Double Glazed Units

There are a number of ways people describe failure in their double (or triple) glazed units including ‘fogged up’, ‘foggy’, ‘steamed up’, ‘steamy’, ‘misty’, ‘misted’, ‘cloudy’, ‘clouded’ or ‘blown’. There are bound to be others but they all mean the same.

Generally speaking, this occurs when the airtight seal around the perimeter of the two panes of glass has broken down.

Once a unit is displaying signs of failure, even intermittently, the damage may well have been done already. The units will not perform as they should and unsightly calcium deposits can stain the surface of the glass.

Regardless of the type of window, door, patio door or conservatory, RS Glazing can save you considerable expense by servicing or repairing your existing double glazing and avoiding the need for new windows or doors. In the event your double glazing is beyond repair we will also advise you accordingly as we pride ourselves by being an honest company who value their integrity.

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency in the home is becoming more and more important in relation to the environment and keeping down heating bills. Our A-rated insulated glass units use three ways to become more energy efficient.

Low emissivity (low e) glass is used to reflect heat back into the room but also allowing heat from the sun through into your home and therefore greatly improving its thermal efficiency. Planitherm glass, manufactured by Saint-Gobain, uses a special almost invisible coating that reflects the heat your home generates back into the room rather than allowing it to escape from the windows which have always traditionally been a weak spot for thermal insulation. The same coating also allows free heat from natural daylight to pass through the glass.

Argon gas has a 34% lower thermal conductivity than air and is the gas most commonly used to fill void between glazed units. Traditional double glazed units have an aluminium spacer bar separating the panes of glass which is highly conductive to heat allowing it to pass through the window. This, in turn, causes a cold spot around the edge of the glass leading to condensation and if left can become a breeding ground for mould and bacteria in the home. In comparison, warm edge spacer bars like Swisspacer are made of an insulating plastic composite that acts as a barrier to heat, keeping the edge of the sealed unit warm and resulting in less heat loss through the windows.

Acoustic Efficiency

Glass is a rigid structure making it a bad absorber of sound and doing little to prevent noise pollution from entering your home. However, double glazed units can be manufactured to reduce the noise entering your home using acoustic laminated glass which works by deflecting and dissipating sound waves. Three main areas can provide superior noise reduction values in glass and these include; the thickness of the glass used, the use of polyvinyl interlayers and additional spacing between glazing. The polyvinyl layers in laminated glass reduce sound transmission and when incorporated into a unit alongside toughened safety glass, along with the space between the panes results in an acoustically efficient unit.

Guarantees

Our suppliers manufacture all our double/triple glazed units using a dual seal system with a polyurethane sealant allowing us to guarantee our units, once we have fitted them, for 5 years.