Replace failed double glazing with single?

[krisclarke]

Hi,

I bought a house with good condition wooden windows, but most of the sealed units had failed.

Without wanting to replace the entire windows, and understanding about the problems of double glazing units and wooden frames (too small rebate, no drainage etc) I am wary to just replace the units with new ones. I understand that if fitted incorrectly I may only get a few years use before they fail again.

My question is this: What is the downside to just replacing the units back to single sheets of glass? I understand there will be more heat-loss, but how much will there actually be in relation to the cycle of paying for new double glazed units every few years. My house is otherwise fairly well insulated with minimal drafts.

 

[rjm2k]

I think they may last a bit longer than you may think, certainly more than a few years.

 

[krisclarke]

But I am looking for a solution that will last pretty much forever, or is there no such thing?

Someone has reccomended Pilkington K Glass as the single glazing option?

 

[rjm2k]

I could be wrong, but you can only replace windows like for like unless you use FENSA or building regs, since you are wanting to change from dbl to single it wouldn't be like for like so if you ever came to sell you would have to lie plus your colourful but useless EPC would be poor (but with plenty of room for improvement)

 

[God]

You can change your glass from double to single as you are not changing the frames it will not come under fensa, you cannot use k glass as a single glass option because of the coating on one side, k is to be used in a sealed unit.