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Fitting double glazing in old houses

February 28, 2012 By

Q: We have bought an old house and the windows are all single glazed and need upgrading. PVC frames would look wrong. What are my options?

A: It your old house is a listed building or in a conservation area you may find your options limited. Check with your planning department first to see if there will be any restrictions. English Heritage are not happy for any alteration that replaces the original windows with modern replacements and in that case you may have to fit secondary glazing inside the existing window pane which usually have  large air gap and allow opening for opening the original window or to allow cleaning. Though secondary glazing will give you the energy efficiency you want, the system also does take up quite a space on your window sill and is not particularly convenient to open or clean. You will also need to make sure that any gaps in the old window frames are stopped as if cold and damp can permeate into the secondary glazed space; this will make it less efficient.

Even if there are no restrictions you will want to fit windows to match the age of your house. Nowadays there are double glazed units available to match earlier periods including sash windows and mock Georgian. These can be made from hardwood, so matching more nearly the style of the originals. The best thing to do, as this is not only a considerable investment – but also makes so much difference to the appearance and value of your house is to take advice on the variety of options open to you from experts such as SEHBAC.

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Wood Burning Stoves

January 21, 2012 By

Q. We are renovating an old cottage and are interested in fitting a Wood Burning Stove as we have heard they are a green energy option and they really go with the age of the cottage. We also like how warm and welcoming they will look in a living room.

A. You can fit a Wood Burning stove either just to heat your living room (as you seem to be suggesting) or fit it with a back boiler to heat your water as well. This second option is likely to be cheaper than traditional fossil fuels if you use wood, wood chip or wood pellets in your stove, though you will need to have your wood burning stove alight much of the time when you need hot water. A room heating option is easier to manage.

There are two areas you will need to consider, firstly, you will need your chimney checking and it will probably need a liner fitting which will not be cheap – and if you don’t have a chimney you will still need a flue.

Your fuel will only be green and reasonably priced if you can buy in bulk – by the lorryload-locally. You will need somewhere dry to stack and store the wood which takes up quite a space. It is also possible to make bricks out of newspaper – soaked in water to a pulp, formed into a brick and then dried which is an excellent way of recycling but make the most of summer to dry them!

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