Wooden or single glazing

[jennyjj01]

With talk in another thread about insulating homes, I'm curious.... Is wood framed or single glazing still a thing?
Or has it all long since rotted and been replaced by pvc?

What about you guys with older Victorian properties?

I ask because I'm reminded that our 70s house had wooden frames and until we could afford better double glazing we fixed glass inside the frames with clips like below. not elegant but good return on investment at that time. Whole house done for about 300 and kept for about 5 years.
https://www.secondarydiyglazing.com/sec ... g-systems/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transparent-Re ... 09KQ4QB1D/

[Yorkshire Andy]

With talk in another thread about insulating homes, I'm curious.... Is wood framed or single glazing still a thing?
Or has it all long since rotted and been replaced by pvc?

What about you guys with older Victorian properties?

I ask because I'm reminded that our 70s house had wooden frames and until we could afford better double glazing we fixed glass inside the frames with clips like below. not elegant but good return on investment at that time. Whole house done for about 300 and kept for about 5 years.
https://www.secondarydiyglazing.com/sec ... g-systems/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transparent-Re ... 09KQ4QB1D/

Can remember "helping dad" do it when I was little....

The stuff he had came in 3 parts perspex and a 2 part frame / clip... One half clipped to the perspex which helped stiffen it, the other half screwed to the frame then it snapped together... He added string loops to remove it in an emergency and mum got some heavy muslin and made sausages with a velcro end and filled with silica gell crystals which were treated with colbolt chloride blue when dry pink damp and drying them in the oven to stop condensation between the glass and perspex

[jennyjj01]

I know that some advocate grants for double or triple glazing, wall insulation etc. And I know this is a poor product in many ways. But with a world strapped for cash, there might still be merit for such a simple cheap solution either DIY or done by charities or schemes in the poorest housed areas.
Our shed still uses some of the old panels.
Ours was edged glass screwed down. The pvc and magnets might still have it's use to augment older plastic double glazing?

[Ara]

Our new house (1970s build) has mostly plastic double glazing but there are a few wooden double glazed windows. The wooden ones have a smaller space between the glass panels and the wood has rotted in places so I think they will be replaced by plastic when funds allow, although I don't like it much. Maybe if I was 30 years younger and could paint it every 3 years or so I would go for wooden glazing but nowadays I look to the future more and know the time will come when I can't climb ladders any more.
I think listed buildings with sash windows often still have single glazing but some people use removable secondary glazing in winter.

[Nurseandy]

We had single glazed wooden windows in our last house which was 200 years old. Absolutely atrocious heat retention (as you would expect). Thankfully an endless free firewood supply from tree surgeon mate.
We lived there for 18 years before funds allowed getting upvc double glazing and we then realised just how much heat we had been losing.

[grenfell]

Our new house (1970s build) has mostly plastic double glazing but there are a few wooden double glazed windows. The wooden ones have a smaller space between the glass panels and the wood has rotted in places so I think they will be replaced by plastic when funds allow, although I don't like it much. Maybe if I was 30 years younger and could paint it every 3 years or so I would go for wooden glazing but nowadays I look to the future more and know the time will come when I can't climb ladders any more.
I think listed buildings with sash windows often still have single glazing but some people use removable secondary glazing in winter.

Half of ours are wooden with double glazed units and I've just built ( but not yet fitted) a timber frame for the porch that I set out for double glazing. I suppose as a joiner I prefer wood over plastic . Plastic isn't completely maintenance free and there seems to be a vogue for painting them which seems to just add in more work.
I've worked on god knows how many sash windows on listed buildings and I practically hate the things. The problem lies with the weights. Sash windows rely on a balance between the weight of the sash itself and the lump of iron or lead on the other end of the cord. Just putting modern glass in a sash that was originally glazed with 2or3 mm glass and the weights aren't heavy enough and either need replacing or increasing. Then the pockets ( the hole the weights go in) is often tiny on old sashes and it becomes a right pain to get new weights in. And then after all that they are painted and start to stick. Yeah , I hate the things...

[GillyBee]

Our last place was a fifties built council flat with single glazed steel windows that hinged in the middle. Horrible things. Fitting plastic would be hard as there was next to no frame around them (No windowsill at all). I think it would take wooden frames fixed to the walls.
Our flat is no more but there are plenty round here that are just like it. I am so glad I don't still live there.

[Kiwififer]

Certain houses in Edinburgh (I work in Stockbridge) are subject to conditions around improvements if they are in conservation areas. Windows must be the same and not changed which makes replacing them with double glazing almost impossible as the original windows are Georgian in character.

You have two choices, one of to get the windows refurbished and there’s specific companies out there doing this, the other is to have secondary glazing behind it which a lot of folk also do.

I haven’t seen a glazier just do a single window in a long time but that’s here in Edinburgh and other places might be different.

[grenfell]

I haven’t seen a glazier just do a single window in a long time but that’s here in Edinburgh and other places might be different.

I did actually replace a piece of glass in a single glazed window frame a couple of months ago , rare event though. Funnily enough on another forum I use someone asked about cleaning up a putty knife and one reply he got was to make it look like everyone elses leave it covered in putty because he hadn't used a putty knife since 1979...

[GeeGee]

Daughter #1 lives not far from me but in historic saltaire village ..its all listed ..what you take out you have to replace the same ..Good old Titus Salt ..
All wooden windows and
The entire village has them..some have tried sash windows had upvc put in to be told to remove them.. the doors have to be the same too ..loads of old pained wooden doors its not changed in decades same as I remember and still cobbled streets
The wooden window frames take a hell of a lot of upkeep with rotting ..paintwork peeling ..
Funny in winter every other household seems to have cling film or clear plastic spread across the inside of the windows
Summertime the inside window ledges filled with tall plants to stop the tourists looking in ...