News item 5 - Low E Glazing Essentials For Your Diy Upvc Conservatory

It is a continuous surprise to us in in this energy concious enviroment we live in that most of the enquiries we receive for diy upvc conservatories still request plain double glazing and the thinnest polycarbonate roof option available. It is important even on a tight budget to understand the consequences of ignoring this aspect of your diy project. It is our fault as professional advisers if the message has not been presented well enough, about what low e glazing options are possible or available often at a negligable increase in the total cost of your diy conservatory project.

Low energy glazing has been around for many years, most notably with the introduction and popularity of Pilkington K glass for windows and conservatories. the benefits of low e glazing have been well publicised for windows, but it seems these benefits are not being made clear enough to buyers in the diy conservatory part of the market. Presenting the benefits of spending more money and buying these Low e glazing options has not been helped recently by large increases in glazing prices unfortunately.

It is always dangerous to concentrate on price alone and have limited concern for the future use of the conservatory in the belief that pumping large amounts of heat into it will solve all heating problems. This is doomed to failure and will cost a huge amount of money in the future - just look at the increase in fuel prices over the last few years for example. It is also not particularly enjoyable with one side of the body burning and the other freezing whilst enjoying a Christmas view of the garden sitting in your new conservatory ! - a common problem that should hopefully be a distant memory if we are doing our job properly.

It is never very hard to get a positive response on this issue from our customers when the benefits of low e glazing both for insulation in the winter and heat reflection in the summer are explained in laymens terms and offered as a list of additional options - which we do provide on every quote we supply.

Lets look at it in this way - On the basis that normal double glazing has a U value of about 2.8 ( high values are bad ie the rate at which heat leaves the conservatory) and the cheapest low e glazing option is Pilkington K or Planibel Low e ( u value of about 1.6-1.7 ) at about £15 per unit. As my example a 3m x 3m conservatory will cost an extra £150 in total to improve the glazing insulation by 65% - 75% - a considerable improvement don't you think ? If you then add Argon gas between the glazing this will increase insulation by between 15% - 25% in combination with Low e glazing at an extra cost of just £35. To swap to 35mm polycarbonate on the roof from 25mm is an insulation improvement of about 25% - 30% at an extra cost of £60 - again a large improvement for negligable cost.

This level of improvements in efficiency even to the most hardened and budget concious is hopefully a compelling argument and difficult to ignore. it is not our intention to up-sell and profit from this line of reasoning , but just a desire to get everyone to understand that 5 years from now heating bills will probably be 100% higher and this glazing upgrade price differential averaging £250 will be a hard pill to swallow if not included now. We may also in our own small way be helping to save the planet !

If you also consider that the conservatory you are adding is an improvement and investment in your property, then surely it is important to consider what a prospective buyers view will be when they see the low specification of your conservatory and start to add up the cost of upgrading or replacing it. That conservatory addition could suddenly become a liability instead of an asset, and for the extra sum of about £250 for an average size conservatory you get major insulation benefits and pass that on to a grateful buyer - so it is a win win situation where everyone is happy

! There are much better savings with higher performance wall and roof glazing such as Celsius, but that is for another article - we are in the business here of helping the majority who require good advise to make large strides forward after reading this article, and hopefully ask more glazing related questions when purchasing that diy conservatory - so good luck and happy hunting !!

We provide an online free quick quote service for all of our ranges accessed on the top menu. If you need to discuss your project in more detail then ring us on 01452226290, or email us on our contact page enquiry form, again accessed on the top menu.