[BISHI]

We have just moved house into a conservation area, consequently we cannot use upvc double glazed windows to replace the original victoria sash windows. Our options are limited to using incredibly expensive hard wood replacement sash windows (10s of thousands of pounds ), aluminium secondary glazed internal windows with blanket lined curtains or widow shutters.

Does anybody here have experience of secondary glazing , does it shut out sound and light ( my wife is incredibly sensitive to both) and is it worth doing .

Cheers,

[deansocial]

also if you did replace i have know conservation turn doubleglazing down in hardwood sash windows.

[deckingman]

No experience of recent units but a long long time ago it worked reasonably well. Certainly cuts down noise and eliminates draughts so heat loss would be improved. If the secondary frame is small, as I think it would be, then there should be no reduction in light. Is it worth doing? I guess that depends on the cost. Might be worth getting a few quotes. I think if it were me, I would give it serious consideration.

[Leej]

My father in-law had secondary glazing up until a few weeks ago. Like deckingman it was put in a long time ago. He lives on a main road and has the motorway not too far away. You could not hear a thing from outside with the secondary in place. The double glazing he now has is nowhere near as good at keeping the noise out. No noticeable reduction in light.

[BISHI]

Originally Posted by deansocial

also if you did replace i have know conservation turn doubleglazing down in hardwood sash windows.

It's just so prohibitively expensive, I reckon it would cost upwards of £20,000 to replace all the windows.

[BISHI]

The frames are very small , thin aluminium and would fit within the existing window frame that slide up and down a bit like the sashes.. Shutters are proving to be prohibitively expensive too, quotes so far between 4 and 8 grand !!!

[Chris Muriel]

Have you thoroughly investigated whether you might be eligible for a grant of some sort down to Energy-saving/ECO-politics and/or preservation/conservation of traditional looks ?
You might also find some advice at moneysaving expert.com on this (including their forums).

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[BISHI]

Been there and looked already, it is usally means tested and we wouldn't qualify.

[johntheexpat]

Have a look at the Ventrolla website. We used them on sash windows on our terrace house in Worcester and were very impressed. Most heat loss through old sash windows is round the edges, where the windows don't fit as well as they used to so they renovate the windows and put brush seals all the way round. They also tweaked the pulley system so that it was easy to take the windows out so that you could clean both sides properly. It was certainly impressive from a reducing the heat loss perspective and about 25% of the cost of the cheapest double glazing. They may well have ideas for noise reduction too.
The guy we dealt with also demonstrated quite dramatically why sash windows are by far and away the best option when ventilation is required.

[darkmuse]

Originally Posted by BISHI

We have just moved house into a conservation area, consequently we cannot use upvc double glazed windows to replace the original victoria sash windows. Our options are limited to using incredibly expensive hard wood replacement sash windows (10s of thousands of pounds ), aluminium secondary glazed internal windows with blanket lined curtains or widow shutters.

Does anybody here have experience of secondary glazing , does it shut out sound and light ( my wife is incredibly sensitive to both) and is it worth doing .

Cheers,

Which conservation area are you in Bishi? By the Canal, near the station? If so then I don't think there are restrictions on replacing sash with plastic - as awful as it may be! Conservation area doesn't make it a listed building. But obviously talk to the conservation officer first! All our neighbours have plastic windows, although if it were my house I think I'd prefer to refurb the wooden sash if required and get secondary glazing, possibly the sort that can be removed over summer.

[BISHI]

I am assuming you are in Leam yourself. We are in North town on a street of victorian show homes.