Double Glazing: Is it Worth it?

Getting double glazing installed is extremely expensive on even a modest-sized house, so the potential benefits and drawbacks must be understood before you decide what course to take.

The instant gain from double glazing is the reduction in draughts and your ability to determine when fresh air can enter the house. It is good to have a reasonably frequent change of air, but on cold days it is highly wasteful to do this through draughty windows. You are better off keeping draught-proof windows shut most of the time, and open them for a minute or two when a change of air is needed.

What kind of double glazing should I get?

16 Jul 2008 | Comment

If you're just wondering which company you should go with, it's fairly hard for us lay people to judge. The salesmen will come to your house and show you bits and pieces of the types of windows they offer. Whether it's really quality is hard to say. There's nothing to beat personal recommendation, but without that consider how long has the company been in business. If it's over ten years, they probably take more pride in their product and will do lots to encourage recommendations by word of mouth -- you're more likely to get quality.

Other things to consider:

Real wood or Plastic

Plastic windows (PVC) are virtually zero maintenance, the lowest cost option, and last about 20 years (typically) before they will need replacement. Depending on quality of installation, they may separate from their frames, they can get condensation inside, or crack to bits. Condensation inside the units can be fixed relatively easily, but cracked frames means whole new windows. PVC windows come in white or wood effect. Recycling any part of these windows is difficult. Some people consider them fundamentally ugly, and in bad taste on older character-full buildings.

Hardwood double glazed windows are the most expensive (although not by a huge margin). Potentially they last the longest, if properly maintained (50 years or more). Like softwood windows, they can become completely ruined within just a few years without proper maintence. They are a specialist item and in a way that guarantees quality (the few manufacturers have to produce quality to stay in business at all). These can be the most beautiful double glazed windows, and in many ways can make a house very appealing.

Softwood DG was popular for a while, but is harder and harder to find. They are cheaper than hardwood DG, more expensive than PVC, but require as much maintenance as hardwood DG. Still, a good compromise in some ways, and required in some listed buildings.

Parts of wooden windows can be recycled.

Finance

Don't go for false economy if you don't have to; the cheapest quote may not be best. Try to find a firm that has been in business at least ten years so you know it's likely the windows you buy will last at least that long.

Emissivity

All DG window installations nowadays must meet certain low emission standards. Basically, to conserve heat inside the building, the glass is coated with some kind of reflective material (metal-based) to reflect heat back into rooms (cut heat emissions). There are two options:

Hardcoat -- this is the most common "Low-E" glass in new windows. The hard-coat has to do with how the metallic particles are fixed onto the glass. Hardcoat is cheaper than soft-coat (see below), but also conserves heat less well, and is more likely to make rooms dark -- it literally reflects more light back to the outdoors.
Softcoat -- trickier to apply on the glass, and for the installers to handle -- hence more expensive. But it insulates better, and doesn't have problems of dimming the outside light.

Most of the major glass manufacturers do both hard- and soft-coat glass, anybody quoting you for new windows should be able to get you soft-coat glass if you prefer (if the salesperson is clueless what you're talking about, they probably aren't the company you want to go with!).

A lot of other features that sales-people will tell you about are actually pretty standard: night openings, choice of handle cover, noise reduction potential, easy cleaning of upstairs windows, etc. It's worthwhile, too, to simply ask "Why should I choose your product over any other?"

Comments

It's quiet in here...Add your comment

Heating Oil Prices

Heating Oil Prices Reduce the amount you spend on your home heating oil. It's not too hard, provided you do a bit of homework and make a few changes. Understand Heating Oil Know how heating oil fits in your home; read the home heating ... (more)

Capturing selected text in Javascript

Here's how to immediately capture the text on your web page that a visitor has highlighted with their mouse. Select some text on this page, and it should appear in the text box below. Clicking on links carries on working just fine, but you ... (more)

OFT Report Concludes 'Fair Deal' on Heating Oil

As promised, the Office of Fair Trading has completed its study into competition within the heating oil market and has made its findings public. However, it doesn't make pleasing reading for oil buyers; the press release from the OFT is entitled ... (more)

The Autumn Dilemma for Heating Oil Consumers

October is a funny month. One day we can be basked in warm sunshine and wondering how long this 'extended summer' can last, and the next day we're wrapped up in woollies and worried whether snow is on the way. For those of us reliant on ... (more)

Comparison of 700c Child Road Bikes

The choice of road bikes customised for children is quite limited. We were looking no bigger than a 48-50cm frame, and the smallest adult bikes come in at 50cm. We are comparing these to the IslaBikes Luath 700 Large (the largest option ... (more)

Battery Case for the iPhone 4

The iPhone 4 has a pretty decent battery life on standby, but it's not so good if you use its GPS sensing a lot. This will happen when you use map-based applications such as Google Maps or CycleMeter, where GPS-based tracking is virtually constant ... (more)

Fuel Poverty Awareness Day: Real Action

National Energy Action is championing Fuel Poverty Awareness Day, on 11 February 2011, and it aims to raise public awareness of households who spend a significant proportion of their income on keeping warm. It is all very well talking about ... (more)

Rackspace Ups and Downs

You pay a lot of money for Rackspace managed hosting. You pay for decent hardware in a top-notch data centre, with great Internet connectivity and of course fanatical support. If your web service demands low latency and minimal downtime ... (more)

iPhone Hacks, Tweaks and Tips

The iPhone is an exceptionally easy bit of kit to learn, and I'm sure that the designers spent a great deal of time getting the learning curve as shallow as possible. You can do all sorts of operations without much thought required, but there ... (more)

Affordable Solar - Really?

We have had a visit from an Affordable Solar rep (Simon Palmer). This consisted of a technology, service and financial overview, followed by an attempt to get our signature on the dotted line by being part of a 100% cashback marketing programme ... (more)

Insulating the Loft

We started off with 6 inches of rockwool in our loft, which by modern standards was insufficient. So we shifted all the wool from the centre part, and laid it on top of the wool at the sides. We then cut up and laid two layers of 75mm Celotex ... (more)

Saracen's Head

Saracen's Head Open 7 days a week, it is a humble Free House under private ownership. Ideally located to escape the usual tourist trails, but still handy enough for visits to Norfolk's beautiful and unspoilt coastline and countryside, or ... (more)

The Manor House Hotel

The Manor House Hotel Set on the edge of the Mundesley Cliffs offering guests a relaxing holiday in a peaceful setting with a bracing climate. Double, twin and family rooms all en-suite. Families are offered, cots, high chair, early children ... (more)

The Manor House

The Manor House A beautifully restored period building dating back to the end of the 19th century in a semi-rural setting on the edge of the village, which hosts a pub, a lovely church and post office. Double, twin or single rooms with ... (more)