How Do I Get Natural Light Into an ADU Without Losing Privacy?

By Buz Artiano, BuildX | November 2026

Watch: Why Your Home Feels Dark, Even With Big Windows | Joe Menchefski Explains

The wall that will get the most sunlight on your lot looks out at the main house or the yard next door. That makes you feel like you've wasted your money for a window that will be hidden behind a blind. So you decide to change your plan and either make the window smaller and move it to another location or do away with it altogether. But now the ADU you were excited about before now doesn't have as much natural light.

My name is Buz Artiano, and I am the founder of BuildX. We've built dozens of ADU projects across Massachusetts, mostly around the South Shore and Plymouth County areas. We are the only team you need: we do the design, permitting, and construction. So we see every phase of a project from the first site visit up until you move in. We evaluate septic constraints, zoning issues, utility connections and the requirement to get a permit from the city. The state's by-right ADU regulation may mean the ADU is close to the main house. But even if the ADU is only a short walk away, we still put a lot of windows in it.

We don't believe that privacy means darkness. The way to fix it is with windows and those are decided during the design process, before the window order goes out. We discussed our position with Joe Menchefski of Advanced Glazings, a manufacturer of translucent glass. The answer starts with which type of glass goes where.

Can I Keep the Windows That Face the Main House Without Living Behind a Blind?

Yes, if the site will let you put a window on that wall. Make sure you get translucent glass there instead of just deciding to cover the window. A translucent window means that light passes through it but a clear image doesn't, so the neighbor can't see in and the light still gets to your kitchen or bedroom. Transparent glass, the clear glass in a standard window, gives you a view and the light both, which is exactly what the problem is with a wall that faces another house.

We deal with this situation regularly. When an ADU sits close to another structure, the elevation (one exterior wall face of the building) that faces toward the main house is the one homeowners want to cover. But if you install a big blind on that wall it will block out the light as well as the view. A window glazed with translucent glass does away with the need for a blind, and the room will get the daylight that the window was put there for.

The rule that will make this all work is a split decision. Clear glass will go where you want a real view. Translucent glass goes where the other side of the window faces a wall, a driveway, or a neighbor's kitchen.

Daylight Without a Sightline: How the Glass Works

The product Joe Menchefski talks about is called Solera, and we are going to use it as an example of the category, since the named product has limited distribution to homes currently. Solera is an insulated glass unit, or IGU which means there are two panes of glass separated by a spacer around the edges which is the same construction as the glass in most new windows. Advanced Glazings attach a glass fiber veil to the two inside surface panes, so the faces point toward each other, and that veil distributes the light as it goes through.

When we asked Joe for the problems with his own product, he said it plainly: "you can't see through it." But for a wall that faces toward the main house, that's the whole point. On a wall that has a view, it's the reason to choose something else.

Size isn't usually a limitation. According to Joe Menchefski, the normal sized unit can be made 5 feet by 10 feet, and larger panels are possible if a joint is put in the fiber veil. That's bigger than any window an ADU wall needs.

Where Should Translucent Glass Go in My ADU?

On the floor plans we draw, there are three places for Translucent Glass:

• The wall facing the main house or the lot line, where a clear window doesn't give the occupant necessary privacy.
• The bathroom, where Joe Menchefski said no one wants anyone looking in, ever.
• The band above a window treatment, where high glass keeps light coming in after the shades are pulled down.

Joe divided it up into two categories: front of home and back of home. The front is what people see and where everybody comes in, and the back is the part of the house that's really only meant for your family to see. He told us homeowners want privacy, but they still need that natural light. In an ADU that's close to the main house, most of the windows are usually in the back of the home because the whole ADU is a private house next to another private household and needs all those privacy windows.

The case for window treatments was from us. If someone wants a high-end treatment on a big window, it's not a good idea to put translucent glass above it because it will prevent natural light from coming in anytime the blinds or curtains are closed. Joe said that way of doing things happens a lot in his work.

Which Window Do I Plan First?

You should plan the windows with a view first. Joe Menchefski's advice to architects is to determine where the transparent glass will go before anything else: decide where you want to look outside, or where you want someone to look in. The translucent glass will come second, above that window, beside it, or below it.

To put it above is the most likely of those three positions. When daylight comes in high on the wall and hits a light-colored ceiling, it bounces and goes farther into the room, so the light reaches the far side and spreads out more evenly. That high glass is called a clerestory, a band of windows above eye level, or a transom, a window set directly above another window or door.

This is the order we follow on a small lot. The septic system, setbacks, and lot coverage decide where the ADU is going to be positioned on the lot. Once the area is fixed, we deal with the walls: which ones face something with a worthwhile view, and which ones look at the main house. The view walls will have clear glass at eye level. Walls facing the main house will get their light from above or through translucent glass, and we consider that light when we choose the ceiling finish, because a dark ceiling doesn't have the bounce that makes high glass worth installing.

Will Privacy Glass Cost Me Insulation Value?

According to the manufacturer, no. R-value measures how well a material resists heat flow, and the higher the number the better the insulation. Joe Menchefski told us the one-inch unit Advanced Glazings sells for homes is R5, and that the one-inch thickness is the size used almost always in residential work.

That figure is what the manufacturer claims about their own product, and we haven't seen an independent test of it. The point for homeowners is this: choosing privacy glass doesn't mean you have to give up an insulated window. The translucent unit is still a two-pane IGU, and it's compared on the same insulation terms as the rest of the glass for your windows.

The Questions to Ask Before Your Window Plan Is Locked

A floor plan tells you how many windows you are getting but it doesn't tell you if those windows will stay uncovered once someone lives there. Before you approve any plan, ask your builder these questions about each wall facing the main house or the lot line:

• Which windows on this wall will need a blind for the homeowner to have their privacy?
• Which of those windows could have translucent glass instead?
• Where is the view window, and was it installed before the rest of the glass?
• Where is the high glass that sends light off the ceiling and further into the room?

Sometimes getting rid of a window on a wall is the right choice. A setback, a code requirement, or another site restriction can eliminate glass completely. The red flag is when the window is removed just for privacy alone, with no one checking to see if a different glass would solve the problem. The same red flag is when clear glass is put on a wall with privacy up to installation of a blind.

Is Translucent Glass Right for Every Window?

No. We build ADUs, we don't sell this glass, and BuildX has no business relationship with Advanced Glazings. That means we have no problem pointing out the good with the bad. You can't see out of translucent glass, so it really shouldn't be anywhere that faces a view you want to look at. An egress, or emergency, window is a different thing though. Since it's used for emergencies, that window itself has to open and meet code. The glass is irrelevant to that. Translucent glass in a window that can't be opened can't work as an escape. But if you put translucent glass in a window that opens and meets code it's no problem. Check the type of window before you decide what kind of glass you want.

The other thing is, availability for those types of windows can be dicey. Specialty translucent glass has to be special ordered, so we can't give you a standard price for it. Obscure glass is different, it's that textured or frosted stuff that a lot of manufacturers offer, so that's the mainstream option you could go with. Privacy isn't exactly the same between translucent, frosted, and textured glass. And at night when there are lights on inside it looks different from the outside than it would in the middle of the day. You'll have to specify exactly what product you want, check a sample from the outside with the lighting the room's going to have and then get a price quote for each wall. Whichever one you decide on for your project, the rule stays the same: you want to keep the window, and put the privacy in the glass.

Ready to Decide What Goes in the Wall Facing the Main House?

The window on your most exposed wall doesn't have to be a choice between light and privacy. Plan the windows with a view first, give the other walls translucent glass, and settle the decision before the window order's made.