How to double glaze? Or not?

[TheSpid]

We have finally moved on to our new house - yippee yay - and love it - a bit of work to be done but nothing extreme. Anyway,

Stone built house, seventeenth century with wood crux frame - a couple of double glazed windows but the rest all single glazed, I'm guessing around 1950s replacements, a couple of rotten outside sills. Two bay windows at the front; the ones with rotten sills. The house is reasonably warm {and will be warmer once I work out the best way to work the Rayburn running the central heating, pop up long curtains and maybe double glaze}.

So, should I replace the windows with double glazing and if so HOW do they fix into stone walls with lime plaster inside. What do I need to make sure the window fitters use? Should I double glaze or secondary glaze? Any recommended firms? I'm assuming Everest etc are a complete no no. Any other advice gratefully received.

 

[Flyfisher]

Congratulations on your new home

As for replacing the windows with DG ones, if the house is not listed then I understand it’s a legal requirement for all replacement windows . . . :wink:

As far as what’s best for the house, much will depend on the window style - do you have any photos?

Rotten cills can be repaired if necessary, though not worth it of course if the whole of the window is to be replaced.

As for Everest, I have no experience of them though I’ve heard they do a nice line in plastic DG windows :wink:

 

[TheSpid]

Many thanks FF -

Not listed no.

Everest do have a hard wood heritage range but I am dubious.

Struggling with finding my card reader for the camera at the moment - I remember seeing it somewhere amongst the boxes being unpacked but can't remember which room at the moment. Will go look.

The option of cill repair, at least for a while is there, . . .

 

[Feltwell]

Congratulations on the new home! Whereabouts are you in this often-overlooked county of ours?

Window fitters have a habit of fixing them in place with a gun based expanding foam - a less vigorous version of the cans sold in DIY stores and beloved of dubious DIY'ers everywhere. A bad thing? Maybe not actually, if done carefully, but hardly how it would have been done originally.

If you go down the replacement route I'd be speaking to local joinery companies personally. But - do they really need replacing? Takes a long time to recoup the cost, repairing and draught proofing what you've got will be a lot cheaper, if they are worth saving, and draught proofing makes a big difference to how warm a room stays. I've got a couple of casement windows that I will eventually replace, they're not original but also really badly made and just not worth saving - but the rest on my house I'm repairing.

Cill repair is quite possible - depends how far gone they are if it's an in-situ repair or better to remove the window and replace the entire cill.

 

[TheSpid]

We are mid Wales.

I think the cill is repairable - long, lined curtains will help as well. The windows are in reasonable nick and mainly draft free - not yet been here in a howling gale. https://ibb.co/cpKNR9
https://ibb.co/bJgDYp hope those links are okay - I'm hopeless at getting them to work. Inside pics only at this time of night - still not found my card reader.

 

[Flyfisher]

Those windows look to be in better condition than many of ours! :lol:

Seriously, they look quite substantial so I'd seriously consider repairs over replacement. We've had a few windows professionally repaired by a local conservation builder and I was surprised at how much they were able to do. But if you were thinking about complete replacement then I'd second Feltwell's suggestion about finding a local joinery company. It's what we did for a number of windows that were beyond repair and they were able to make an exact copy.

If you're contemplating some DIY repairs then Feltwell posted an excellent description of the inspiring repairs he made to some fine sash windows not so long ago - read and admire here: http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16118

Final thought, the glazing bars on your windows look fairly thin and it's difficult to tell if a new window could be built to the same dimensions and properly accommodate DG units - but a competent joinery firm should be able to advise.

 

[a twig]

Window fitters have a habit of fixing them in place with a gun based expanding foam - a less vigorous version of the cans sold in DIY stores and beloved of dubious DIY'ers everywhere. A bad thing? Maybe not actually, if done carefully, but hardly how it would have been done originally.

Lime plaster using NHL3.5 does cover the foam very nicely though

 

[paulc]

I'm assuming Everest etc are a complete no no.

The problem with the likes of Everest, Anglian, etc is that you are paying an excessive overhead for marketing and salesmen bonuses. In addition, when things go wrong, you are up against a large, well funded legal department. Best to find a local company that has knowledge of your type of property.

 

[malcolm]

I don't like expanding foam because it is waterproof. Better to chug the gap each side with lime mortar and leave an air gap where you can't get mortar in. At some stage water will get into the wood, and if it finds something waterproof it will tend to build up beside the waterproof barrier and rot the wood. Without expanding foam it would have some chance of dissipating into the building.

 

[Feltwell]

We are mid Wales.

Ooo, you want to be careful advertising you're in Shropshire then - the natives get very funny about that kind of thing close to the border you know!

OK, we haven't seen the outside, but those windows look pretty good to me. Draughtproof them if they need it, fit some much better window furniture and job done I reckon. Besides, a new house, I'm sure you'll find other more pressing things to occupy both your time & wallet :wink:

 

[skier-hughes]

I've fixed my replacement windows with oak wedges and lime mortar.

 

[TheSpid]

We are mid Wales.

Ooo, you want to be careful advertising you're in Shropshire then - the natives get very funny about that kind of thing close to the border you know!

OK, we haven't seen the outside, but those windows look pretty good to me. Draughtproof them if they need it, fit some much better window furniture and job done I reckon. Besides, a new house, I'm sure you'll find other more pressing things to occupy both your time & wallet :wink:

Changed it - I hadn't even thought about changing my location yet - lol.

Yes, I thought about new window furniture and I think we shall leave as be until needed. And yes, already found out we have a problem with the chimney so money is going that way now - :roll:

 

[88v8]

Funny, isn't it, how all these problems surface as soon as one moves in.

Our new windows were fixed with two screw-into-brick fixings, plus the professional foam. This from a chap who does a lot of window work for a conservation joiner.

Double glazing..... we used 12mm (apologies for foreign measurements) units with hand-drawn wobbly glass from the Original Glass Co. https://www.thinsealedunits.co.uk/
A huge improvement on the ugly float glass that was in the previous windows. The Co also offers machine-drawn glass but the wobble is rather imperceptible and imho not worth the bother.
They have been face-puttied with the requisite stuff in a tube.

They need a seven-eights rebate with a height of three-eighths, and you may be able to accommodate this in your existing frames.

Ivor

 

[Bogart]

Are you sure you need to go down the DG route at all. In my opinion a large outlay for a relatively small saving, assuming your window to wall percentage is sensible. You will be losing much more heat through the walls, doors roofs etc .

 

[TheSpid]

Not sure at all Bogart. In fact after reading on here I think it's not necessary at the moment. The windows themselves are in good nick bar a few bits of rotten cil. We will live with it for a good while and see what we can do.

 

[malcolm]

Sounds a sensible plan. When I first moved in I wasted a lot of money and worse I ruined some stuff and regret that. Thinking time is really useful.

 

[Bogart]

As you say live with it for a while see how you feel in spring. As you say it is not listed you do not need to worry about getting exact matches on new DG windows which is a blessing. Mind you if you are thinking down that route do it
before somebody decides your place should be listed.