Double Glazing and repairing windows

[lordmulberry]

I have Everest secondary glazing which was installed by the previous owners of the house. There is a 4 inch gap between it and the primary glazing. It has been in position now for over 15 years. I can attest to its quality. The panes, which slide vertically, still operate smoothly. The quality of the soundproofing is excellent as we live on a town centre street and I'm sure the insulation qualities are good as well. I have no connection with Everest but speak as I find.
Best wishes

 

[AMc]

I can attest to its quality. The panes, which slide vertically, still operate smoothly.

Thanks for the input - are they spring balanced to stay where you put them or do you have to support the whole weight of the pane and use a catch. I'm being offered both options and I'm unsure the spring weighted frames are worth the extra cost.

 

[AMc]

Oh God, I've just invited a Double Glazing Salesman to visit my beautiful house. Wish me luck he/she's due tomorrow at 3pm.
Can I respectably open a bottle around 4pm? Can I get special dispensation on grounds of extraordinary circumstances?

Edit - make that 2 in the same day...gulp

 

[worms]

You have our full permission to open the bottle at 2pm as long as you promise to have it emptied by the time the DG salesman arrives at 3pm. Should make the whole visit much more bearable.

 

[Moo]

That's rather dangerous advice, surely? The one thing you need when any salesman calls is to have your brains in full (sober) working order.

 

[AMc]

First fella has left the building. 6 windows £3800 dropping very rapidly to £1900 as I told him I had a supply only for £1368 and given I'd measured and glazed the vinery I figured I could probably fit the windows myself. Price is good until tomorrow evening, as he presumably has to hit his monthly sales target. I did get tired of hearing all about the benefits of the finance package - he looked a bit put out when I told him I have no income so won't sign a credit agreement

Next one due in a bit...

 

[another_richard]

He Hee.

Maybe we should all invite as many DG Salespeople around as we can.

 

[AMc]

Well that was an experience.

Now I have a quote of £250 for 4mm perspex on magnetic strips - fit it myself
£1400 for Pilkington K glass, spring balances for the 3 vertical sashes - again supply only
Then if I fit the best that's £1900 providing I order tomorrow - fitted professionally with 15 year guarantee.
Finally the Anglians based by the airport want £2500 offering wood architraves over the frames and various other tweaks and twiddles which sounded good. The final contender was a lovely bloke who'd worked for the company for 30 years. He explained what he was proposing but said he had already done as much as he could with the price which seemed entirely believable.

Now do I become a window fitter, deal with a bloke I didn't really like or save my pennies for the most expensive option?
Decisions, decisions...

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Well that was an experience.

Now I have a quote of £250 for 4mm perspex on magnetic strips - fit it myself
£1400 for Pilkington K glass, spring balances for the 3 vertical sashes - again supply only
Then if I fit the best that's £1900 providing I order tomorrow - fitted professionally with 15 year guarantee.
Finally the Anglians based by the airport want £2500 offering wood architraves over the frames and various other tweaks and twiddles which sounded good. The final contender was a lovely bloke who'd worked for the company for 30 years. He explained what he was proposing but said he had already done as much as he could with the price which seemed entirely believable.

Now do I become a window fitter, deal with a bloke I didn't really like or save my pennies for the most expensive option?
Decisions, decisions...

I think you should give your conservation officer a call tomorrow and ask for his advice, even though you aren't listed there might be some grant availably to repair what you've got at the moment :wink:

 

[AMc]

I think you should give your conservation officer a call tomorrow and ask for his advice, even though you aren't listed there might be some grant availably to repair what you've got at the moment :wink:

Hi Gareth, I'm guessing you know that's probably you?

The windows were refurbished to a high standard but the building control approval was based on a whole house SAP assessment. The secondary glazing is a requirement to lower the U values to that point. Given the problems I'm having with heating I really think I need to do this. I don't think it would be fair to ask for a grant having spent lots of the bank's money on granite worktops and roll top baths, lets save that pot for those with bigger needs but thanks for the suggestion.

If you have a recommendation for a local company or one of the majors who are trustworthy then a PM would be appreciated.
At the moment we're thinking of either self fit - having glazed the vinery I'm not scared - or leaving it until we're in a better financial position.

Cheers

AMc

 

[AMc]

Well 'the best' area sales manager rang me on Friday to let me know they'd 'found a little more money in this period's budget' (a.k.a. 'I'm short on this month's sales target') and miraculously managed to get the installed cost with a 15 year guaranty down to a smidge over £1500. I agreed and the salesman was around in a couple of hours visibly pleased to get a deposit cheque.
As we'd decided to hold off for a couple of weeks I feel like I've won here pretty much by accident

 

[AMc]

Yesterday Everest came and installed my secondary glazing. They've left me with wooden trim that needs filling and painting (which was a better alternative to plastic!) so I've no photos yet but I planned on updating that thread at some point with before and after once I've completed the decoration.

They are quite well made and I'm reasonably happy with them, but they aren't perfectly unobtrusive with the original frames being obscured. The comment from the surveyor who measured up was "You'll notice them all the time and probably not like them for a couple of weeks then you'll never notice them again". I'm not sure if that's comforting or not. I'd be much less impressed if they'd cost the wrong side of £3000 while at £1500 I think they're OK.

On the plus side they already look better than the wooden replacement sashes fitted in the 1990's before we got here which are the wrong number of panes, split in the wrong place. If funds were limitless they would have been replaced when we did all the other work with something closer to the original and with decent quality sealed units but ho hum.

 

[AMc]

As promised here is a before and after of one of the sashes which Everest secondarily glazed

I got them to use wood fascia, filled the gaps and painted with 3 coats of oil based semigloss.

On balance I'm reasonably pleased. If anyone wants shots of the casements and other sashes I have them but it's a bit of trouble to resize and find space to upload them so I'm not going to bother for now.

 

[Feltwell]

Very neat! How does the secondary glazing open?

 

[AMc]

On the sashes they're split at the same point as the rail of the original window. There are two small levers in line with the sash latches which click 'out' then you can slide both panes of glazing up and down. They're spring balanced. It seems to me that the balance isn't quite strong enough to hold the panes but I'm giving them a little while to settle in before I call Everest back to look at them.

The casements have 2 equal horizontal sliding panes with similar catches that 'lock' onto the frame when in place.

I have one non opening window, you remove the glazing by popping the trim off on the sides and lifting the pane up and swinging it into the room.

All of the units arrived as completely glazed subframes that the fitters screwed into place - so they're 100% reversible should someone crack fusion power in the next hundred years or so