Replace DGU with Insulated Panel - U-Value?

[au8830]

Hi,
I currently have fully glazed uPVC front door with mid-rail, along with matching side panels, total width 2.1m. In the summer, the hall gets extremely hot. In the winter, it's cold (but this is less of a problem).

I'm looking into replacing the lower panels with solid panels (uPVC-Polystyrene-MDF-Polystyrene-uPVC sandwich). This works out significantly cheaper than fitting "PerfectFit"-style blinds, and has other benefits with post being visible on the floor. Solar film is ruled out due to the glass texture.

Am I likely to notice any improvement? The existing glazing units are mid-90's air-filled, tempered glass, without low-e coating or warm edge. I'm just not sure how good the ~20mm of polystyrene will be compared to the air gap in a regular double-glazed unit. I'm guessing that in any case, the solar gain will be less than a glass + blinds combination.

 

[ronniecabers]

The solar gain will certainly be less and you may well see a slight improvement as less light gets through...just bear in mind modern materials are designed these days to keep the heat in......

 

[Gazman16]

Make sure you get panels with reinforcing. Also getting the right shade/make of white can be tricky, Depending on the age of the door it might be impossible to get a perfect match.

I dont know the u values off hand but I would suspect they would be better than your old glass units but not as good as modern double glazed units.

 

[au8830]

I went to a local company, pretty much the same price as online, cut to size, MDF reinforcing. They lent me a stack of uPVC sample swatches - lots of variations of white/beige - and one of them matches pretty much perfectly.

In hindsight pure white from eBay would have looked horrendous - I didn't even consider that!

Cheers!

 

[crank39]

And I bet you thought there was only one white, whites white isn't it......oh no not with pvc, all my customers are shocked when I show them my colour swatches