Secondary Glazing or UPVC?

gazfocus

I’ve mentioned before that my wife and I are in the process of buying our first renovation project. It’s a 1930’s 3 bed semi detached house and it has all the original fireplaces, stained glass windows, etc. 

We are working on a list of what needs doing to the house and trying to put the list in some kind of priority order. 

One thing we don’t seem to be able to decide on is whether to replace the existing windows with some new double glazed units (maybe even with stained glass in them), or keep the existing stained glass windows and install secondary glazing. We’ve found a company online that can make PET secondary glazing on magnetic strips which look quite good (and a lot cheaper than double glazing, though cost isn’t really a factor at the moment). 

I’ve added a photo of the front bay window to give an idea of the existing windows but just wondered what you guys/ladies would do.

ThisIsWeird

Nice, very distinctive, and presumably the original vernacular? And they look to be in good condition? Are they real leaded?

What have your neighbours done with theirs? (Assuming similar house styles)

Surely not cheap to fully replace? And very costly if in timber?  So, if rescuable, I think I'd be inclined to go removable secondary, for use during winter months. Fully remove in warmer climes.

Does the secondary allow for trickle venting if required? 

gazfocus

ThisIsWeird said:

Nice, very distinctive, and presumably the original vernacular? And they look to be in good condition? Are they real leaded?

What have your neighbours done with theirs? (Assuming similar house styles)

Surely not cheap to fully replace? And very costly if in timber?  So, if rescuable, I think I'd be inclined to go removable secondary, for use during winter months. Fully remove in warmer climes.

Does the secondary allow for trickle venting if required? 

Yes, all original, and definitely in good condition. The frames will need painting as not my choice or colour but other than that they’ve been very well looked after by the looks of it. 

We are looking at about £6,000 to replace with basic upvc double glazing and then more if we want anything different to the bog standard. This includes the front door, back door and French door in the dining room. 

The secondary glazing that I’ve seen (called Eco ease) doesn’t allow for any opening but is just held on with magnets so can be easily removed. I was also thinking of having each opening window done in two parts so that the tops can still be opened if wanted, though not sure if that’d work. 

ThisIsWeird

£6k to have all that done in PVC? Sounds ok, pricewise.

But, the new DG units will surely be weak pastiches of the real thing?

If authenticity is important - and if you think it'll continue to be a desirable feature for the house - then I'd go repaint and secondary. For most of the year you'll be able to enjoy them in their fullness, from both sides.

gazfocus

ThisIsWeird said:

Nice, very distinctive, and presumably the original vernacular? And they look to be in good condition? Are they real leaded?

What have your neighbours done with theirs? (Assuming similar house styles)

Surely not cheap to fully replace? And very costly if in timber?  So, if rescuable, I think I'd be inclined to go removable secondary, for use during winter months. Fully remove in warmer climes.

Does the secondary allow for trickle venting if required? 

Apologies, I forgot to answer your question about the neighbours. The rest of the street have just gone for the big standard white upvc double glazing so the house we are buying is the only one with the original windows. 

plumb1_2

Is this a house you’re going to live in or rent?
does it it have a low Epc ? Will secondary glazing improve the epc?

gazfocus

plumb1_2 said:

Is this a house you’re going to live in or rent?
does it it have a low Epc ? Will secondary glazing improve the epc?

It’s going to be a holiday let.

The current EPC is G but the biggest reason is there’s currently no central heating installed. On the EPC, adding double glazing only gives an extra 3 points. 

plumb1_2

Multiple people removing / replacing the secondary glazing due to varying weather conditions.
possibly high maintenance 

tacpot12

Lovely windows! You should definitely keep them. I think I would be inclined not to go with the magnetic system, but to install proper, non-removable double glazed units inside the existing windows. This is unconventional, but a single pane of glass (or perspex) is not going to give you the insulation values needed for a warm home. 

You can get some very thin aluminium framed double-glazed windows, and even 'frameless' windows that might work well inside the existing frames.   

gazfocus

tacpot12 said:

Lovely windows! You should definitely keep them. I think I would be inclined not to go with the magnetic system, but to install proper, non-removable double glazed units inside the existing windows. This is unconventional, but a single pane of glass (or perspex) is not going to give you the insulation values needed for a warm home. 

You can get some very thin aluminium framed double-glazed windows, and even 'frameless' windows that might work well inside the existing frames.   

Thanks, yeh I think keeping the windows is the way I’m leaning. I’m not overly worried about not having double glazing affecting the value of the house in the future. 

The eco ease windows claim to improve the heat loss and noise reduction but I completely see your point about them potentially not being good enough. 

I’d not thought about having double glazing units inside of the existing windows. My concern with that would be the inability to clean the original windows on the inside but it’s definitely an option I will look into as never realised it was an option

FreeBear

gazfocus said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Nice, very distinctive, and presumably the original vernacular? And they look to be in good condition? Are they real leaded?

What have your neighbours done with theirs? (Assuming similar house styles)

Surely not cheap to fully replace? And very costly if in timber?  So, if rescuable, I think I'd be inclined to go removable secondary, for use during winter months. Fully remove in warmer climes.

Does the secondary allow for trickle venting if required? 

We are looking at about £6,000 to replace with basic upvc double glazing and then more if we want anything different to the bog standard. This includes the front door, back door and French door in the dining room.

If you don't have stone lintels over the other doors/windows, there is a very good chance that lintels will need to be inserted to support the outer leaf of brickwork. It was quite common for the timber frames to provide structural support to the brickwork above. When I had my windows replaced, a contingency was built in for the possibility of lintels being required. One window needed it, and we managed to wriggle it in without disturbing much of the brickwork. Over the front door, I had to take out the entire soldier course to  get the steel in. Fun and games ensued trying to source matching imperial size bricks. Also had to slice ~6mm off the back of each one (more work).