Codes & Standards

The 411 on Fenestration Weathering

Testing for both weathering (appearance) and weatherability (performance) is vital for determining the expected life of a fenestration product.

A Look at PCR for Fenestration Systems

With owners, architects and organizations’ interest in sustainable products and building practices growing, the newly released Product Category Rule, or PCR, for fenestration systems comes at a great time.

Resources for Glass, Glazing and Fenestration Professionals

NGA offers Glass Technical Papers (GTPs) free for the industry on a wide range of topics pertaining to the residential glass, window and door industries.

The Current State of Energy Star

The overall energy trend for the architectural glass industry is increased stringency moving toward net-zero.

NGA Codes Report: 7 Need-to-Know Updates

NGA code experts Urmilla Sowell and Tom Culp gave a comprehensive rundown of developing codes and standards in North America. The session, originally presented at the 2023 GlassBuild Main Stage, gave updates and insights on Energy Star 7.0, bird-friendly glass, energy efficiency and EPD production…

Check the spec to ensure anodize finishes deliver durability

Anodize finishes for aluminum can offer durability and hardness that is similar to a diamond. To use them effectively, understand the specifications and the difference between anodize and other coatings.

Combating Hardware and Componentry Corrosion

When it comes to the maintenance and performance of windows, doors and skylights, components must not be a weak link in any fenestration system.

How is Energy Performance in Windows Measured?

NFRC’s standardized physical tests and simulation methods provide specific fenestration performance information.

Consult the New Version of NAFS for Industry Answers

The North American Fenestration Standard/Specification for windows, doors, and skylights (NAFS) is regularly updated to address market trends, technology, building codes and rating systems.

Inside Energy Star 7.0

Industry associations assist manufacturers with new reporting requirements.

Implementing Innovation

Window and door products are constantly redesigned to meet increasing thermal performance requirements and yet, many under-utilized products could help meet high demand. These innovative solutions could reduce residential energy consumption while increasing homeowners’ thermal comfort.

Next-Level Performance

Buildings account for an estimated 40 percent of global carbon emissions, with building operations producing 27 percent of total emissions, according to Architecture 2030. But there is more than just energy savings and climate benefits driving the use of higher-performing glass technologies.

Energy Star 7.0 | Making Intelligent Design Decisions

Maximize operations’ bottom-line profitability and increase products’ market share by making intelligent fenestration design decisions.

Energy Star Version 7.0

What companies should know as they prepare for the October implementation of Energy Star Version 7.0.

Performance Standards are Key to Quality Fenestration Products

Fenestration products are made up of a multitude of components that all need to perform properly to achieve optimum performance in the finished unit. To achieve this, it’s critical to have reliable and current standards by which component and whole unit product performance can be determined.

Performance Matters

Codes and standards ensure that products are performing to their highest level.

Ready for Hurricane Season?

Standards for impact resistance certification, plus a hurricane preparedness checklist and guide.

Updated Standards for Door Hardware Performance

Doors need to be designed to remain intact and operable under high-use conditions.

Fire Safety and Building Codes

As wildland fires continue to rage, residential safety starts with building codes.

Canadian Energy Codes: A Crooked Path to 2030 and Beyond

While some provinces push ahead faster on the requirements for improved energy efficiency for fenestration, energy efficiency is the future for Canadian fenestration products.

FEMA Issues Building Code Strategy for Improved Resilience

The Federal Emergency Management Agency released a new building codes strategy, defining the goals and objectives it will pursue to promote the application, adoption and enforcement of hazard-resistant building codes across the U.S. This strategy focuses on three core goals: integrating building…

WOCDs Explained

What classifies as a window opening control device and how they fit into building codes.

Triple Glazing and Embodied Energy

Is the energy savings gained by moving from double to triple glazing outweighed by the extra energy used to make the third pane in the first place?  

Proposed Energy Star Standards Further Help Glass Upgrades Pay for Themselves, Says EPA Analyst

EPA analyst Doug Anderson spoke in March to FGIA conference in-person and virtual attendees about the thinking and evidence behind the agency's draft 2 of the proposed ENERGY STAR 7.0 standards for architectural glass and window and door construction. 

FGIA Updates Specification Around Fiber Reinforced Thermoset Exterior Profiles

AAMA 305-22, Voluntary Specification for Fiber Reinforced Thermoset Profiles, an FGIA document, is now available for purchase. This 12-section document was last updated in 2018.

What Comes After the Champlain Tower Collapse?

Although this article is geared toward the multifamily space, many window companies supply to multifamily and light commercial structures. It is critical to stay on top of the latest code discussions for the building space, particularly as they may pertain to the fenestration and glazing industries.

FGIA Releases Updated Anodizing Specification

AAMA 611, Voluntary Specification for Anodized Architectural Aluminum, an FGIA document, is now available for purchase.

BHMA Publishes Updates to Five ANSI/BHMA Standards

FGIA Technical Information Report Establishes Criteria for Window Gauge Device Locations

AAMA TIR-A18-21, Structural Test Deflection and Permanent Deformation Gauge Placement for Fixed and Compression Seal Windows, an FGIA document, is now available for purchase.

FGIA Collaborates on Florida Sea Turtle-friendly Glass Design

FGIA Releases Updated Document Covering Methods of Test for Multi-bar Hinges in Windows

AAMA 904-21, Specification for Multi-Bar Hinges in Window Applications, an FGIA document, is now available for purchase. It was last updated in 2014.

California Adopts 2022 Energy Code

Overall, the new version of Title 24 will make significant advancement towards the state’s energy efficiency and climate change goals, while also meeting their cost effectiveness requirements.

Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association Revises Nine Product Standards

The Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association revised nine product standards, all of which have been approved by the American National Standards Institute. 

International Code Council Annual Conference

International Code Council Annual Conference

NFRC Moves to a More Practical Condensation Rating

The newly approved Condensation Index (CI) allows the consumer, manufacturer, building owner or architect to find the fenestration product that best reduces the potential for condensation based on where that window, door or skylight will be in the U.S. or Canada. 

Mulled Assembly Performance

AAMA 450 has become more useful to engineers and manufacturers alike and makes compliance of mulled systems easier and more effective.

4 to Watch: Policy Expectations for the Year Ahead

At the Window & Door Manufacturers Association Spring Virtual Meeting and Legislative Conference in March, experts discussed what the next year might hold in regard to housing, labor, safety and health policy. Speakers agreed that COVID, climate and energy efficiency are most likely to…

UL Seminar Explains CSA Standard for High Exposure Fenestration Installation

Robert Jutras, principal engineer at UL led a sponsored session called "The New Canadian High Exposure Fenestration Installation Standard CSA A440.6:20, Explained" during the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance Virtual Annual Conference.

Consider Skylights

Technical challenges that architects and engineers face when designing sloped glazing systems.

What’s New with Fenestration in Canada?

Glass and fenestration are being asked to do more to increase energy efficiency. In “What’s Going on with Fenestration in Canada?” presented at GlassBuild Connect, Al Jaugelis, technical director of Fenestration Canada, outlined the major and ongoing code changes spurring a transformation of…

Components and Certification

The basic quality of a complete window assembly is the foundation of credible third-party certification. The quality of the components—framing extrusions, glass, weatherstripping, sealants, hardware and finishes—ensure a window’s durability beyond this initial performance test.  

3 Reasons Manufacturers Should Take Advantage of Skinny Triples

Adoption of skinny triples has, so far, been slow, but that could change soon. With some new incentives in place that make skinny triples more attractive, and as finding ways to hit California’s thermal targets becomes mandatory, there’s a ripe opportunity for window and door manufacturers to take…

Energy Code Update

The National Glass Association’s Thirsty Thursday webinar on June 18, presented by Tom Culp, Birch Point Consulting and NGA technical codes consultant, dissected some of the upcoming energy code evolutions in 2020 on a national and regional level.

Green Building Standard Update

Michelle Foster, VP, sustainability for Home Innovation Research Labs, provided an update on the 2020 National Green Building Standard. For those unfamiliar, the NGBS is a voluntary above code green certification program and is part of the ICC suite of I Codes. It offers alternative compliance for…

Insulating Glass

IG certification testing and application workshops help ensure long-term energy savings.

Field Testing

The FGIA provides pre-occupancy field testing methods in the form of three AAMA specifications.

Navigating Installation Variables, Part 1

No matter how stringent the building code or the underlying performance standard, proper installation is the ultimate key to performance quality of fenestration products.

New Design Challenges for Impact Windows as ICC Ramps up U-Factors

Since 1992, when Category 5 Hurricane Andrew brought devastation to many of Florida’s southern cities, the state has been fairly aggressive in maintaining a strong building code to prevent similar damage from happening again.

Lack of Code Enforcement Worsens Impact of Maria in Puerto Rico

One of our member companies recently reached out to our staff to gain some insight on the lack of building code enforcement in Puerto Rico. The member told us the problem existed before the hurricane but is worse now. He also expressed frustration over competing with other companies that regularly…

Continued Opportunity for Impact Windows

Hurricane Florence has dominated headlines this week and last, as the powerful storm brought a major surge and heavy rains to the Carolinas and beyond. With significant flooding affecting the areas, recovery crews have their work cut out for them.

National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Gets Hearing

U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittees on Research and Technology and Environment held a hearing on the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. The purpose of the program is to measurably reduce the loss of life and property from windstorms through an improved understanding of risks and…

Trade Secrets

A trade secret involves confidential information that provides (or will provide) economic benefit or advantage to a business that would be lost if it were misappropriated or disseminated to the public. State and federal laws include various remedies that provide businesses ways to protect the value…

The Copyright Conundrum and Fair Use

Many current building codes incorporate AAMA or ASTM standards into the code sections relating to windows and doors. For example, the 2009 IRC Section R612.3 states that windows with fall prevention devices and window guards “shall comply with the requirements of ASTM F 2090.” But the ASTM…

Trends in Modular Construction

There is a general consensus that the U.S. is in the midst of a “housing crisis.” Reports from the Census Bureau, National Association of Home Builders and research-based entities such as the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, report that multiple factors are at play. In its…

Certification Update

With the ability to receive more extensions also comes heightened concern regarding a manufacturer’s potential liability. Below are a few examples of ways to manage potential liability. Record Retention  A manufacturer should maintain documentation from the original certification up through the…

2018 International Code Requirements for Windows & Doors

Major requirements were set forth in the published 2018 I-codes for windows, doors, skylights and other fenestration products in single family homes, duplexes and townhouses that are three stories or less in height. These types of buildings are referred to as “low rise residential construction”…

Made in the USA

While it may seem that “buying American” is being pushed even more these days, research shows that consumers have been keen on buying American-made products for some time. A Consumer Reports article from 2015 reported that eight in 10 American consumers would rather buy an American-made product…

Enforced Codes Work

Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida on Sept. 10, 2017. It hit the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane with 130 miles per hour winds before moving slowly up the Florida peninsula as it weakened in intensity. Loss estimates for the storm range from $25 billion to $65 billion, according to a…

What’s in Your Product?

California’s Proposition 65 is hardly new and it is relatively well-known that it requires manufacturers to establish potential warning label requirements for, among other things, all goods sold for consumer use in California. But Prop 65 is also recognized as a ready source of liability in the…

The New Direction: Environmental Product Declarations

A new Window Product Category Rule was recently created through the joint effort of the American Architectural Manufacturers Association, Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance, Glass Association of North America and Window and Door Manufacturers Association. This PCR is the guide for developing…