acrylic clear sheeting for glazing....

[greasedmonkey]

Hi all,

I have built myself a nice wooden conservatory, all that remains is to fill the holes with glass (or something). There is a hell of a lot of glass, as you would expect of a conservatory, it was built mainly to be a playroom type space for our little one as she absolutely loves it in her grandparents conservatory. I am thinking of going for acrylic (or plexiglass or whatever you want to call it) as a supposedly safer option than glass.

How will it compare to glass if I were to use 2 spaced sheets of acrylic as opposed to double glazed units in terms of heat loss?

Is it really as unbreakable as the people selling it claim it to be?

Has anybody used it to glaze a conservatory or outbuilding and how did it perform?

Thanks everyone.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

The safety issues is moot point.

 

[God]

Don't think poly or Perspex units will do anything for heat loss, although unbreakable you may find you are replacing them in a few years due to discolouring and scratching. Would go for toughend or laminated glass

 

[chippie244]

Acrylic is very breakable, it's supposed to be 10 times stronger than glass but how strong is that? Polycarbonate is much stronger and is really hard to break but is more expensive.

 

[s60tsy]

shop around poly should be cheaper than double glazed units, you can get it cut to size the same

 

[big-all]

as long as you realise the space will progressively be fairly impossible to heat in the coming weeks as we approach the colder weeks so will remain unused over the winter months
what is the level off insulation you have in the walls and floor ??

 

[greasedmonkey]

I have done my research and opted for toughened double glazed units. I got samples of polycarbonate and acrylic, but didn't like them as much as glass.

Big-all, the walls are hardwood and contain 4" polystyrene insulation (2 x 50mm sheets). The floor also has polystyrene insulation. There is also a suspended ceiling with 200mm rockwool above it. I am hoping it will not be impossible to heat with all that.