Low-E

Reply to: We needed a 3" stainless steel filler as our hood is bumped out from the wall. All our local fabricators either couldn't be bothered with such a small job or wanted a jillion dollars. We ended up ordering from this shop in Tennessee and were very happy with their work (and price).

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Reply to: Yeah, that gets deep and complicated. I spent about a year mixing full spectrum paint colors. The theory is if you do not use black or gray to create complex colors, you get a different result. You should only mix other "colors" to create new tints, tones and shades of colors - never black or gray. It's a theory and debate that goes back centuries. Artists who like how colors look when black is used to tone color vs artists who believe that any trace of black "kills" color and its inherent luminosity. The difference is measurable in terms of a spectral curve. The debate centers around how much that spectral curve matters because COLOR APPEARANCE is the same. In other words, there is more than one way to combine colorants/pigments to make the same color. You can use full spectrum color mixing theory to make a match of a regular paint color. Since they both look the same, are they actually different? The answer is technically yes, they are different because they refelect light differently. A tangible example of exploiting the benefits of not using black to mix and match paint colors are the vinyl safe paint products. Sherwin-Williams has "Vinyl Safe" colors. Benjamin Moore is in the process of discontinuing theirs. No black in the mix means the colors reflect more light and solar energy which keeps the vinyl cooler and helps avoid warping. Another tangible example is Munsell neutral gray paint available from GTI. It's a balanced across the full spectrum color of gray. I don't know how they make it, but when it's dry its reflectance is balanced. There's a graph at the bottom of the page linked that illustrates what I'm talking about. So, the question is since we can see physical reflecantace differences in full spectrum colors, is there some kind of positive and useful affect/effect that can be leveraged in the built environment? In my experience, because of its unique reflectance profile, full spectrum paint colors with no black in the mix can be the answer to impossibly unbalanced inherent light sources, like it leans heavily green. And then there's the whole metaphysical lane you can go down too. Read more here.

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Reply to: Then I opened the patio door, all the natural light flooded in and the color was much brighter - the way that I expected Creamy to be. He was shocked, saying he'd never before seen the color of walls change as much. Wow. Wonder if full spectrum paint colors would render differently. Benjamin Moore has Color Stories and also C2 Paints are available in limited markets.

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Reply to: Patricia Colwell Consulting, do you know the rating of the visible transmittance (VT) of your Low-E windows? I noticed that you live in Creston, BC, which is close to where my parents lived in Trail, BC. I helped them choose Lowe-E there and it was almost clear. So I suspect the light transmission for theirs (and yours) is .72. Where I now live, in Arizona, many of the new Low-E windows have a VT that is much lower. So there is a definite green, grey or blue tint. And the interiors are impacted. I had a choice of Solarban 60, Solarban 67, or Solarban 70xl. Here is the link to =>Solarban and their different offerings. I did a LOT of research before making my decision. The link below shows the different Energy Star ratings for different zones across the US. I don't know if there is anything similar in Canada. For our location (Phoenix), orientation (facing west), size of windows (large), frame (metal) and coverage (no coverage & some overhang), the recommendation was that we should consider Low-e with a VT of .51. I visited a local window company and took home several samples. The Solarban 70 was really dark (VT = .63) and would have cast an even worse colour into the room. Energy Star ratings for windows

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