Single gazing and shutters?

[elm]

We've been having a re-think about double glazed sashes and have come to the conclusion that single glazing will look a lot more comfortable. Not wishing to fall foul of building regs, I was wondering if anyone can tell me whether single glazing and interior shutters are acceptable. ......

 

[skier-hughes]

Our house isn't listed.
My CO said single glazing would be best.
Our Bregs guy said no.
Although he did say, if we could prove that we were doing enough things to reduce our carbon emmisions he'd consider it.

I did a four page report on what we were doing, including the fittings of heavy curtains, how wood was a poorer conducter of heat (new windows) than aluminium (old windows), replacing the oil rayburn as main heating source, upgrading radiators every thing I could think of and at the end, still with the CO fighting our corner............................














We have double glazing.

 

[Penners]

Elm - the critical question is: are you listed? If so, then you may well get away with single glazing. If not, you're likely to share skier-hughes' experience, I'm afraid.

 

[Mark]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Elm isnt replacing windows with new ones is he/she?

I'm sure that the truth is that those windows are being repaired.

Really.

As such the rules for new windows don't apply.

My Local BCO will accept 'repair' even for some windows where the original sash box was retained but upvc windows were installed over them. I can take out the upvc and reinstate the sashes and that can count as repair. The guy I spoke to also had a lot to say about pointless regulations and what a waste of his time they were.

 

[skier-hughes]

The guy I spoke to also had a lot to say about pointless regulations and what a waste of his time they were.

Ours was completely the opposite, and even said that John Prescott said we all had to have double glazing, so we all must.

 

[Penners]

John Prescott

Wash your mouth out with soap.

 

[skier-hughes]

It was a quote, I didn't say it............ please forgive me.... I'll go and do pennance, but cutting out my ceiling in the bathroom.

Is doing pennance something everyone does for Penners?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

It was a quote, I didn't say it............ please forgive me.... I'll go and do pennance, but cutting out my ceiling in the bathroom.

Is doing pennance something everyone does for Penners?

I don't know, but single gazing is something I used to do wistfully in nightclubs...

 

[skier-hughes]

I do it wistfully now, but was a bit more proactive earlier in my life......

 

[Penners]

single gazing is something I used to do wistfully in nightclubs

Used to, Gareth?

I'm sure that was you I saw in the Peppermint Hippopotamus, the other night, tucking fivers into Gorgeous Gloria's garter.

 

[elm]

Thanks all for that - interesting stuff. The farmhouse is old, but not listed - however it does lie within a National Park. The current plan is to install single glazed sashes with the glass that reflects the heat inwards (name escapes me after a couple of pints of home brew!), insulated interior shutters and hefty cutains. I like the idea of calling it a 'repair' - the original boxes will be discovered I'm sure .....

We also have this little fire window http://www.mypicshare.com/1u6vvdyhpic.html - about 19" x 14" and currently sporting a single sheet of wildly patterned seventies frosted glass - suggestions as to what to replace it with welcome? That pebbledash will be coming off to reveal the bluestone, eventually .

Isn't it odd that we can't make informed, grownup decisions about our own windows in our own houses .....

 

[Penners]

wildly patterned seventies frosted glass - suggestions as to what to replace it with welcome

Horticultural glass is uneven enough to look old (if you're not too purist about it) and very inexpensive.

 

[skier-hughes]

Are you actually taking out a window and replacing it with another one?
Are you currently single or double glazed?

I think you'll run into the same problems as I had and you'll be double glazed in no time at all

 

[elm]

Currently we have elderly aluminium double glazed top openers and a single glazed fire window on the front of the house, all need replacing - this is where we want to put the single glazing. The rest of the house has either sixties single glazing or aluminium sliding sashes - we are quite happy to replace these with double glazed timber casements. When we bought the house we asked our surveyor if he thought we'd get away with traditional single glazed windows for the front, (although we didn't say about the insulated shutters, k glass etc.) he said "The National Park will love it, Building Regulations will hate it".

Both seem to move in mysterious ways, but who is likely to have the stronger influence I wonder .....

Certainly I'm not too purist for horticultural glass, thank you for the suggestion - just not sure what to set it into as I don't know how the fire window would have looked originally?

Decision time will soon be upon us, we've met a very skilled friend of a friend with a spare ten days who is prepared to make the sashes for the front at a very reasonable cost if we glaze and fit ourselves.

 

[skier-hughes]

Same as us with mostly aluminium and some single glazed wood, I suspect Building control will win if it's anything like our area, as I said before, even with the CO arguing for us to install single glazing in our 600year old house the BCO won.