Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

My parents’ neighbours have a big Victorian house; they recently decided to make a massive investment and had *all* the windows replaced- they now have timber-framed triple-glazed windows, and dramatically cheaper bills and a much more comfortable life!! 

My parents have the identical house, two semi-detached houses from the 1880s, but my parents have the original wooden windows and single glazing, and I cannot tell you the howling gales throughout the house…

Laura_Elsewhere

Waterproofing- I used some Fabsil painted onto on our Merrells hiking shoes, and it worked fine, if you want to avoid an aerosol. 

And for cotton, I re-proofed my old 1970s cotton Vango Force Ten tent with Nikwax-Cotton and it’s superb. My homemade canvas bicycle-panniers have stayed really watertight thanks to that Nikwax-Cotton too- you dilute it with water and paint or sponge it on, but it can also be used on clothing in a washing machine according to the instructions, although I haven’t yet done that.

Green_hopeful

@Laura_Elsewhere have a look at Extraglaze. They do magnetic double glazing. Lots of old houses use it because it retains the old character but keeps you super warm and reduces noise. I think its even better than upvc in terms of thermal efficiency. https://www.extraglaze.co.uk/

We have had a few of our wooden windows repaired with new wood spliced in. It cost £400 for the repairs to a window and two doors.  We probably wouldn’t even get one window for that. Ours are double glazed but with a very narrow airgap. 

ET22

Oh wow, I bet they look great. They sound really expensive but I can imagine they are very aesthetically pleasing. 

Laura_Elsewhere

Green_hopeful said:

@Laura_Elsewhere have a look at Extraglaze. They do magnetic double glazing. Lots of old houses use it because it retains the old character but keeps you super warm and reduces noise. I think its even better than upvc in terms of thermal efficiency. https://www.extraglaze.co.uk/

We have had a few of our wooden windows repaired with new wood spliced in. It cost £400 for the repairs to a window and two doors.  We probably wouldn’t even get one window for that. Ours are double glazed but with a very narrow airgap. 

Thanks for that- an interesting website to read. But unfortunately they are not suitable for the enormous windows of Victorian houses in Scotland! For instance, the smaller window in the sitting room is only ten feet tall by four foot wide… the bay window is gigantic, two of those ten foot windows at the sides of the central one with its two five-foot wide panels of cylinder-blown glass full of ripples and bubbles over the decades…

it’s all beautiful- when we moved there in the 1970s, people sympathised with my parents for only being able to afford such an ugly, inconvenient white elephant, and for half a century only three rooms had been used… it really is beautiful but it was built for servants, plural, and frankly I wish my parents had moved when they were young enough to move. 

We’re trying to make it less difficult for them, each time we visit, but it’s definitely not “labour-saving” or “convenient”!!!

and the neighbours told me their windows had cost *ten thousand pounds per window* throughout the whole house, ground and first floors and attic rooms…!!

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

My parents’ neighbours have a big Victorian house; they recently decided to make a massive investment and had *all* the windows replaced- they now have timber-framed triple-glazed windows, and dramatically cheaper bills and a much more comfortable life!! 

My parents have the identical house, two semi-detached houses from the 1880s, but my parents have the original wooden windows and single glazing, and I cannot tell you the howling gales throughout the house…

I can imagine. I grew up in a Victorian house with the original sash windows and the glass is thinner than modern glass. Jack Frost inside was so beautiful but I'm still averse to cold!

Laura_Elsewhere said: the neighbours told me their windows had cost *ten thousand pounds per window* throughout the whole house, ground and first floors and attic rooms…!!

 

Primrose

We moved into  NEWBUILD HIUSE WITH WOODEN WINDOWS 47 years ago. Within two years we were having problems with poorly dried wood and decided to replace everything with UPVCDOUBLE GLASING.  THAT WAS 45 years ago with no painting or enande required except an annual greasing of window hinged.  Ing etc that represents a valuable cost/time saving for two full time working people.