Double or Triple glazing

cozzie55

Hi all,

I am looking at replacing all the windows and doors in my house (frames and glazing). Currently i've got aluminum frames.

I've looked to all the usual suppliers of frames. I have also asked a neighbour of mine who fits windows for one of the suppliers. He stated that I should put double glazed units on all the east/west and south facing windows and only use triple glazing to the north.

He went on to say that with triple glazing you get very little heat from the sun penetrating through the glass. I would have thought that while you get less heat through triple glazed units the increase in heat retention in the room would far outway the lack of heat penetration.

I would prefer to go for a very high spec window as I don't see the windows being replaced again for years to come so i am not worried about the cost of double vs triple. I'd rather spend the extra money and get the right product.

What do people think? Is it right to mix double and triple? Or should I just triple glaze the entire house?

Jakey Rolling

I went with double on the south, East and triple on the north. Same thinking regards maximising solar gain on the south side.

Should have gone all triple as it turns out, for all the price difference. We get too much solar gain on the south side, temp up to 25C at this time of year, with HRV running. Heat loss on clear nights is noticeably worse on the DG vs. TG windows. We get condensation on the outside of the TG, shows they are doing their job!

cozzie55

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

I went with double on the south, East and triple on the north. Same thinking regards maximising solar gain on the south side.

Should have gone all triple as it turns out, for all the price difference. We get too much solar gain on the south side, temp up to 25C at this time of year, with HRV running. Heat loss on clear nights is noticeably worse on the DG vs. TG windows. We get condensation on the outside of the TG, shows they are doing their job!

In my mind i'm more worried about heat loss than heat gain especially in winter. Also i have fairly large windows so again id be more worried about loss through them than gain.

Coming from aluminum frames with the minimum double glazed thickness i'm expecting to see a big difference in heat retention. I'll glad to see the back of condensation on the inside of the windows in the mornings.

RossyR

We are doing new build at moment and are looking at windows.

We were also advised by one company ( whose windows I like) to go with double on all bar north facing walls because of the solar gain.

I am considering ignoring his advice and going with triple all over. Cost difference isn't huge on the overall scheme of things.
Would be interested in any other opinions...

BryanF

3G overall u-value at less than 0.1w/m2k

Guill

Prices we got for DG vs TG were minimal. One rep tried to talk us into going with DG as TG will keep the heat out. We live in Ireland, feck all heat to keep out!

893bet

BryanF wrote: »

3G overall u-value at less than 0.1w/m2k

Did you mean 1.0 w/m2k?


I went with triple all over 0.8 windows.

BryanF

893bet wrote: »

Did you mean 1.0 w/m2k?


I went with triple all over 0.8 windows.

:pac: yes thanks

Drift

Although triple glazed windows have better insulation value they might be a bit wasted if, for example, the OP's house is of an age that it has little or no wall insulation - in which case he'd be better to spread the money over a range of insulation works.

Having said that OP - all other things being equal I would go with triple glazed throughout. Passive solar gain is great but most Irish houses haven't been designed with this in mind and generally end up overheated in some places and not benefitting at all in most of the house.

cozzie55

Drift wrote: »

Although triple glazed windows have better insulation value they might be a bit wasted if, for example, the OP's house is of an age that it has little or no wall insulation - in which case he'd be better to spread the money over a range of insulation works.

Having said that OP - all other things being equal I would go with triple glazed throughout. Passive solar gain is great but most Irish houses haven't been designed with this in mind and generally end up overheated in some places and not benefitting at all in most of the house.

I understand where you are coming from it seems pointless to put in top spec windows if the heat will just be lost through the walls. Luckily though the walls were pumped a few years ago, I'm going to redo the attic insulation in the next few weeks myself and then hopefully I'll do extra external wall insulation next year. Windows are being done now as one of the external doors isn't sealing for the last couple of months so that needs to be done sooner rather than later and I may aswell do the windows with it.

I think going on the advice here I'll be going for 3G glazing all over provided the difference in price is minimal.

Rob Thomas

We put in TG in our new build in 2010 and we had the usual advice you are getting about putting DG on some sides for the same reasons. Cost difference was negligible and we decided to go TG all over. Along with sinking a water well, it's the best decision we made in the entire build.

The house takes in plenty of heat when the weather is nice, so we don't have a problem there and as you say yourself we don't have the temperatures in this country which would make any major difference anyway.

Heat retention is fantastic and I would agree with other posters that the real benefit is felt if you also have top quality wall insulation. You should also factor in the noise reduction factor, our house is so quiet in comparison to some of our neighbours and we are on a fairly busy country road.