Double the Advantage

Not that long ago double glazing your home happened elsewhere in the world in regions with much colder climes than ours. And although warmth notoriously escapes through windows no matter where you live, the choice to double-glaze isn't just for heat retention. There are numerous other advantages.

Jolene Toft from Bay Glass in Waipapa says the number of people wanting double glazing is definitely on the increase, particularly with a view to living in an all-round healthier home. Given the numerous options available with glass, fittings and style, there's no shortage of choice.

One of the newest products on the market is Planitherm which is a high performance, thermally insulted glass known for its low-emissivity. It has a transparent metallic coating on one side of the inner pane and this coating reflects the heat generated inside the house back into the room.

Then there's noise control. If you're living in a main road apartment, for example, noise reduction is an important requirement and dual glass panes can reduce extraneous noise by as much as 70 percent.

There's also the high humidity of the Far North to consider and in this region we're all familiar with the condensation that comes from a poorly insulated home. But it's not just atmospheric humidity that produces trickles of moisture down the inside of a window pane and promotes mould growth, it comes from indoor plants, clothes dryers, unflued gas heaters, showers, the very breath we exhale. Even new houses can have high levels of internal moisture because the framing timber, concrete floor slabs and other building materials can take months to stabilise. It's unavoidable but, with double glazing, very much reduced.

Don't forget our high UV content either. Double glazing can protect furniture, carpets and curtains from the harsh penetration of the Far North's UV light rays.

Older homes can be retro-fitted with double glass and there's considerable choice here, too. Aluminium joinery can be fitted into the existing window frame to retain the glass or matching wooden joinery can be fitted into existing wooden frames.

The cost of fitting double glass to a new home can fairly readily be absorbed in the cost of construction. Retro-fitting an average home could cost between $12,000 and $15,000, depending on the joinery (wood is less costly than aluminium) but the benefits, including paying less for heating, can be weighed up over a period of time. Many people double-glaze one room at a time as the budget allows.

As for the future, there may come a time when new houses, by law, will be required to have double-glazing as standard equipment on build.