New Windows For The New Year? Should You Go For Double Or Triple Glazing?

We always experience a sharp rise in window sales at this time of year as we guess that householders realise just how chilly the inside of their homes are over the Christmas period while eating, drinking and being merry. Scotland is a notoriously cold country any way and unless your windows can cope with that there’s little chance of them keeping your home interior warm and comfortable.

Replacement windows will immediately improve the situation as they’ll enhance thermal efficiency, but are you best buying double glazed windows or triple glazed windows? It’s four or five years now since we began supplying triple glazing and ever since then we have frequently been asked this question.

Let’s outline the facts about double and triple glazing…

Triple glazing is a three-pane solution

We imagine you have guessed that a triple glazed window has a sealed frame containing three glazed panes rather than just the two panes included in a double glazed window unit. The cavity between each pane is filled with an inert gas.

They’re both excellent insulators

A ‘U-value’ measurement symbolises the thermal performance and insulating qualities of a window – the lower the U-value, the better the window is as an insulator. The average double glazed window has a U-value of 1.2, and a regular triple glazed window has a U-value of 0.6, but the cavities in a triple glazed window need to be of different thicknesses to have this sort of thermal impact, otherwise you may as well just stick with a double glazed window.

Triple glazing costs more but think about the long-term savings

Your choice of window may come down to how much money you have to spend and triple glazing is costlier than double glazing. That shouldn’t put you off though as the exceptional insulation offered by triple glazing will save you a huge amount of money on energy in the long run. You also shouldn’t view double glazing as being second best as it will be a significant upgrade from single glazed windows and make a huge difference to how you whole home feels.

The thickness of a triple glazed window can be a good and bad thing

The inclusion of a third piece of glass in a triple glazed window makes it thicker than a double glazed window and makes it harder for thieves to break-in. But the added weight of the window may pose a problem as the apertures may not be capable of taking the weight. Your window installer should be able to determine the likelihood of this happening prior to the installation taking place.

We would be more than happy to tell you more about double and triple glazing, so why not book an appointment to find out everything else you need to know about them.