If you read my “The Top 5 Hottest Glazing Sectors For 2017” post I published at the start of this year, you may have noticed that triple glazing wasn’t in my top five. It got a notable mention at the end, but that’s all I gave it. The reason being, whilst I’m sure many of the triple glazing systems out there are built to very high standards, most home owners, and dare I say it installers too, may see triple glazing as an unnecessary luxury add-on when it comes to investing in new windows and doors.
A bit like a new smartphone.
Triple glazing the iPhone of windows?
I think there is a good analogy to make between triple glazing and the iPhone. Consider that a highly specified double glazed window, achieving a very low U-Value and really good energy rating is the current model of iPhone. The consider that a triple glazed window, which only just nudges a slightly lower U-Value, a slightly better energy rating a minimally better noise reduction is the brand new iPhone just announced.
What do we have? A double glazed window, the current iPhone, that by far meets all the current regulations by a wide margin, performs to task with ease and should last for a long time to come. This is versus a triple glazed window, the newest iteration of the iPhone, that pretty much ticks all the same boxes, but has a couple of extra novelty features that doesn’t really justify changing up or paying for the upgrade. At least not yet.
Am I accurate in that analogy? Like a good smartphone that is then followed a short period of time later with just the odd tweak here and there but with a hefty price tag, triple glazing isn’t reinventing the window. It is merely a nudge above what are a pretty good crop of double glazed windows available right now. At least that’s how I see it.
I see triple glazing remaining in the background for home owners because at the moment there has not yet been that true catalyst that has sparked any wild interest from home owners in the product. There has been that in other areas of the market. Take solid roofs for example. Here was a product that finally promised to genuinely transform a tired, cold, hot conservatory into a room that could be used every day of the year. Something that useful spread like wildfire among the general public, and the solid roof market is now one of the fastest growing sectors within UK glazing.
Triple glazing just does not yet to be in that same league. Yes installers can peddle a few extra notches on the WER certificate or the slightly better acoustics triple glazing provides. But there are only incremental increases in comparison to a really good double glazed window. It’s not a compelling enough argument. At least not yet.
The future of triple glazing?
For me, triple glazing is going to be a very slow burner. It may even run out of steam altogether in 5-10 years. The problem it has is there is still lots of potential left to explore when it comes to double glazing.
Energy ratings seem to be getting better all the time, although I would cast some doubt as to how accurate all those +’s are on the end of that A rating. U-Values, the more tried and trusted measure of energy efficiency, keep getting lower too. Syscos and glass makers have been finding ways to make double glazing better and better, without having to resort to triple glazing to get the results they wanted. Until they hit a brick wall on the double glazing front, triple glazing will remain in the shadows for quite a while to come yet.
Triple glazing needs a catalyst. That one reason that will give home owners a genuine reason to believe double glazing is old hat and that the only thing they should be considering is triple glazing. I’m just not sure where that catalyst is coming from. The climate in England and Wales is never going to become cold enough, not even Scottish enough to warrant it. The margins of difference to double glazing on the energy and noise front are small. Manufacturers keep finding new ways to make double glazing more efficient. The more you look at triple glazing, the more you can start to think that it’s arrived way too soon for our market, and whether it’s even applicable at all.
Years ago, when the industry had the Triple Glazing Debate, the main points of order were about things like production, transport and costs. Trying to drive demand was perhaps a problem we didn’t anticipate. As an industry we still have a lot of work to do if we are to make triple glazing a product that we can class as mainstream.
Is triple glazing here to stay? Is it pointless in the UK? Or given time, will it naturally replace double glazing as double glazing did with single glazing many decades ago? All thought and comments welcome via the section below.
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