Field notes

Notes from the European window trade.

Short writing about the European window market, regulations, history, and what's actually going on inside Polish factories. Written for American homeowners and builders who are about to spend real money on this.

02 — Industry & history 7 min read

Why Polish factories now build the windows Germans invented.

The Passivhaus standard was invented in Darmstadt in 1991. Thirty years later, most of the windows that meet it and ship to the US come from Poland. How that happened, and what it means for buyers comparing brands today.

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01 — Regulations & paperwork 6 min read

The NFRC sticker is the Ferrari badge that fell off in the parking lot.

Why a high-performance Polish window can be classified as worst-case by a US building inspector even though it physically beats US code by a factor of two. And the five-minute conversation that fixes it before you spend money.

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