Is it possible to fit your own double glazing with limited DIY Skill?

gromituk

Can you (or anyone else) tell me more about repairing sealed units, please? I have a wooden conservatory which has about 15 units all installed with silicone sealant, which are, as I predicted, failing one by one. One thing I have considered is splitting them apart to leave a single glazed construction. I can't drill holes in them because they are toughened. It would be difficult to get them replaced because some of them are awkward shapes which presented great difficulty to the original glazier. In any case, I wouldn't want to replace them without routing out all the frames to allow use of the dry glazing technique, and that's not a job I relish either.

Rhino666

Hey George

That argon used in welding is usually only a CO2/Argon mix where only 2% is Argon. The Argon shield as it's known allows for a cleaner welding (less spatter) but with so much CO2 may not be that useful for double glazing units.

I hope this hasn't !!!!!! on your fireworks :-)

Rob

Rex_Mundi

gromituk wrote:

Can you (or anyone else) tell me more about repairing sealed units, please? I have a wooden conservatory which has about 15 units all installed with silicone sealant, which are, as I predicted, failing one by one. One thing I have considered is splitting them apart to leave a single glazed construction. I can't drill holes in them because they are toughened. It would be difficult to get them replaced because some of them are awkward shapes which presented great difficulty to the original glazier. In any case, I wouldn't want to replace them without routing out all the frames to allow use of the dry glazing technique, and that's not a job I relish either.

If your units have already gone. You can't solve the problem only by resealing them. Double glazed units use desicant in them to absorb the water in the air sealed inside. If you don't renew this, the desicant will reach a point where it can't absorb any more water. This will mean that even with a brand new seal, they will still mist up inside. Even a brand new unit with no desicant in would mist up.

I'm not sure why your shapes cause so much problems. Any decent glazier or double glazed unit manufacturer should be able to make units in pretty much any shape you need.

............................................................

George..........................I give up mate. Thanks once again for giving me such a laugh.

alanobrien

gromituk wrote:

Can you (or anyone else) tell me more about repairing sealed units, please? I have a wooden conservatory which has about 15 units all installed with silicone sealant, which are, as I predicted, failing one by one. One thing I have considered is splitting them apart to leave a single glazed construction. I can't drill holes in them because they are toughened. It would be difficult to get them replaced because some of them are awkward shapes which presented great difficulty to the original glazier. In any case, I wouldn't want to replace them without routing out all the frames to allow use of the dry glazing technique, and that's not a job I relish either.

Sounds like a big job. In the past i have repaired several broken units by removing them, splitting them, drying out the dessicant in an oven, buying a pane of the right size, then cleaning / drying the units and finally rebonding with silicon.

Sounds simple but is quite fiddly, especially with larger units.

Interestingly in my old place we had UPVC double glazing for many years and never had a unit seal fail, they were usually damaged by impact, i.e. a football and in one case a bird with no sense of dirrection.

In our new place several Aluminium units were replaced before we moved in and another failed recently. Odd, it makes me wonder if Aluminium units are more prone to failure than UPVC ?

gromituk

Thanks for that. As to your units failing, I guess it depends on the quality of the seals, whether they are kept dry, and how much stress is put on the units by differential thermal movement. I believe that aluminium's coefficient of thermal expansion is less than PVCu's - i.e. it will move less with changes in temperature - but if it holds the unit too tightly it will put more stress on it.

996ducati

alanobrien wrote:

In our new place several Aluminium units were replaced before we moved in and another failed recently. Odd, it makes me wonder if Aluminium units are more prone to failure than UPVC ?

It maybe that the Aluminium windows were a lot older than the PVCu? Aluminium first became popular in the 70's as a replacement home product where as PVCu wasnt popular until years later?

Not many homes have Aluminium now as replacements.

George_Bray

Rex_Mundi wrote:

George..........................I give up mate. Thanks once again for giving me such a laugh.

Rex

Don't give up. Just because I may have suggested you were wrong with some of your reservations / doubts on my unusual approach, doesn't mean you don't have a lot to offer this forum, in terms of standard double glazing.

Incidentally, what is it that still has you laughing? I know this forum isn't exactly a scientific journal but it would add a bit of credibility to your scepticism if you provided an explanation. Also, if I can succeed in double glazing my house for less than 10% of the 'normal' cost, then what's so funny? And if I succeed in reducing heat loss by making sure my units really are filled with argon, rather than argon and air, is that amusing? And if it only takes about an hour per module to make these double glazing units myself with a seal that could hopefully last 25 years, for a 40% discount off the cost of buying-in inferior units, isn't that worth doing?

Regards
George