Crystal Windows Expands YouTube Channel Offerings
– Includes Videos Providing Step-by-Step Installation Assistance – QUEENS, NY, March 15, 2022 – National manufacturer Crystal Window & Door Systems has expanded its trade customer support services with a series of online instructional videos to assist with vinyl and aluminum window and door installations. Established on the popular YouTube platform, the Crystal Window & Door Systems NYC Channel offers brief step-by-step video guides to help trade customers with common situations such as installing window hardware, adjusting sliding window rollers and swing-door hinges, and adding window opening control devices. This supplements existing material on the channel. “We developed a couple of videos a while ago to serve as in-house training tools for our after-service team,” said Sabrina Leung, R&D/Engineering Manager. “They proved very helpful, so we decided to test them with some of our window installer customers. The feedback encouraged us to make them readily available for all our trade customers.” Crystal’s New York Sales Showroom team asked their window installation customers for their most common installation challenges, and Crystal’s Field-Service team inventoried the most frequent field adjustment service calls they are asked to make. The teams developed a list of situations they felt could be handled with instructional videos and the engineering staff created additional videos for the Crystal Windows YouTube channel. “If Crystal trade customers can complete an installation and perfect the window or door operation with minor adjustments to suit the field conditions by following one of our instructional videos, then the job is finished faster, the home or building owner is satisfied, and callbacks are eliminated,” said Leung. “Our videos are allowing us to help our customers in the field without delaying a project by having our service technicians visit a jobsite.” Crystal is developing new videos for assistance with screens, metal stop installations, locking point adjustments, and custodial locks, as well as highlights for new Crystal products being introduced this year. To see the Crystal installation and adjustment videos online, search YouTube for Crystal Window & Door Systems NYC and click on the company channel link. Or visit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC25ZwkofsDaMGbS807oaXAQ and click on “videos” to see the entire selection currently available.
Crystal Windows Key to Jersey City Historic Restoration
-Landmark Repurposed for Retail, Offices, Art Studios, and Loft Apartments – QUEENS, NY, January 13, 2022 –Crystal Window & Door Systems products played a major role in the recent restoration and repurposing of a landmark building in Jersey City, NJ. The 10-story building located at 150 Bay Street utilized 515 custom modified Crystal windows on all four façades to retain the appearance and character of the 113-year old historic structure. Designed by famous architect Howard Chapin and built in 1908, 150 Bay Street originally served as a warehouse facility for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company and was know as the A&P Building. The building has been designated a landmark and is listed with the Federal Register of Historic Places. National manufacturer Crystal Window & Door Systems created a custom historic window system for the renovation and repurposing of 150 Bay Street in Jersey City, a landmark property. The 150 Bay Street Building rehabilitation which included the restoration of the brick and masonry façade, ornate roof cornice, and cantilevered cable-supported loading dock shed roofs, was quite an undertaking. Replacing the antiquated wood windows with a modern window system that retained the historic characteristics of the building added to the challenge. Rising to the task of providing just such a window system, Crystal tapped into its broad array of corporate capabilities. Working closely with an outstanding fenestration installer Bluesky Windows and the project architect and general contractor, Crystal fast-tracked the concept of, design, and fabrication of a custom window system solution which met and exceeded the project’s historic restoration requirements. The Crystal custom modified window system replicates the original tall double-hung wood windows with a unique modern energy-efficient vertically-stacked twin project-out awning aluminum window. To truly deliver the project’s historic look, Crystal’s engineers utilized the resources of the company’s aluminum supply partners and its extrusion subsidiary to custom produce a special-frame variant of a standard projected window product, fabricate a 3-piece simulated divided light system, and replicate an historic-look sash with 1” putty line look glazing bead as well as historic panning. The 150 Bay Street project used Crystal’s Series 8620 Project-Out Awning windows. The Series 8620 windows were ordered in 2-lite vertically-stacked configurations and custom modified to suit the historic appearance requirements of the renovation project. With the building’s 14-ft. high loft ceiling heights, the windows are all very tall, and some are rather wide, with the largest being 58-½” wide by 81” tall. The Crystal Series 8620 is a top-of-the-line 3-¼” thermal-broken frame awning window with an AW-PG80 rating. The energy-efficient window features 1” dual-pane insulated glass with warm edge spacer and argon filling, as well as two rows of bulb weather stripping around the sash perimeter. The Crystal Series 8620 offers cam lock handles and four-bar HS/SS friction hinges to hold the sash in open positions. Optional sash opening limit devices were also specified. Crystal stacked project-out aluminum windows and crafted a custom applied grid system to replicate the look of building’s original double-hung wood windows. Also, the project required Crystal’s production of several custom aluminum historic panning extrusions for the head, jamb, and sill of the window openings. All the Crystal windows, panning, grid components, and visible installation accessories were finished in a two-tone special Arroyo Red exterior and white interior to enhance the historic appearance of the building. To meet the project’s historic specifications, Crystal made several custom modifications to the Series 8620. To emulate the building’s original wood windows, Crystal designed, and its supply partners fabricated, custom sash and frame extrusions. While the 2-lite stacked awning windows replicate the horizontal meeting rail of the original double-hung windows, each sash used special custom vertical simulated divided light (SDL) components to improve the historic aesthetics. The SDL components consisted of a standard colonial⅝” between-the-glass grid with aligned 1-¾” raised trapezoidal profile colonial tape-on aluminum grids affixed to the interior and exterior glass. Key players for the Bay Street renovation project included fenestration installer Bluesky Windows of New York, NY, and architect Fifield-Piaker-Elman Architects, also of New York, NY. The repurposed 10-story 203,000-ft2 building at 150 Bay Street now features ground floor retail, art studio workspaces on the second floor, and business offices on the third floor. The upper floors are residential loft apartments, with three floors used by Nyack College as student residences, and luxury penthouses on the top floor. Besides its historic, retro exterior, the building has many new features such as a roof patio, lounge areas, and a fitness center. The building is located in the Powerhouse Arts District, a lively artisan and business enclave in Jersey City, NJ. Part of the resurgence of the state’s second largest city of over 250,000 residents, the Powerhouse Arts District has cobblestone streets, rehabbed former industrial buildings, shops, coffee houses, restaurants, bars, outdoor streetscape spaces, and art galleries.
Crystal Launches Latest High-End Architectural Window
Crystal Windows’ new architectural Series 9200 Aluminum Window line combines superior thermal and structural performance. – New Series 9200 Aluminum Window Line Combines Outstanding Thermal and Structural Performance – QUEENS, NY, February 22, 2022 – Award-winning national manufacturer Crystal Window & Door Systems is proud to announce the introduction of its newest heavy-commercial window line. Noted for its superior thermal and structural performance, the new Crystal Series 9200 is a high-end aluminum polyamide thermal barrier window capable of meeting today’s demanding energy, operating, and aesthetic demands. Now the flagship of the Crystal product lines, the Series 9200 is available in Tilt-and-Turn (dual action), In-Swing Casement, and Fixed/Picture window models and is well suited for all applications, especially mid- and high-rise buildings. “Crystal is really pleased to introduce its new Series 9200, our next generation advanced commercial window line,” said Sabrina Leung, R&D and Architectural Sales Manager. “Perhaps the window’s greatest feature is its outstanding thermal performance. Key to achieving superior energy efficiency is the incorporation of state-of-the-art polyamide struts in the frame (34mm) and in the sashes (47mm) to thermally isolate the window’s interior and exterior surfaces.” The Crystal 9200 is a 3-¼” jamb depth architecturally-rated window line with modern clean European-style frame and sash and utilizing an advanced energy efficient structure. Features adding to the visual appeal of the window line include the zero sightline sash design and concealed, heavy-duty hinges (up to 275-lb. weight capacity). Other energy efficiency features such as insulated glass unit (IGU) infills of 1” to 1-½” and the sash’s triple EPDM gasketing combine with the polyamide struts to achieve U-values from a great 0.31 to an outstanding 0.22 (with appropriate options). The standard IGU for all the Crystal Series 9200 models is 1” double-pane. Options include 1-¼” and 1-½” IGUs, as well as triple glass, argon gas filling, and a wide selection of low-emissivity coated glass choices. The Series 9200 windows provide some of the best structural performances of Crystal’s overall product lineup. The Tilt-and-Turn model, which features the dual action operation of tilting in at the head or swinging in from the jamb, is rated AW-PG60 (expected) with 12 psf water resistance. The Tilt-and-Turn model also offers a unique micro-ventilation position tilt-in feature. The structural rating of the In-Swing Casement model is an outstanding AW-PG100 with 12 psf water resistance, and the Fixed/Picture model is rated AW-PG75 with 12 psf water resistance. Numerous aesthetic options are available for the new Crystal Series 9200 product line. The Series 9200 models are finished in Crystal’s attractive, durable, and environmentally sustainable powder coat paint. The window’s polyamide thermal strut construction facilitates dual-finish, two-tone paint options, where the exterior and interior can be finished in two different colors. Crystal offers a broad palate of standard and custom colors in either the standard AAMA 2604 or upgraded AAMA 2605 powder coat finish to select from. Liquid paint options are also available. Other aesthetic options include a selection of between-the-glass and applied grids. From a functional standpoint, the Series 9200 product line’s continuous master frame option allows various window models to be combined into large multiple units providing expansive views. Special drywall receptor frames, full flex screens, extended lever handle, window opening limit devices, and a variety of traditional mullions and installation accessories are also available.
