I think 2015 was touted as the year where triple glazing might start to have an impact in our industry. A year when we’d see it talked about more, with sales of the stuff rising too. Yet, we’re in the middle of June, and I have sold just the first triple glazed window of the year. So is 2015 really going to be the year when triple glazing takes off?

Enough interest in triple glazing

I have to start to question whether the general public have enough of an appetite to go for triple glazing, at least in England anyway. I know in Scotland that the market there is a little more advanced than south of the border. In the first six months of this year I have gad very few people come into our showroom asking about triple glazing. And when we bring it up, despite the client knowing about the product, they are not interested in knowing about it.

And therein lies the problem. I think the public know how far standard double glazing has come, so to then start pushing triple glazing, it might seem to be running before walking has been mastered, if you know what I mean?

I like to think that our place is a good barometer of the general feel of the industry. At the moment glazed extensions are very good for us. Composite door sales are strong. Custom built doors sprayed in all sorts of colours are popular too. But when it comes to triple glazing, the demand simply is not there.

Further development needed

As far as the product goes, it’s still in it’s early stages. Triple glazing in general needs more development in all areas. For a start there are still only a handful of dedicated profiles out there designed to take an optimum 44mm triple glazed sealed unit. Most are still good for double glazing or bodge a bead to take a 36mm or 40mm unit. I think until there is a greater number of dedicated triple glazed systems out there, potential for sales is going to be limited.

I don’t think cost is actually the prohibitive factor. There now isn’t that much of a gap between the cost of double and triple. For me, a lot of the logistical and manufacturing hurdles have been overcome. The only hurdle for progress I think is going to be promotion and choice. I think there was actually more energy behind triple glazing last year than this year. There seems to be a lot of attention on the very highest end of the product scale this year, which is great to see, there are some outstanding products being installed in homes at the moment. But I feel that the eye has been taken away from triple glazing a little this year.

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