About National Window Day™ | National Window Day™

NATIONAL WINDOW DAY^{TM

June 1 every year

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About National Window Day™

National Window Day^TM is celebrated June 1 each year

June 1 of each year is National Window Day™, when we celebrate the invention of the window! A window is an opening in a wall, door, or roof that allows for the passage of light, sound, and air into a room. Some windows are fixed, known as “picture windows”, and cannot be opened or closed. Others can be opened to allow the outside air into a building and closed to keep the inclement conditions (hot air, cold air, and driving rain) out.

June 1 was chosen as National Window Day™ because it’s the unofficial beginning of summer. We start opening windows more during the summer to let in fresh air after being closed in for the winter. Summer is the biggest season of the year for homeowner repairs and improvements, which can include replacing windows.

Because we have always had windows in our lives, we take for granted this important feature of construction. National Window Day™ pays homage to the design of windows and the materials that go into them, which have evolved over many hundreds of years.

Early windows were not glass, which developed over time

The earliest primitive shelters had a single hole in the roof, which was mostly to allow light in. Some structures also featured a hole in the wall to facilitate ventilation. When the weather became inclement, such as during the winter or when it rained, the holes were covered with animal hides. Eventually, paper windows became economical and were widely used in ancient China, Korea and Japan. The Romans were the first known to use glass for windows, in Alexandria, Egypt. Many believe the technology was developed around 100 AD, though the use of glass in windows was only affordable to the wealthy class.

In 14th century England, windows were made of panes of flattened animal horn. During the late Middle Ages in Europe, however, the growing cheapness of glass and the development of the fixed glazed sash resulted in a gradual increase in the number of glazed windows in domestic and civil buildings. Glass became common in the windows of ordinary homes during the 1600s.

The invention of screens

Today, we also celebrate a specific, critical part of our windows that wasn’t always included: the window screen. A window screen (also known as insect screen, bug screen, fly screen, wire mesh) is a mesh made of plastic, wire, fiberglass, or aluminum, and is stretched in a frame that covers the window opening. A screen serves to keep leaves, debris, spiders, insects, birds, and other animals from entering a building or a screened structure such as a porch, without blocking fresh-air flow.

Probably most importantly, screens on windows prevent entry of flying insects such as mosquitoes, flies and wasps. Parasitic diseases were largely eradicated in the United States by the 1950s in part due to the widespread use of window screens.

The exact date of the first window screen is uncertain, but here are a few fun facts:

-- "Wove wire for window screens" is referenced in 1823 in American Farmer (a Pioneer Agricultural Journal published 1819 to 1834).

-- An advertisement for wire window screens appeared in Boyd's Philadelphia Blue Book (The Elite Private Address Directory for Philadelphia and Surroundings) in 1836.

-- In 1874, E.T. Barnum Company of Detroit, Michigan advertised screens that were sold by the square foot.

Today's windows

Today, windows are energy-efficient, elaborately designed, functional elements of any building. Some of the types of windows available include single-hung and double-hung sash windows, horizontal sliding sash windows, casement windows, awning windows, hopper windows, tilt and slide windows (often door-sized), tilt and turn windows, transom windows, sidelight windows, skylights, picture windows, stained glass windows, and many others.

On National Window Day™, celebrate the day by opening the windows and letting in the outside air! If you have any windows that are bad and need to be replaced, this is a good day to order them. And don’t forget to celebrate the fact that, the next time it rains, you can just close the window and you won’t have to put up animal hides.

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