Secondary Glazing

[ScottishGasMan]

Hey all.

I have a house roughly a hundred years old, solid sandstone walls, and double glazing I expect what might be about 15-20 years old which appears to be in decent nic.

I'm doing work in the house before moving in (rewire/new heating/insulating walls etc etc)

The house has no front garden, and my front two bedrooms sit right onto the pavement/road whcih obviously causes a lot of noise in the bedroom as people walk past etc.

Being that I already have double glazing, from what Ive read new double or triple glazing for all it would cost, would not make much difference to heat loss or noise.

I have reasonably deep window sills and could have single glazing (secondary glazing fitted) easily accomodating 10-15cm gap between the two windows.

Has anyone else had expirience of this in terms of % noise reduction and heat loss from the room?

I simply could not afford new double glazing, but I am assuming secondary glazing would be cheaper and It could be fitted DIY, would not look overly out of place as the walls are being plastered and new woodwork going on anyway.


also I currently have vertical blinds infront of the current window, which remain permanantly shut as folk walking past can see right in, if I fitted the secondary glazing could I just leave these in between the two glass pannels? would that improve sound absorption as well?


thanks for any ideas

 

[endecotp]

I am assuming secondary glazing would be cheaper

It should be cheaper than fitting entirely new double/triple glazed windows, but it probably won't be cheaper than simply replacing the glazing units. It should be easy for you to get quotes from a local or online supplier if you give them dimensions.

I currently have vertical blinds infront of the current window, which remain permanantly shut as folk walking past can see right in, if I fitted the secondary glazing could I just leave these in between the two glass pannels?

I mainly wanted to comment on that as I have had similar thoughts; I have sash windows that currently have "thermal" blinds i.e. aluminised hexagonal cellular structure and I am planning to add secondary glazing. Leaving the blinds between the external window and the secondary glazing is an interesting thought, but research only finds blinds inside double glazing for conservatories. Please update this thread if you find out any more about the possibilities.

Regarding your privacy issues, I have used film over some windows with good results. There are companies who can do plain or quite complex designs to fit the size of your window. Don't keep the blinds down all the time, it will kill the houseplants and you'll get vitamin D deficiency!

 

[ScottishGasMan]

As the name suggests I live in scotland, vitamin D Deficiency comes with the territory

I just remember reading a while back about the noise reduction benifit of secondary glazing, and sure someone said it helped to have something inbetween the two panes that could "absorb" the soundwaves. If I go ahead i'll certainly leave them in at first to see.

 

[Gazman16]

Secondary glazing with at least a 100mm air gap is the most effective way.

I have looked into acoustic double glazed units before for some customers but they were ridiculously expensive (for what they were) and only promised something like a 15 decibel reduction which when I looked it up was the equivalent of someone whispering or the leafs rustling in a tree.

Triple glazing can actually increase the noise.

I cant see any problem with leaving the blinds in situ.

 

[Gazman16]

I think endecotp was asking about blinds inside double glazed units?
Yes they can be done pretty much anywhere but they are quite expensive. They cost around £200-300 per double glazed unit (cost price) and I personally would have thought it would reduce the sound insulation of the unit.

Have a look here http://www.betweenglassblinds.co.uk/