DIY Double Glazing

[activeman]

Hi,

So I have been thinking that good home insulation is one of the best ways to maintain an optimal climate in your house. So I'm interested in knowing if anyone has had a go at doing their own double glazing to windows in an existing house. Or is this a job best left to a glazier, considering the potential need for argon gas to be inserted in between the two window panes?

The cost savings, although probably significant, are not a major consideration for this project. But a house that isn't as hot as all fuck in summer is.

Let me know about your experiences and opinions

Thanks

[sathid]

Depending on the type of windows in your house, surely you could just buy some pre-fab aluminimum or timber double glazed window units?

[activeman]

I always thought that aluminium frames are really crappy insulators.

My thoughts were that I already have single glazing, to upgrade may be a bit of work but I at least have half the glass already.
I wouldnt have thought that taking the glass out and making two new grooves in the frame for double glazing would be that hard. Fiddly maybe ?

Cheers

[Hewie]

It depends a bit on the type of openings too.

Im presuming that you have timber frame windows ? how do they open ?

[likefry]

Argon gas isn't needed. A huge benefit will come just from double glazing.

But for the cost you should probably check out other things first. Look at things like you insulation in the roof and walls, Air gaps under doors and how easily air leaks in/out of your house, shading certain parts of the house with a sail or pergola, some windows tints are effective insulators as well.

[shan]

Argon gas isn't needed. A huge benefit will come just from double glazing.

But for the cost you should probably check out other things first. Look at things like you insulation in the roof and walls, Air gaps under doors and how easily air leaks in/out of your house, shading certain parts of the house with a sail or pergola, some windows tints are effective insulators as well.

This is part of whats wrong with the world.
Never though about a tree,
The original go green idea.
Some trees come with climate controll (diciduous)
Of course , trees are messy, cost more for some insurance maybe. Get into drains .crack cement driveways.
Narrr carnt have that.

[likefry]

Yeah I'm all for trees but to get a big established tree will be fairly pricy and will still not cover much of the house.

Definitely plan ahead and plant some decent trees but its not much good having a tree 1m tall and having to wait 10 years for it to get bigger is it.

Spose you could just plant a huge patch of bamboo. That'll give you shade by summer.

[shan]

Made me laugh ^^^
Sorry active man , I know nothing of doubble galzing,
Good sound insulation also I hear

[out_in_front]

I have a patch of bamboo I planted in the back years 5 years ago thats grown SFA....

Interested to see how the double glazing experiment goes - you wouldnt have to have the greatest gap to make a massive difference - you may also be able to get a slight vacuum in there - modify a football pump and plug the hole? which would be just as good if not better than argon gas (dont make it doo much vacuum though - dont want it to crack!)

Also another thought - window tintings will be alot cheaper, obviously not as effective, but as well as adding reflection they also thicken the window with a material that does not conduct heat as well as glass (I.e plastic). I would like to see the difference in heat transfer between the three - double glazed, tinted and untreated.

[vbroom]

a diy job will most likely result in an inefficient insulating window.

as said, the argon layer is not entirely neccesary. You could a combination of e-glass, and tint to get good insulating properties.

Also, give good consideration to your frame that the glass is going in.

No point spending all the money on double glazing only to have an aluminium frame with no heat break and get all the heat transfer through the frame.