SINGLE SOURCE DELIVERY
Wisconsin Solar Design, Inc. is located in the Madison, WI area in nearby Middleton. We place the highest priority on a personal service that is achieved by single source delivery for our glazed structures. Wisconsin Solar Design assumes undivided responsibility for its product “from start to finish” – yes, for all components, structural design, manufacture, installation, glazing, and weather-proof integrity of the system in place. Wisconsin Solar Design full-time employees install WSD products.
INNOVATIONS
Wisconsin Solar Design, Inc. engineers sought changes to tighten up skylight construction and eliminate energy losses from critical joints with the surrounding construction. Wisconsin Solar Design provides the only fully insulated sill in the skylight industry as standard equipment. The connection to the curb is formed with a wide chamfered joint, such that the adjoining surfaces form a broad area of contact where an effective seal can be made. The Wisconsin Solar Design insulated sill is thermally isolated with non-conductive closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam.
Water tightness is a primary criteria for a glazed structure. Our engineers rewrote skylight conventions. Prior to the Wisconsin Solar Design drainage concept, skylights were totally dependent on bridges formed of sealant at horizontal joints for water repulsion. This sealant use works for only a limited time and contributes to giving skylights a bad name. Wisconsin Solar Design engineered an offset glass design to provide positive water drainage at horizontal joints, a unique feature in the skylight industry. Additionally, the Wisconsin Solar Design skylight system provides extruded sill flashings, connections with concealed fasteners, and friction-fit glass clip covers for architectural elegance and durable, maintenance-free performance.
TECHNOLOGY
Wisconsin Solar Design, Inc. architects and engineers utilize the latest in CAD and 3D modeling to prepare drawings and to virtually mock-up details. This enables us to then quickly and precisely fabricate your project in our modern shop facility. This software, in conjunction with Adobe Creative Suite, also gives us the capacity to help you visualize projects early in the design phase.
HISTORY
Wisconsin Solar Design, Inc. architects and engineers have been manufacturing and installing glazed structures including skylights, greenhouses, solariums, atriums, glazed canopies, and translucent panel wall assemblies for residential use and public buildings since 1981. During its early existence, Wisconsin Solar Design participated in the pursuit of active and passive solar energy applications that had moved into national consciousness as a response to escalating oil prices and concern about a declining environment. Often referred to as the Camelot period for solar energy usage, the period ended abruptly with the suspension of state and federal incentives for solar use. Wisconsin Solar Design continues its interest in these renewable energy sources, providing guidance and assistance to those with similar concerns.
Wisconsin Solar Design’s focus on the manufacture of glazed structures was a natural jumping-off point from the large-scale glass collection arrays required for commercial usage of solar energy. Wisconsin Solar Design gained the experience to apply a new generation of innovations to the design of overhead glazing systems.
Our current manufacturing consists primarily of the following structures:
- Custom metal-framed skylights, specification sections 086300, 086200 (unit skylights), or 084500 (translucent skylights); glass, polycarbonate, and photovoltaic glazed.
- Canopies, sections 086300 or 084400 (point supported glass); glass, polycarbonate, and photovoltaic glazed.
- Greenhouses, solariums, atriums, sections 133413 or 131230; including equipment necessary for horticultural environments (i.e. shades, vent sash, fans, evaporative cooling, benches, heating, irrigation, computer environmental control system, grow lighting, weather station, etc.).