Double Glazing On The Web

Are A-rated double glazed windows really the way to go, or are double glazing retailers simply taking advantage of our childhood conditioning? Surely A is always better than C because it comes earlier in the alphabet…?

Funny, but when you stop and think about it, choosing double glazing isn’t an exam. Mine is not necessary better than yours because it ‘scores’ higher. Well perhaps on paper it means something and if the letter A is very important to you, then A-rated windows are most certainly out there to buy.

Personally however, there is more to my purchasing decision than the boxes a product ticks on an industry checklist – I have to weigh that against the other crucial list in my life: my bank balance.

Browsing through statistics I came across an interesting set of figures. Money saved through installing new energy efficient, A-rated double glazed windows, on your average 3-bed semi, over 20years is roughly – wait for it… £8,300.00 Wow – impressive! BUT the savings on the same property, over the same 20 years, with C-rated double glazed windows is £7,700.00.

If I’ve got this right, and believe me I’m no mathematician, that’s a saving difference, over a 20 year period, of just £30 a year, approximately £600 in total. Given that I’m unlikely to be staying in my property for the full 20 years, probably more like five, if the cost to upgrade from A to C is more than £150 total, than I’m afraid my bank balance wins out and I’d go for C over A any day!

The benefits of double glazing are being drummed home by government into our local councils. Hundreds of thousands of pounds have already been spent upgrading windows and doors in council houses and in some cases councils are even being threatened with reduced budgets if their housing standards do not comply with government expectations.

Carbon emissions have now become priority to our UK government and the buck literally will be stopping in some cases. Wasteful Councils should prepare to be named and shamed under the new Carbon Trading Scheme. Among the plans to reduce emissions is double glazing; the insulation properties of double glazing can reduce energy use enormously. New windows and doors also provide better security for occupants, and reduce noise pollution.

Our government and local councils are striving to make a difference and double glazing is helping in that fight! Reduced energy consumption indoors due to improved insulation from your windows and doors is helping to conserve the environment. Keep up the good work folks!

That awful time of year is upon us once again and no I don’t mean Christmas. If you were pleasantly surprised by your last energy bill don’t be fooled, as I am every year - remember that the bill would be for your last quarter (July – September), so sadly folks it won’t be long until the dreaded (October – December) bill comes crashing through the letterbox or down your broadband connection and you’ll have to pay the price for being all warm and cosy during the colder weather.

Don’t be disheartened, there is a solution!  Double glazing can reduce your energy use enormously.  Your heating bills can be shrunk by scrapping those drafty old timber windows and installing new double glazed windows.  Not only will you make a saving on your energy use, heating bills and carbon footprint, but your property will instantly become more desirable and could increase in value. 

Admittedly, energy prices are perhaps a little out of our control at the moment, but you certainly can control how much of it you use!

With the big freeze still bearing down upon us, for many without double glazed windows it can’t help to learn that up to 50% of the heat in our homes is lost through our windows and that’s while the windows are closed! This equates roughly to £135 per year for an average household, or for the environmentally conscious, that’s around 720kg of CO2.

It’s no wonder then that as the cold weather continues, across the country there has been a noticeable increase in double glazing enquiries for new double glazed windows. Similarly there’s been a dramatic rise in interest in new boilers…strange that. The trouble is that doubled glazed windows, just like boilers and water tanks, don’t rate highly on many of our ‘things we would like’ lists – it’s not until they shoot to the top of the ‘things I really must get’ list that we actually do something about it.

It’s a shame because although few people start to shop around for boilers or double glazing in August when the weather’s nice, that’s likely to be the time when the best bargains are to be found. Leave it till the heating’s broken or your energy bills are the equivalent to burning £5 notes for warmth and it’s guaranteed that every engineer and double glazing fitter in the country will be rushed off their feet!

Stephen Waddington, managing director of Speed, a London-based multi-sector PR firm, writes some great pieces for an environmental site called Greenbang. He and his family are attempting to renovate a 300-year farmhouse whilst maintaining their eco principals.

Currently he’s come up against the complex absurdities that can permeate English Heritage, in particular in regards to windows and ethical double glazing. He puts his point across so well I thought it was worth sharing…

“I’ve done the sums. Unplugging the TV at night or using eco-light bulbs doesn’t make a blind bit difference when more than 30 per cent of the energy used to heat a house is disappearing though the windows.

Both solar panels and double glazing are dismissed on grounds of authenticity. Solar I can understand, but the argument that sympathetic double glazing would change the character of the building is beyond me, especially with the quality of craftsmanship available in the UK. But, according to preservationists historical detail must be the top priority where a historic building is concerned.

A study by management consultants McKinsey more than 18 months ago found that emissions from buildings generate two-thirds of London’s CO2 and that the greatest reduction could be achieved through improved insulation. Domestic insulation makes both economic and environmental sense.”

I couldn’t find a better recommendation for the benefits of double glazing if I tried. Luckily (or not, as the case may be), the majority of us do not live in listed buildings, leaving us free to reap all the rewards, environmental and financial, that good insulation can offer.

I know they won’t fit in a stocking, they don’t smell fancy and you certainly can’t wear them, but you’d be surprised how many people are getting them for Christmas.

It seems the credit crunch has left people disillusioned with Christmas; the same old rubbish and useless gift packs flood back into the shops and we find ourselves buying for the sake of buying, recycling the novelty hot chocolate kit or fragranced cooking oil, careful not to give it back to the person we received it from last year… it’s not even the money anymore, although that’s certainly important, it’s more seeing through the sheer nonsense of it all.

Seen in this light, it’s easy to see why couples in particular, are forgoing the usual exchange of gifts and pooling their money instead for more practical purchases such as energy efficient windows. Sounds boring I know, but the benefits are permanent: reduced carbon foot print, reduced waste energy, reduced energy bills, kinder to the environment, home improvement… the list goes on.

Practical? Absolutely. Exciting? Certainly not, but then they’re not going to be left at the back of the draw until next Christmas either. Just make sure you talk it over with the wife before swapping the Channel for the upvc!

Windows are one of those things we take for granted – will I do at least, but then I took central heating for granted until my boiler packed up! If your windows are in a poor state of repair, especially at this time of the year, whether they are double glazed or wooden frames, they will be leaking considerable heat from your property. This in turn directly impacts on the bottom-line of your heating bills. Not only that, but they can also be a security risk and an easy target for burglars.

If you are unlucky enough during the credit crunch to be in the market for replacement doors or windows, then at least you can be consoled that after the initial outlay, in the longer term your new windows and doors will be saving you money, saving the environment and securing your property.

What does your HIP say about you?  Are you really as energy efficient as you think….or more importantly need to be to get a buyer?  The UK housing market has been hit so hard in this current economic crisis, with house prices at an all-time low; you can’t help but ask yourself whether you bought at the right time?  Or more importantly, when is the best time for me to SELL!

Regardless of which wrung of the ladder you are on….if you are on it, you want to stay on it.  However during a credit-crunch, how can we make low cost home improvements that add value to our property for its approaching sale? 

Research shows that simple changes such as a new double glazed front door, a modest and simple conservatory or a fresh new bathroom window can increase the value of your property, by more than the amount that it cost to install these improvements.   Surprisingly, the simpler things are actually higher up on people’s wish lists when buying a new home. 

If you are considering low cost home improvements, be sure to research well and select reputable suppliers and skilled professionals to ensure you are investing wisely in real opportunities that your property has to offer.  Improved energy efficiency is the absolute key, so go on….unlock that potential!

With the world’s leaders meeting in Copenhagen this December for the UN summit on Climate Change, the government is coming under increasing pressure to meet our CO2 emissions targets. Frankly, as a leading developed nation, the UK’s performance to date has been shameful. Therefore The Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) are gaining support for their petitioning of the government to introduce a Windows Scrappage Scheme.

If granted the scheme would operate in a similar fashion to the controversial (and not very green) vehicle scrappage scheme, effectively allowing householders and landlords to renew old and badly fitted windows with a cash incentive of £1000, providing it is used to buy professionally installed, energy efficient double glazing.

With the glazing industry currently representing in the region of 100,000 jobs, it is hoped that as well as reducing CO2 emissions, it would also boost employment figures, not to mention reducing consumer’s energy bills.

The petition is available on the official website of the Prime Minister: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/windowscrappage.

September 22nd marks the Equinox and the first day of Autumn. So folks, it’s official, the evenings are drawing in, the mornings are getting darker and pretty soon we’ll be getting up in the dark, going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark and going to bed in the dark…. Depressing? Not really. Personally I can’t wait;  I love the warm cozy evenings in front of the fire, with the rain lashing on the double glazing and hammering out a tattoo on the conservatory roof, while I’m all snug and warm indoors!

We are always reading about how beneficial double glazing, insulation and efficient boilers can be for our properties, our utility bills and the environment, so much so that many of us take it completely for granted. However, for me it’s always the first few days of autumn, when I first detect that fresh damp chill in air and notice that I can see my own breath on the air, that I really appreciate just how wonderful double glazing and all my creature comforts truly are.