This steerage offers helpful info on the principles, disadvantages, supplies and strategies for upgrading the thermal efficiency of windows with the addition of secondary glazing.

Windows make a significant contribution towards the character of historic buildings and every effort should be made to retain them. They might also reveal a very good deal about the history of a structure; changing architectural style and elegance, social hierarchy, building economics, craft skills and industrial advances.

Older home windows might be draughty as eventually they distort as joints change into stressed. Although adequate air flow is important in older buildings extreme air leakage by way of windows wastes warmth and is miserable for occupants.

Carefully deliberate and installed secondary glazing allows the unique windows to be preserved unchanged, and where vital repaired, whilst reducing air leaks and performed heat losses. Consequently there isn't a damage to historic material as well as in most instances the installation is definitely reversible.

Recent study has revealed warmth losses by conduction and radiation by way of a window usually talking might be decreased by over 60% by making use of secondary glazing with a low emissivity (low-E) hard coating facing the exterior. The research has additionally shown that further savings may be made if the secondary glazing makes use of insulating frames or uses double or vacuum glazed units.

In addition to increasing the thermal performance of home windows, secondary glazing can have a number of additional extra benefits including being highly efficient at limiting noise transmission.

For listed properties you will need to check with the Conservation Officer at the native planning authority for steerage ahead of the set up of secondary glazing. Listed Building Authorization could also be required in some cases.

What exactly is secondary glazing?

Secondary glazing isn'thing new. Within the 19th century some buildings were constructed with inside secondary glazing designed as a part of the original layout. Typically a second double hung sash window or solid panels with counterbalancing weights had been fitted in the space under the window. Their function was to cut down the warmth loss and supply some measure of sound insulation to the window aperture.

Secondary glazing is a completely unbiased window system utilized to the room side of pre-existing windows. The original home windows stay in place and of their original unaltered form.

Secondary glazing is available as open-able, removable or fixed units. The open-able panels may be either casements or sliding sashes. These types permit access to the external window for cleansing and the opening of both the magnetic secondary glazing glazing and exterior windows for contemporary air. New secondary glazing is designed to be detached in warmer months when its thermal further benefits usually are not necessary.