OSI Caulk: Why Does It Matter for My Installation?

Whether you’re looking to give your home a facelift with new windows or repairing damage from previous storms, it’s crucial to make sure you're adding value and safety to your home through every step of the process. Windows are only as strong as each component that goes into them, which is why LAS Shutters + Windows uses the OSI Quad Max Caulking System for every installation. LAS Installers are certified OSI Installers so you can be sure that best practices are observed when it comes to sealing your windows. This is what you need to know about OSI caulk features and benefits.

For your windows, we always choose the best. The OSI Quad Max Caulking System offers proven wet application protection with five times the stretch and extra joint flexibility. It can be applied consistently in temperatures from zero to 140 degrees and cures within 24 hours.

Running up against a clock? OSI caulk is paintable in just one hour. Other features of this superior window caulking system include:

• Available matched to 4,600+ colors
• Strong UV resistance against fading and discoloration
• Maximum durability and superior application
• Bonds to the following materials without primer: fiber cement, cedar, brick, stone, coated aluminum, fiberglass, vinyl, PVC, stucco, EIFS, wood, glass, and flashing tapes

Further, OSI offers certification training to professionals who use this product like those at LAS. This training includes 18 different courses with hours of instruction. Certified professionals learn the best practices, products, and installation methods for using this installation system. Certification also includes extensive training in the OSI QUAD® Window & Door System, designed to withstand stronger-than-hurricane force winds.

OSI caulk for windows is a superior product designed to protect your home against the elements of our Gulf Coast climate. Temperature swings, oppressive humidity, and damaging winds are all part of life in our region.

With this dramatic weather comes inherent risks to your home. Water can seep between the smallest crack around a window frame, eventually growing into toxic mold and mildew that damages both your health and your home. In addition, a poorly sealed home can become as much as 40% less energy efficient. With a poor installation, heating and cooling can slip out of your home around the windows.

OSI certified installers understand how persistent Mother Nature can be. Using proper installation methods and products at LAS for our climate helps to safeguard your health and your home for years to come.

Learn more about the benefits of the LAS windows installation process in our following video.

Next, do you know where your window was manufactured? You might be wondering why that matters, but it's a crucial element to finding the best windows for southeast Louisiana and similar climates.

When looking at window manufacturers and design, you'll realize a lot of windows are manufactured for broad distribution across the United States and mild climates. Unfortunately, this leaves a few problems when you consider our extreme climate. Southeast Louisiana faces 100-degree summers, high humidity, and moisture, as well as our sometimes-turbulent storm seasons.

One simple example of this is the location and quality of E-glass used in your window. E-glass is a surface on your glass that reflects infrared light (heat). It's an important feature for energy efficiency. Unfortunately, some manufacturers put the E-glass surface facing inside to keep heat in. This makes sense for climates with typically colder air, like the Midwest or northern states. Not so for our hot climate. In a climate up north, the majority of your annual utility bill is spent keeping your house warm, so E-glass is not as important and thus might not be a priority for those manufactures to have the best performing E glass possible. In the south, the vast majority of your annual utility bill is spent cooling your house, so blocking heat gain from the sun may possibly be the single most important stat a window can provide, thus it should be priority number 1 as LAS treats it.

Through the years, our staff engineers at LAS Shutters + Windows have tweaked our window design over and over to stand up to our southeastern Louisiana climate. At LAS, we put the E-glass facing out. Think about the temperature in your car during summer when all of the windows have been rolled up for a few hours. Would you want the E-glass facing the interior of your car and keeping the heat in or facing the outside to keep the heat out?

Finding a local manufacturer is important because they know and design for your unique climate.

LAS Shutter + Windows knows windows. With over 60 years of experience installing windows in the Gulf South, we have designed windows and installation practices tough enough to withstand anything that comes our way.

Our certified OSI window installers are among the most extensively trained in the industry. As LAS, we only use the OSI Quad Max Caulking System for superior performance and protection of your home.

To experience the quality of OSI caulk and beautiful windows that last a lifetime, get in touch with LAS Shutters + Windows to set up your free estimate today. Have more questions about our installation process? Don't hesitate to get in touch today.