Thermal breaks and thermal bridges are concepts that go hand-in-hand. A thermal bridge works as a thermal connection, or bridge, that allows easy transfer of heat.

Regular aluminum window frames are a perfect example of thermal bridges. If you touch the aluminum frame of a window from inside your house when it’s freezing outside, you’ll probably find that the frame is also very cold.

The cold sensation in your hand indicates that your window frames are conducting, or transporting, heat to the outside of your house. Your wall is supposed to act as an insulator, but it becomes much less effective when the window frames act as a thermal bridge.

On the other hand, a thermal break is any sort of barrier that prevents this leakage, or transfer, of heat.

Regular aluminum window frames are made of a single, continuous piece of aluminum that thermally connects the inside and outside of the building. But a thermally broken window frame will have a different material that insulates the inside and outside parts of a frame, dramatically reducing heat transfer across the barrier.