There are many benefits to double glazing your home. Many people do it to reduce noise (particularly if they live on main roads), to increase security, reduce condensation or to keep in the heat. Increasingly, many homes are double glazed for energy efficiency reasons and reduce heating bills.
If you are thinking of replacing or putting in new windows, the questions you need to ask are, which type of glazing should I go for and how much money can I actually save? Which.co.uk has outlined the answers below (see www.which.co.uk for more detailed analysis).
Which type of glazing?
There are two types of glazing normally used. The first is uPVC (un-plasticized polyvinyl chloride), which is the cheapest and most energy efficient. Many people choose this option, not just because of cost. It requires very little maintenance (a wipe down with washing up liquid and a soft cloth) and comes in a variety of colours.
The second type – and the most expensive – is wooden frames. Many people choose wood frames for aesthetic reasons or because they live in conservation areas (where wooden options are sometimes the best to get past the Building Regulations department dealing with double glazing windows in Guildford!) Timber is seen as the more environmentally friendly option as wood is obviously a naturally renewable material and wooden frames can last a lot longer, if properly cared for.
How much money can I save?
Thermal imaging can easily illustrate the increased amount of heat lost in a single-glazed house as compared to a double-glazed one, but naturally the energy saved needs to be commensurate to the costs.
A study conducted by Which? found that approximately £170 a year can be saved on heating bills in a three-bedroom house if you swapped all the single-glazed windows with double. Moreover, 680kg of carbon dioxide emissions can also be saved. Over the twenty-year life of double glazing, this can amount to £3,400 savings. The only remaining consideration, therefore, is the cost of the windows themselves.
If the maths doesn’t stack up and local grants are not available from your local authority (as occasionally they are) or if your home doesn’t allow for double glazing, another option is secondary glazing, i.e. where a second layer of glass is fitted inside your existing windows.
Allways Glazing Works Ltd is based in Guildford and can help cost the price of installing double glazing in Guildford. Visit them online for more details!
