The closer we get to this year’s FIT Show, the more we might hear about triple glazing. Although consumer interest in the product as a wide spread may not be what we perhaps hoped it would be a few years ago, the industry in some quarters will always remain determined to make a go of it.
And why not. Plenty of infrastructure has been put in place to make it happen. Money has been poured into the development of the product and fabricators and glass makers want some return on that investment.
Triple glazing however faces three major barriers before it becomes a true hit with home owners. Until it gets around these, it will always face an uphill task.
Lack of suitable climate
Put aside the questionable science around triple glazing for just a second, and perhaps the most obvious reason for a subdued triple glazing market up to press is the simple fact that we’re just not cold enough!
Barring the northern reaches of Scotland, the rest of the UK is just not cold enough to warrant the use of triple glazing. Other places in the world, like Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and other far northern countries in that part of the hemisphere do use a fair bit of triple glazing because temperatures such as -20 degrees can be quite frequent. Highly energy efficient windows and doors, triple and sometimes quad-glazed are absolutely necessary to help reinforce the fabric of the buildings against the cold.
In comparison, the UK very rarely gets anything like the extremes mentioned in the above countries. We already have pretty good double glazed windows and doors, far better than even just a decade ago. They are more than capable of doing the job of keeping valuable heat on the right side of the windows.
Why would home owners pay more when good double glazed windows would tick the box with ease? They wouldn’t.
Questionable sound reduction
One of the biggest selling points of triple glazing has been it’s ability to reduce noise and outdoor sound. I imagine that sales of triple glazing so far might well be centred around busy main roads, rail tracks and next to airports. The typical noisy parts of our country.
Yet, I do still have to scratch my head and wonder how much triple glazing really is reducing noise. For noise to be reduced, noise waves have to be stopped from travelling through materials by making those materials different thicknesses. In the case of triple glazed windows, this would be where the two cavities are different to each other, and perhaps even the glazing itself. However, from what I have seen so far, most fabricators offer triple glazed units with standardised cavities and glass thickness. You can’t blame them. It makes it much easier from an ordering perspective.
However, given what we know, some doubt has to be cast as to how effective triple glazing actually is when it comes to noise reduction.
Instead, how about using a product specifically design for noise reduction? Optiphon noise reduction glass from Pilkington would be a good choice. With a 6.8mm / 4mm glass combo, this is a product designed solely to reduce noise by varying the glass thicknesses. This might be a more tried and trusted method for installers if they are asked by a home owner which is the better of the two routes.
Cost
I know that the cost of triple glazing has come down somewhat in the past few years. As with all new technologies, the older they get, the cheaper they eventually become.
That being said, with the above being taken into account, any uplift in cost, no matter how small it might be, will be a hard sell for a home owner. Right now, there isn’t a single good enough reason to start forking out extra cash for minimal benefits, if there are really any at all.
I have sold one or two contracts triple glazed in the past couple of years, but it has really only been that. We have seen very weak demand from home owners for triple glazing. And those who have bought it have done so as part of a belt and braces approach to their home improvements, not really specifically on noise or our local climate.
Right now we’re entering a period of price increases in our industry, across all products. The cost of double glazed windows are going up, which means triple glazing will go up as well. All this will mean is that triple glazing will be pushed further down the luxuries list and home owners may just spec up on double glazing and get the job done that way.
There are too many reasons not to buy triple glazing than there are reasons to buy it. Until our industry can either communicate the product better to the home owner, or the general public begins a more widespread attitude change, then triple glazing I’m afraid will remain in the shadows for quite a while.
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One thing I would add is that in the 6-20mm cavity widths of sealed units, the size of the cavity is pretty much irrelevant to the potential sound reduction. Having two different sized cavities in triple glazing as opposed to two equal ones adds nothing quantifiable or audible. It’s all about the glass.
It’s nice to see the nonsense talked about triple glazing and sound reduction being brought into question. It’s been blatantly mis-sold as a noise solution for far too long, with no factual evidence given to support phrases like “significant noise reduction” found everywhere across the trade.
Good points. Isn’t it also true that adding a third layer of glass is also just adding another element that can vibrate – therefore for some sound frequencies adding a third skin of glass can actually make the noise problem worse rather than better?
I think there are some tangible benefits to triple glazing in conservatories… Sorry ‘Glazed Extensions’…. Whilst the thermal benefits in a house may be negligible the potential enhancement to all round living in what remains a predominantly glass entity must have merit.