Improving single glazing

[hongman]

Hi,

In my rented property I have 3 major items I want to address to keep the heat in downstairs.

1. I have a single glazed kitchen window. Is there anything I can do to it to help retain some heat? I bought this heat shrink cling film stuff to create an air gap (the window doesnt open) but within a few days it got ripped, and it just looks tacky as anything.

2. Next to the front door I have a "window" which my landlord, for some reason, has fit some corregated plastic. Its pathetic. Its got a wooden frame which is all rotting, whenever it rains I get a puddle of water on the window sill. Really it needs to be ripped out and done properly but my landlord wont do it so I am having to try and find ways to "fix" it.

3. Cat flap in backdoor. Its a uPVC door, and we have a cat (obviously). I have gone through 3 catflaps now and I just cant seem to find one which doesnt let loads of cold air in. Anyone have any ideas?

Does it cost much to get double glazing panes made to size for DIY install?

Any other ideas...downstairs is constantly freezing, and upstairs is toasty, and I am spending a fortune on heating to have a comfortable living area but then a boiling hot upstairs.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

I appreciate the tenant/landlord relationship can be a tricky one, however assuming your landlord is 1/2 decent and operating above board, they have certain obligations:

Energy efficiency – your landlord must ensure your home’s up to scratch |Tenants | HomeLet

 

[conny]

Regarding the window. Forget the plastic clingfilm stuff, it's rubbish. A few years back we were in the same situation regarding single glazed windows. I made a simple frame from some thin timber. On one side, along all four edges I glued some 1/4" x 1/4" battens so I had a recess. I then got some clear polycarbonate sheet and fitted it inside the recess with a thin line of clear adhesive all the way round. A thin length of draught excluder to finish it off and it was held in place against the window frame using some flat cable clips with the outer leg cut off. To take it off to clean the window, ( I never needed to), I could simply twist the cable clips and remove the complete frame. Certainly cut down the heat loss and with minimal damage to the surrounding area.

 

[hongman]

Yeah my landlord is as cheap as they come.

He always uses cowboys to patching things up, seriously the amount of dodgy bodges I have found are unreal.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Conny's suggestion is the one I would go with, that is what I did many years ago, when we were still single glazed. It worked reasonably well, but there was always a tendency for them to steam up, between the panes. You can even make them sliding panes, if you have a large window. Heavy heat retaining curtains will also help keep the heat in.

Corrugated plastic, sounds to be well out of order.

Heat does rise, but why toasty upstairs and freezing downstairs? Is the upstairs DG'ed, or the central heating only working upstairs?

You cannot really go fitting DG in old window frames, they are not designed for it, besides they will be expensive and it's someone else's property you investing in. You would also need permission too. As above, a landlord has a responsibility to ensure a place is fit to live in and reasonably energy efficient - corrugated plastic does not sound right.

 

[conny]

The house we were in at the time was quite modern but in a conservation area and all windows and doors had to be the same style. Because the owner was a tight wad she told us it was impossible to get D/G windows with the same style as the originals. My statement about how every other house in the close had the style required, and they were D/G fell on deaf ears. We left shortly afterwards when the 'gardener', ( a 70 odd year old woman with a bad limp), tried to blame us for a large conifer crashing down in high winds one day. Her reason was we had planted some daffs at the base of some of the trees and caused to surrounding soil to lose it's grip. If it was at all possible to do this I may have considered being partly responsible. However, it's not possible, we did not plant daffs around that particular tree and the tree was actually outside the fence on another public highway at the back of the house, it just happened to fall through the fence into our garden. Examination of the remaining stump showed massive wood rot was the cause exacerbated by the removal of 2 adjacent conifers, by local council employees, which then exposed the fallen one to the full force of any strong winds. LOL

 

[ronniecabers]

Conny's ' secondary glazing ' is the cheapest option ( except getting clear UV stable perspex is proving tricky at times right now ) . You can get a magnetic tape that is sticky on theback that one bit goes on the existing frame and the other on the perspex ( or glass if you so wish ) , makes removing it in the need of cleaning it much easier

 

[Tigercubrider]

There are a few companies on the web where you put in the measurements and a price comes up for various thicknesses of acrylic
As said, Covid lead to a price increase as everyone wanted screens for retail. Prices should have come down now?
I used to have plastic DG and it worked- not as good as the secondary glass DG that followed it. It was basically 2x1 made into a frame around the window reveal and magnetic tape holding the plastic on.