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Are Double Glazed Windows Worth It?

Skill Builder

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Should you spend money on double glazing or on a holiday? Roger asks as he delves into the practical and financial considerations of replacing single-glazed windows with double-glazing.

Roger discusses the challenges of maintaining single-glazed sash windows, such as drafts, rattling, and the frequent need for painting and sanding.

While double glazing offers improved draft-proofing and comfort, Roger points out potential downsides, including condensation issues and the risk of sealed units misting up, leading to costly repairs.

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◾ Summary

🌧️ Single vs. Double Glazing: The video discusses the maintenance challenges of single-glazed sash windows, their aesthetic impact, and the pros and cons of replacing them with double-glazed windows.

💷 Cost Analysis: Highlights government data showing potential savings of around £100 annually on heating bills with double glazing, but questions if the investment (~£10,000) is financially worthwhile over the long term.

🔧 Comfort Trade-offs: While double glazing improves draft-proofing and comfort, it can lead to issues like condensation and misting, requiring additional maintenance.

📊 Alternative Investments: Emphasizes that investing the same money in financial products like an ISA could yield similar returns over time without the upfront cost of window replacement.

🛠️ Practical Tips: Simple measures like using heavy curtains and optimizing natural sunlight can significantly reduce heat loss, offering an effective, low-cost alternative to double glazing.

◾ Compared to other insulation measures:

Loft insulation can save up to 30% of heat loss, making it a more effective solution for overall energy efficiency.

Cavity wall insulation and floor insulation also provide significant benefits, often contributing to a more considerable reduction in energy consumption compared to window replacement alone.

◾ Insights Based on Numbers

£100/year is the estimated savings with double glazing, which may rise with increasing fuel prices.

Based on current savings, a £10,000 investment for double glazing may take over 10 years to recoup.

Windows account for 18% of heat loss, but double glazing only reduces it to approximately 10%.

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20 Comments

@ratscabies8458 1 year ago

I’m amazed this question is being asked. I had 2 thousand to spend on my windows but instead I went to Magaluf for 10 days. I got bladdered every night, met these two slappers from Sunderland , got thrown off the plane on the way home and arrested twice ! When I got home I thought my cat would have died as I forgot about him but he survived by licking the condensation of the window……..Brilliant !!!

@Close_Call 1 year ago

Only in the UK this question could be asked with a straight face:p

@rtel123 1 year ago

I immediately went to double IGUs not just for any heat savings but to stop the subtle cold air tumbling past me as I sat near the window. But a bigger improvement was noise isolation from the street! However, my anger with the industry remains, because they are built to fail, usually on the south or west side of the house. They are assembled in a comfy 20 degree factory, then installed in a hot south wall. The air expansion is huge and will blow out the glued seams over time, causing condensation. You cannot reseal, you have to trash perfect glass and have a new sealed unit made (to fail again). They could make them last longer two ways. They should be glued together in a very warm chamber, so that the air will not be hotter when installed in the sun. So, the unit will mostly be in a slight vacuum state, instead of under internal air pressure. The other way would be to install a tiny check valve in the spacer, so that on the fist hot day in the sun, air can be released, and when it cools, a slight vacuum will form.

@digbyhurricane 1 year ago

We have lived in a mid-terraced Victorian house for 45 years, all windows still single glazed verticle sliding sash, 27 years ago we installed taylor made secondary (inside) plastic framed verticle sliding glazing to the north sea facing front bay windows & one beside the second floor bay. From the outside it cannot be seen, still keeping original look. The rear of the house is still single glazed, yes it's draughty but we still cope with that. In the 'white gold' era when most weeks there was a knock on the door, some 'getrichquiuckcowboy' selling DG, we always answered "no thanks, we're keeping original wood (all made from pitch pine) I know for sure, because I burn off the paint and re-paint when the 'coats' get too many. No, we won't be installing plastic DG, we will leave that to the next owner, that's if we ever sell, unlikely though at nearly 80, town centre location is far more important, doctors, pharmacies, supermarket, library, park and sea front, all 3 to 5 minutes walk, dentist 15 mins. Mind you, a new slate roof would help.

@harveysmith100 3 weeks ago

Really lovely to see you have kept the Box Framed Sash windows at the front Roger.
Just to add to what you have said, if you know a good carpenter, (you know at least three.) get them to take the sash out and install draught proof strips. It makes the world of difference.

@marcusswalwell209 1 year ago

Hi Roger, like you I didnt want to replace our original 1905 sash windows and their imperfect glass and narrow woodwork. I did investigate wooden double glazing - which was crazy expensive. So I explored secondary glazing using perspex sheets bought to size held in by magnetic tape. The result is brilliant. No change to the original appearance and a reasonable insulation with no drafts.

@ReePeetable 1 year ago

I’ve been in the glazing trade for over 43years.. I am a glazier..replace broken glass, shopfronts, greenhouses etc, cut glass and do edgework in my workshop. I don’t fit plastic windows I don’t like them, most of my work now is replacing failed units, the methods now to manufacture them are questionable, great for the unit maker but in terms of lifetime of a unit they just aren’t going to last that long, it is and will become a big cost to homeowners.. there will be homes where you can’t see out..all gone milky, can’t afford to replace.
Some of the modern windows I’d be surprised if they manage 20 years.
I’m lucky the glass in my house is 120 years old, one in the front room you can still see the tape marks from the war (when the sun is at the right angle🙂) secondary glazing is great if it works with you windows. Thermally it’s really only for 3-4months of the year, Acoustically some of the acoustic laminated is really impressive.. we are going to be woefully low on tradesmen, seems to be very little proper apprenticeships, I do wonder how the housing stock, especially the windows will look in 30years.

@logik100.0 1 year ago

I installed my DG sash units myself and very happy, 12 units and spend around 12k on them. If you did everything based on payback you would never do any house improvement. I spent loads of money over the years draft proofing and on maintenance of the old sashes. House is warmer. Wife is happy....

@richarddicktaylor219 1 year ago

For our 1930s concrete London flat I build insulated MR MDF (18mm) shutters which make a huge difference to the heating in summer and winter, but not when it came to the EPC as they only care about double or triple glazed (a ridiculous system). As several viewers commented new double glazed units don't last much beyond 10 years and those made of wood tend also fail as the finger-joints and glue give up. Brett Hull the US building specialist says use Acoya or similar to make 100 year windows but don't double glaze as you'd need to replace the glass at least 5 times (every 20 years). I have tried solar film (helps in the summer and a little in the winter) but if I could (and I can't as the head leaseholder Westminster Council actually owns them) I would replace the glazing with thicker single pane low-E glass. The council put in secondary glazing next door and from the outside you can see 5-10mm gaps and the whole things was a waste of money but it means this council flat has a better EPC than mine:face-pink-tears:

@EverydayLife621 1 year ago (edited)

Roger does have a point here, we have a 1917 double cottage (2 houses into 1 - 120 Sqm - 20-25Kw heating/water needed) - EPC grade F (when we 1st moved in the cost for heating/electricity was £4000 / year), but adding partial double glazing, adding a 2nd hand /accident damaged (dropped) ) ASHP (with a few modular batteries, 20Kw, alongside IOG) - and keeping the old oil boiler when its cold (total cost was £10k to install - for windows, batteries, ASHP) - and in 2-3 years we have paid for itsself (current bill is around £500-£800 / year) - whether you have double or singles glazed windows is 'noise' in an old property - 40% of heatloss calculations for ASHP's is airtightness

@C4sp3r123 1 year ago

The main saving on UPVC v wooden windows in my experience is on the maintenance saving. You no longer need to sand and paint them and repair rot etc. This over the years can be a considerable saving, especially if you are having to pay someone to do the work for you, which to be honest is going to be most households.

The maintenance issue was touched on early in the video but it was then not included in the financial comparison/savings. If this were included in the financial comparison then I think the pay back period would be significantly less even if you do the maintenance work yourself as you would still have the cost of materials, tools etc and most significantly is the time spent doing it. In certain parts of the country the maintenance factor is even greater for areas that have harsher weather.

From a purely financial view with regards to the savings on heating I agree with Rodger's view but it is important to look at the whole cost comparison.

Leaving the front windows wooden is often a happy compromise where you can reduce the maintenance requirements to just a few windows and keep the "curb appeal" while having UPVC on the rest of the property.

Excellent video as ever.

@chrisgoff1417 1 year ago

This surprised me for a moment and then I realised I'm on the opposite side of the world, and here in Australia the challenge and the savings come more from keeping cooled air inside. The condensation problems are also dramatically less because even in more humid areas and seasons, air conditioning dries the internal air. Overall, in Australia the cost-benefit balance is much more favourable for improving the air-tightness of a building. Similarly, I suspect awnings and wide eaves are pretty much a non-event for cost-saving in UK, but in Australia they are gold.

@Gazr965 1 year ago (edited)

I have made my own secondary glazing with 40 mm air gap, complete with neoprene seals, if they ever mist I can just undo 6 dome head brass nuts to get to the outer pane, but they have never misted in around 8 years, have some silica based cat litter inside them to absorb just in case any vapour does get inside.
Ps They cost very little, obviously the Pilkington K glass was the dearest part.
Gaz Yorkshire.

@megapangolin1093 3 months ago

Good things here, Roger. Did my DG 30 years ago, did the roof insulation and the walls, when I had some spare money, and then as traffic got noisier, a few extra triple glazed units, house is warm and appreciated every day. What people do, I think is that they don't save money by not doing this sort of thing, they spend the money on a car and lose £3K/yr, and get a bloke in to repaint the windows (who goes up ladders any more), and paying them too, every 5 years. My car is reliable and ancient. It ends up all being about balance in the end. Well done, good video.

@johncrofts4393 1 year ago

We live in a 120 year old Edwardian semi. We have upvc double glazing at the rear, but like Roger, the front is the original wooden, single glazed casements.
These are a bit draughty, but we have never had a problem with damp. Some time ago, I asked Roger what it might cost to have good quality wooden bespoke double glazing and he thought it might cost around £18000!
It's going g to take an awfully long time to recoup this even at double the estimated fuel savings.

@tomtom4405 1 year ago (edited)

My father in law had some lovely hardwood sash windows. He managed to swap the glass with little double glazed units in the same windows and put in a heavier sash weight. It worked well!

@mikerodent3164 1 year ago (edited)

What I went for, in a 1930s house with all the original casement windows, was to replace the single panes with vacuum glazing panes, i.e. fitted into the original casements. Manufactured by a Japanese company, LandVac. They were actually shipped eventually in a huge specially built jig all the way from Japan. Testing specs show that they are equivalent to triple glazing. The vacuum is also sealed in very very securely, as you might imagine. It's also obviously very important to stop draughts round the casements with suitable weatherstrips, the sturdier the better. In fact my main motivation was not heat insulation but noise insulation: things like overflying jets, etc. These panes are obviously not cheap but much much cheaper than installing horrible UPVC units. The insulation effect is very impressive. But also I combine this with very thick thermal-lined curtains, as you suggest.

@simcax6087 1 year ago

I'm amazed that this is even a question. I've got 3 pane low-e coated windows since like 6 years here in central Europe. They are as insulating as the wall around them. Heat AND noise. I can't imagine living in a house with single glazed windows. It's not just about the money, it's the comfort. It's a no brainer here really, and there's not much difference in the climate here vs in the UK nowadays. Winters are cold, summers are hot.

@adus123 1 year ago

I guess heavy curtains are a lot cheaper than new windows lol especially if you're single glazed windows still have a bit of life left in them. This is also good advice for anybody living in rented accommodation Who don't have a say in the up keep of the property.