What are the benefits of double-glazing?

What are the benefits of double-glazing?

Double-glazing delivers a host of benefits from improved energy efficiency to enhanced home security. We take a look at the reasons to upgrade to new high performance replacement windows and doors.

Window and door design and manufacture has evolved dramatically over the last decade to deliver a step-change in performance.

A new generation of double-glazed windows and doors can help you to make your home warmer and more secure, while delivering the perfect match to the individual character of your property.

And you can also feel good about your new purchase. Windows and doors can pay for themselves in reduced heating bills, making your home greener at the same time by reducing carbon emissions.

This is our run down of 10 of the reasons which make replacement windows and doors a top home improvement in 2019.

Why should I get new double-glazed windows and doors?

Reason #1: Make your home warmer

Windows account for around 20% of the heat lost from your home after energy leaking roof space and walls. This means new energy efficient double-glazed windows can have a big impact in improving the energy efficiency of your property, making it warmer and cosier even in the depths of winter.

The exact savings will be dependent on your property and the windows previously installed but the Energy Saving Trust suggests that Energy efficient windows and doors can cut heat loss by up to 75 per cent.

Reason #2: Cut your home heating bills

In improving the insulation of your home, double and triple glazed windows can also deliver big savings on the cost of heating your property.

Again, the exact savings you make will be dependent on the windows and doors you had before and the exact specification of windows and doors that you chose to replace them with.

However, as an illustrative example according to the Glass and Glazing Federations Energy Savings Calculator  on an average detached house, with old single glazed windows, replacement with new A⁺⁺ energy efficient PVC-U triple-glazed windows, could save you as much as £813.44p per year.

This means that depending on specification they’ll pay for themselves, while delivering a host of other benefits throughout their service life.

Reason #3: Do your bit for the environment

In improving the insulation of your home, double and triple glazed windows can also significantly reduce the carbon footprint of your property. Did you also know that you can purchase uPVC windows manufactured from recycled material. The VEKA Infinity System combines the highest levels of technology and style that you would expect from a VEKA window system, coupled with an environmental conscience,  Recycled windows as Infinity profiles contain up to 80% recycled content, dependent on the window style.

The average UK home will typically pump out five tonnes of carbon every year. Of this a whopping 85% is generated as a by-product of heating water and the spaces inside.

Applying the same model as highlighted above as the owner of a detached home you could save 2.67 tonnes of carbon emissions per year and 0.73 tonnes of carbon usage by switching to new A⁺⁺ energy efficient PVC-U triple-glazed windows

Reason #4: Improve your home’s security

Replacement double-glazed windows and doors can significantly improve the security of your home acting as a deterrent to criminals.

New double-glazed aluminium windows and doors, for example use multi-point locking as standard. At the point at which the window handle is turned or the door catches a series of bolts are fired from the sash (the opening part of the door or window) into the frame, locking the two together.

This delivers significant benefits over older windows and particularly older timber doors, which rely on just few fixing points.

You can improve the security of your home even further by selecting an anti-bump, anti-pick and anti-drill door cylinder which are sold with a SS312 Sold Secure Diamond rating and TS007:2012 British Kitemark – 3 star rating options.

If you’re particularly concerned about the security of your home, you may want to consider a police approved Secured by Design Specification, which introduces additional checks, to guarantee the highest levels of performance.

Reason #5: Define the character of your property

Improving the appearance of your home is another key benefit of replacement double-glazing.

The plague of unsympathetically designed PVC-U windows that were installed and fitted throughout Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Dorset and Surrey (not to mention the rest of the country) during the late 1980s, through to the early noughties, have left a scar throughout the region.

Replacing old and badly designed windows and doors with new and far more considered windows and doors can have a transformative effect on your property.

This includes the installation of a new generation of PVC double glazed windows and doors, which combine advanced thermal performance and enhanced security with great design.

This includes options developed specifically for period properties including Residence 9 which became the the first low maintenance PVC-U window manufactured with a flush sash. It offers the opportunity to directly replicate traditional 19^th Century window design in a heritage window – but the best part is, it’s virtually maintenance free.

It gets its name from its 9 energy efficient chambers. These deliver superior thermal and acoustic performance, also delivering far greater strength and improved security. This means it achieves u-values as low as 0.8 W/m²K as a triple-glazed window.

Residence 7, is a slightly more streamlined version of R9. The Heritage Flush Sash from Deceuninck also  delivers exceptional sightlines

Reason #6: Create new living space outside your home

Double glazing isn’t only about shutting the elements out. It’s also about connecting inside and outside spaces. A key benefit of double glazed bi-folding and sliding patio doors is the seamless connection they provide between your home and garden, turning the space outside your property into an extension of the space within.

With a super-slick no fuss design and operation, aluminium sliding doors offer a wide expanse of glazing, allowing you to look out onto your garden year-round without the interruption of rows of uprights.

They’re also space saving, sliding to stack and overlap on one another to have a minimal presence and without encroaching on space inside, or immediately outside the home.

Aluminium bi-folding doors combine a strong architectural quality with slim sightlines, exceptional functionality and high performance. And most importantly, they remove walls.

For example, we supply the Visifold aluminium bi-folding door. It’s been designed to deliver ultra-slim sightlines while incorporating the latest polyamide thermal breaking technologies to offer exceptional thermal efficiency.

Reason #7: Soundproof your property

The world is getting more crowded and nosier. Double glazed windows can help you to establish your own oasis of calm by blocking out unwanted noise.

Acoustic glass limits noise pollution through the deflection and dissipation of soundwaves. It does this through a combination of glass thickness, the use of acoustic interlayers and the space between the glass, the variables of which disrupt the soundwave.

We work with the UK’s leading glass suppliers and energy efficient IGU manufacturers to offer a range of high-performance energy saving windows and doors, including soundproof windows and noise reducing secondary glazing.

This includes Saint Gobain Planitherm, which combines high levels of acoustic performance with exceptional levels of energy efficiency in the Saint Gobain Planitherm Comfort and Comfort+ ranges.

These feature Saint Gobain Stadip Silence, a specially developed acoustic glass.  This uses a specially developed laminate interlayer, designed to suppress noise at the specific resonant frequency of glass, achieving an airborne sound insulation index value of 54dB

Reason #8: Double glazing can help you sell your home more quickly

Home buyers don’t like on-costs or the prospect of more hassle after they’ve completed their purchase.

If your windows aren’t up to scratch you could find that its used to negotiate down your sales price, while recent poll found that 87% of buyers said that energy efficient windows and doors in a good state of repair were essential in determining their decision to proceed.

Conversely, well designed windows and doors can increase the appeal of your property to buyers, while maintaining its value.

Reason #9: Double glazing can help you add cost effective space to your property

There’s of course always the option of staying put and extending your home. Glazed extensions bring space and light into your home but do so at the fraction of the cost of a traditional ‘brick & mortar’ construct.

They’re built around a conservatory frame but feature more brick-work, internal boxing and are even available in a solid roof format, all of which combine to create a much more substantial feel.

At the same time they throw more light back into your property, providing a flow and connection between the original house and your new living space.

The Ultraframe LivinRoom is a great example. It’s suitable for a wide variety of uses from kitchens, to gyms and playrooms. The addition of bi-folding or inline sliding patio doors, as we have seen provides a great flow out to your garden, seamlessly connecting indoor and outdoor spaces.

The LivinRoof, again from Ultraframe, moves things on further allowing you to combine high-performance glazing units with highly insulated solid aluminium panels. This gives the LivinRoof a U-value of just 0.18w m/2k, making it not only an affordable but an incredibly energy efficient choice.

Reason #10: Double glazing is low maintenance

It’s the reason why uPVC double-glazed windows and doors are so popular but it also applies to a new generation of aluminium and to a lesser extent timber windows – and that’s that they’re low maintenance.

PVC-U windows require only the minimum amount of care, the odd wipe down and occasional oiling of moving parts, for example hinges and locks to stay in tip top shape. Aluminium products also require only minimum maintenance.

For timber it’s a little bit more but new treatments significantly reduce the maintenance cycle of quality double glazed timber windows, for example the Stormproof range from Dempsey Dyer, has been designed to withstand the very worst the elements can throw at it, with only minimal maintenance.

If you’re looking for help in planning your next home improvement, or simply want to talk about any of the points raised in this discussion, please don’t hesitate to contact me or a member of the team for more by calling 01264 359355 or emailing email sales@kjmgroup.co.uk

Also Read Gas Cost Crisis – how to save money.