Is it more, or has triple glazing not yet exploded in the way many thought it would this year?
Judging by the comments coming out from the industry all of last year, you would be blamed for thinking that 2013 was going to be the year for triple glazing. At the minute however, I haven’t heard a peep! Customers aren’t coming in asking for it and I’m not seeing much in the general media or social media about it performing in great numbers. Despite the energy and hype, I still think that triple glazing has a bit of a way to go before it becomes a mainstream product in our portfolios.
To be honest, double glazing is still improving all the time. The energy A ratings are getting higher. The Storm 2 window from Evolution for example has got a A+13 rating. Most triple glazed systems achieve that. So it’s a job well done on their part to get a double glazed window that well rated. And this I think is the point. While there is still a major cost hike in triple glazing, with only minimal benefits to sound and heat retention, people are just not going to see the benefit in spending potential thousands more on triple glazed windows just to increase the A rating a notch or two, or cut out a decibel extra.
Like with all new technology, I think when the price comes down, then it will start to shift sales in bigger numbers. Take a look at the tablet and smart phone sectors. The rise of the medium to low priced devices which pack as much punch as the high end devices do are having a meteoric rise. I think until one of the larger systems companies puts their neck on the line and dramatically lowers the price to something around the double glazed level, installers aren’t going to be enthused to sell it against the standard double glazed windows, and neither are the consumers going to feel inspired to spend quite a lot more money.
Yes the selling points of the product are there, but the price doesn’t reflect those advantages. Triple glazing of course has to be a little more expensive, logic tells us that. But the current gulf between the cost of double and triple glazing is far too wide for it to make any significant impact. Of course, in previous circumstances, I may be wrong! We shall see!
Triple glazed windows need 50% more glass; more complex manufacture; stronger frames; cosrt more to make, transport and – arguably – to fit. Triple glazing will require greater technology which then has to be guaranteed for 10-15 years. So the price to the customer has to increase to reflect that. And for what benefit? Insulation? The premium isn’t worth it in our climate. Sound reduction? There are existing windows with sound reducing double glazing that do the job without the premium of triple glazing. Cheap triple glazing will be as bad for the custome and the industry as cheap double… Read more »
Totally agree with you on all the points you make Greg. If we live in a much colder climate, then spending more on triple glazing would be worth it. But right now, for the cost, there isn’t a good enough reason to buy it.
Thanks for your comment.
We have a company close by offering it in a 28mm frame.
I personally would be worried about the extra weight on the hinges .
But saying that I haven’t seen the product yet, only the add. in the local press
I think if you’re going to do triple glazing, it has to be 36mm unit, better spread of the extra weight etc.
Thanks for your comment as always Mark!
Some other points… What is the energy cost to produce that extra pane of glass and spacer? and the machinery to manufacture it, transport it to the merchant, and then to the sealed unit manufacturer, and then to the fabricator and then to the trade customer and then to the consumer? Is all the extra fuel and energy used to make and transport the extra sheet of glass really outweighed by the amount of energy Mrs Jones will save on here fuel bill. Then there are also the H&S implications of the extra weight of each unit for the installer.… Read more »
It’s going to take a lot for it to be offered as standard, I think we are many years away from that point right now!
Thanks for your comment Mark :-)
I would estimate that over a third of window contracts signed are for triple glazing in our company. We get alot of interest in it and we are only one of two companies in our local area selling it. The only problem we have is the fitters moaning about lifting the units!
Lol, well they chose that career! Do you make a good margin on triple glazing?
Thanks for your comment!
I’m a marketing man (sorry!) Surely a TG product that is as much as 20% more expensive than it’s DG counterpart, is only 0.5% greater for thermal and acoustic insulation makes a good sales opportunity to down-sell a good A-rated DG window! No tricks or falsehoods – a window that’s 99.5% as good, for 20% less. Is it just me or am I missing something? Having worked alongside profile designers I do worry about the increased strain on hinges – irrespective of how good the hinge is, there is a lot of inertial load when top-hungs are flung open and… Read more »
No it’s not you, you’re not missing anything. Simple fact is the cost difference nowhere near justifies the minimal advantages.
Thanks for your comment!
You are quite right to be concerned about the ability of hinges to carry the extra load of TG doors or windows. Many products struggle already with DG units, such as flag hinges. We recently tested our Dynamic products to 200,000 cycles (20 years domestic use), and then security tested them. This was on a fully glazed TG door. Not a problem. The point is, no matter what the future holds, they will be as secure after 20 years service as the day they were installed. FUTURE PROOF! For triple glazed windows, if TG does grow as anticipated, then the… Read more »
One other extra cost (money and energy) in producing the Triple glazed window is the centre pane needs to be toughened if it is to last 10 years and beyond.
I imagine that there will be people out there just using an extra piece of float… preparing for disaster…
The real driver for this will be legislation. Back in 2006, it was proposed that by 2016 all new dwellings would be zero carbon. The result for windows would be U values of around 0.8. Since 2006 the impetus has reduced somewhat and lots of re-thinking is taking place, mainly around re-defining zero carbon to allow performance levels to reduce and consequently, cost. . The proposals for the 2013 Part L changes were initially meant to be a U value of 1.4, however, certain industry materials sectors vehimantly objected to this as they could not easily achieve this without making… Read more »
From our experience, triple glazing has it’s place e.g. at the top-end of the retail market but the extra cost in the glass and the uprated hinges makes it prohibitive for most people. To be fair there is still plenty of headroom left in double glazed units yet! Right now we can supply A+13 windows in our Liniar system, using the addition of the glazing flipper and thermal dam, with a reasonable glass spec (Total+, low iron, argon and SuperSpacer) – which our customers can and do specify now. We also know that we have scope for a little bit… Read more »
Hello, I have a question. I have built IG’s using 1/4 over 1/4 laminated for sound reduction but I have a project where heat gain is an issue as well as sound. The project is next to an airport. I have looked into using Quiet Windows with the 3/8″ laminated, but I dont like the idea of having interior and exterior frames. I am wondering how a triple glazed unit would fare in a 1/8″ low-e / 1/4″ lami / 1/4″ lami configuration would hold up. There are a large quantity of windows in the building with current 1″ glazing,… Read more »
Triple rip in general
To heavy virtually impossible to get perfect on 3 pieces of glass
2 of them coated