl, particularly from birds flying into them. The answer is no...no holes whatsoever, and as many birds that visit the feeders (probably hundreds each day) they've seen a few fly into the windows. No puncture and better yet, the birds survive the crash with no ill effects. A win-win for humans and fowl alike. Eze-Breeze windows are bird-friendly.

Eze-Breeze is a unique product because the windows are not made of glass. Instead of glass, they are made of vinyl glazing, a glass alternative. If you gently push your fist into it, it flexes with your hand and quickly retains its' shape.
This is some weird stuff. It looks exactly like glass from as close as one arm's length. It's kind of like plastic cling wrap except that it's a tough, flexible 10-mil thick, to be exact. The manufacturer, PGT Industries, claims it is cheaper than glass.

How Much Do Eze-Breeze Windows Cost to Have Installed?

That will obviously depend on the size of your room but to give you a fair idea of the cost of materials and full installation, here are some numbers that they shared with me:

• Their screen porch dimensions are approximately 11' x 24'.
• There are 20 four-track windows with screens for ventilation on the top portion and 20 fully glazed windows on the bottom half. There are 2 non-Eze-Breeze metal porch doors that were already in place and some small sidelight and transom windows. When the home was built many years ago, the screen porch was never really meant to be fully encased in windows so each window is not exactly the same dimension as all the others. Therefore, a few of the windows had to be custom made on-site.
• One day to install it all.
• Total cost including installation: $4K.

The most important factor to consider here is whether or not they were happy that they decided to have them installed. The answer is yes, they are very happy with the way it looks, the time and labor it has saved them and the quality of the installation job. You can't ask for anything more than that.

Related

DIY Eze-Breeze FAQ

Update: 04/25/08

Unfortunately, an F2 tornado rolled through my parents neck of the woods not long ago. The good news is that noone was hurt. How did the Eze-Breeze windows fare? Like nothing ever happened. There were trees and limbs down all around them but the windows made it through unscathed. Maybe because the windows were on the back side of the house when the tornado rolled through helped it out but the windows have stickers on them that say to remove them if winds of 60+mph are expected.