laminate sheets for Sash Window Modification.

Calibos

We bought timber Double Glazed Sash windows from a certain famous South Western Joinery company a few years ago. Was never really happy with the sound insulation of these windows but thought it was the nature of the beast for sashes. Eventually discovered that the hall door from the same company was letting a lot of sound in too and thus thought that maybe we had simply used the wrong company to supply us.

Now while I still think we probably should have used a different company, some recent investigations during the current windy weather on the hall door led me to discover that there is actually one corner warped on the hall door letting in a significant draught, noise and a sliver of light in that corner. Now I'm not sure I can blame the Joinery fully because I never got round to painting over the factory applied paint finish after the doors and windows had acclimatised to the house. Anyway, I trip to Chadwicks to purchase some self adhesive draught excluder gaskets and now the draughts are gone, the sliver of light is gone and the street noise from the door has been significantly reduced. .ie. The solid wood door and two double glazed top half panels in the door actually do do a good job keeping out the noise. It was the gap from the warped corner letting in all the noise. So Jobs a goodin'.

This discovery and fix then prompted me to sit down and really study the Sash windows and how they seal.

In terms of the Horizontal surfaces of the top and bottom sashes, there is room for improvement. Because the frames didn't sit perfectly square in the reveals, the outer rubber gaskets on the sashes don't properly seal or compress fully against the bottom or top of the frame. Nor does the gasket where the two sashes meet/interface in the middle. I can see how I can fit several horizontal runs of the chadwicks gaskets to properly seal the sashes at top, middle and bottom.

With regard to the vertical sealing of the sashes against the runners/channels of the frame. There are what looks like foam/rubber gaskets wrapped in a nylon weave type material to create a frictionless compressable seal of the sashes against their runner trims so they can move up and down smoothly.

Unfortunately there is enough play of the sashes within their guide channels that these vertical gaskets of not compressed in some areas and not even touching in other places. Thus I reckon that by contact cementing some 2-4mm low friction strips to the guide channel trims I can ensure compressed gaskets top to bottom without overly compromising the ease of sliding up/down of the windows.

So where can I buy sheets of white laminate that I could cut into strips and glue to the appropriate areas of the frame channels?

dathi

there's a dublin based company that sell seals that might be able to help www.doorandwindowseals.com

kadman

Pics of the seals might help.

Might be an option to fit a larger existing gasket, depending on the type fitted now of course. Would be a better option than stacking gasket on gasket.

If memory serves me well, is there not a 10 year guarantee with these??

Calibos

I'll try and take some photo's when I get a chance.

I wasn't actually talking about stacking gasket on gasket. On the Verticals of the sashes there are gaskets that feel like foam rubber inside and wrapped with a nylon like weave material on the outside. ie. Rubber gasket wrapped with nylon weave to reduce friction when sliding the windows up and down. These gaskets on the verticals of the sashes themselves press against the guide rails of the channels the sashes run in. Except they barely touch the guide rail in some places, not at all in others, and are thus uncompressed and not providing an effective noise seal.

I was thinking the easiest fix might be contact cementing some 2-3mm thick strips of kitchen counter laminate material to the guide rails. ie. shimming the width of the sash channels down so that the gaskets already in place actually compress and work properly.

kadman

Might be quicker to fit a slightly larger bubble gasket on the problem sashes. Additional items that are not normally part of the window/sash construction might lead to problems. You could also look at using a different type of gasket, maybe wool pile or nylon instead.

kadman

As you can see from the enclosed pdf link,

http://www.firewise.co.uk/draught_seals/draught_seals_datasheets/Polyflex-PF109.pdf

By changing the parflip parting bead to a larger size, this would give an extra 2mm compression on each sash towards the non compressing gaskets. Assuming of course that the offending gaskets are located at positions that touch the sash faces.