Has anyone tried Secondary Glazing?

DullGreyGuy

userme said:

Someone recently told me if you add secondary glazing to your windows you can save money on energy bills! Has anyone tried it before? We struggle with condensation in the colder months which then leads to mould around the windows which apparently secondary glazing can help with. Looks much cheaper than having to buy new windows! Any advice? 

The house I grew up in was a mix of double glazing, single glazing and secondary glazing that was built in the early 60s and extended in the 70s. We moved in early 80s.

It certainly helped, though some condensation issues between the two panes. The outer windows were proper lead paned windows though that had bowed significantly over time and some pieces of glass moved to the touch which may have contributed. 

EPC ratings, cost of utilities weren't big conversations points in the 90s but strongly suspect it saved money too. The main downside was that the option to open all aspects of the window (then controlled by an arm) was limited by the secondary glazing. It was possible to remove it, which we did in summer, but was heavy and difficult to do.  In those early spring/autumn months where the weather varies significantly it was a pain removing them and putting them back in.

brook_heather

I used this secondary glazing film from Wickes for the past year and it was quite effective at reducing cold draughts and I felt my north facing rooms were a little warmer during the winter though after a few months it started to wrinkle and looks a little unsightly now.  I will be replacing the single glazed windows with proper double glazed sash units soon but I would say it's worth trying as only a few quid per metre.

https://www.wickes.co.uk/p/210014

userme

Thank you all for your comments! I am going to give this one a try which was recommended to us and see how we get on: ecoease.co.uk Looks like you can get a free sample so will take a look as some of you have described ones that aren't very good!

Ectophile

Nany years ago, I tried the "cling film and sticky tape" type of secondary glazing.  On draughty sash windows it was rubbish.  On a windy day, it would rustle like a crisp packet, until a strong gust of wind would blow the film off the sticky tape.

I then switched to semi-rigid plastic sheets, and self-adhesive magnetic tape.  That worked better, and was easily peeled off in the summer to let more light in.  The semi-rigid plastic isn't glass-like in its clarity, and does yellow over time.

userme

Ectophile said:

Nany years ago, I tried the "cling film and sticky tape" type of secondary glazing.  On draughty sash windows it was rubbish.  On a windy day, it would rustle like a crisp packet, until a strong gust of wind would blow the film off the sticky tape.

I then switched to semi-rigid plastic sheets, and self-adhesive magnetic tape.  That worked better, and was easily peeled off in the summer to let more light in.  The semi-rigid plastic isn't glass-like in its clarity, and does yellow over time.

Yes that sounds similar to the Ecoease secondary glazing panels I'm looking at. They are magnetic so look nice and easy to remove when not needed. I've sent for a sample to see what the quality is like!

mnbvcxz

Ages ago I had thin clear polyester sheets, a sort of thin light floppy plastic rolled material, not rigid. Velcro tape. Worked quite well but velcro gripped too much and tended to pull the tape off the window frame. Can't find it now which is a shame as I'd like to try it again with magnetic tape.

I tried to recreate in with a vinyl sheet from amazon but despite saying crystal clear it was more cloudy and kept the draught out on a window nobody looked through but didn't look good. 

Had the shrink wrap clingfilm kits, works ok as a cheap way to seal a leaky window for the winter. But you can't open/access the window. After a year or so it gets tatty and the tape often damages the paint. Cheap temporary solution though. Beware cat claws.

Did a sheet of acrylic with rubber edging (easyglaze?) pushed onto the edges then clamped with little brackets to the window frame with screws. Worked OK actually but a pain to remove so gets dirty and neglected behind. Advantage is coped with a fairly narrow uneven window frame.

Did acrylic with magnetic tape. Worked but only because had a flat even surrounding surface to window frame. 3mm acrylic on half a square meter of window still bowed and sagged a bit when putting on, some massaging required, didn't leap into place magnetically like I hoped.  Had to redo the tape with superglue to get it to hold. After a year or two the metal tape rusted badly. The magnetic tape was fine. That and the room developed a damp problem so we stopped using it...  Occasionally in a storm pressure would build up behind it and it would pop off onto the floor.

You can get the acrylic and magnetic tape separately from lots of places and mix your own. Look at Amazon reviews though, its quite hard to get decent strength magnetic tape.

Future I wonder about a sheet of acrylic with a foam tape frame around it pulled against the window frame with neodymium strong magnets. Don't know now effective this would be. Or how well the magnets would cope with sliding down. I have a lot of uneven window frames so magnetic tape won't really work and the sash windows are too large for the tape to hold the weight of the large sheet....

Sometimes dream of storm windows outside to protect the window from the winter weather.