When Google really doesn’t help, Arbtalk will surely provide the answer

[spudulike]

13 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

 

Just a personal preference for things that last a lifetime.  Double glazed windows are fine until they fail, then in the bin they go.  There are currently three DG windows in my house that have misted and are awaiting replacement.

 

 But for the house I accept they are probably worth it.  For a porch probably not.

 

 As long as the porch can stay a few degrees warmer than outside I will be happy.

Fit your own replacement panels, it really isn't that difficult. Dose the seal with WD40, run a blunt knife around the rubber seal, not to cut it but to lubricate it. Purchase a beading tool that you slide in to the beading and twist to pop it out...Longest one first. Pop them all out and take out the panel, fit the new panel...spacers as necessary (beware on doors that need to be "toe and heeled"), pop the beading back in and all is good. Lots of vids on Youtube but I fitted all my windows and doors so that's where this came from.

Your porch is fine single glazed...it is a porch....in reality you have a 4 foot double glazing gap with the porch!

[Muddy42]

How thick is your recess? You can get as thin as 10mm deep double glazing panes made to measure. These are designed to replace single glazing.

 

Once decorated they look great. 

Please use linseed oil putty rather than mastic. It looks better and will be more airtight as it expands and contracts in a similar way to wood and glass.

 

Edit: sorry I just saw that you are concerned about them misting up. Modern units are meant to be way better than 1980s double glazing.

Edited March 4, 2023 by Muddy42

[Steven P]

I'm spending quite a lot of effort to remove the plastics from the house as I do repairs and replacement... and ******** silicone sealant that is used to hold the windows together (and bathroom, some walls, kitchen and even the meter cupboard) instead of doing a decent job

[josharb87]

Think about condensation. We’ve an old style house, the hallway and porch has always been unheated and single glazed in the porch. 
traditionally we’d have had a set of loose frames that get put in place in the autumn and removed in spring as a very old cheap type of double glazing. Without these condensation builds up extremely quickly in colder weather when the warm inside air hits the cold glass. 
 

even in the rest of the house we’ve wooden windows, double framed so a form of DG, hundred years old, those that need tlc and allow inside warm air escape through and hit the glass that’s outside get condensation 

[AHPP]

42 minutes ago, Steven P said:

I'm spending quite a lot of effort to remove the plastics from the house as I do repairs and replacement... and ******** silicone sealant that is used to hold the windows together (and bathroom, some walls, kitchen and even the meter cupboard) instead of doing a decent job

I vowed a few years ago to audition builders by asking (apparently offhandedly) what brand of silicone sealant they used. If their response was anything other than, “I don’t use that idiotic bodging shit.” they don’t get hired. 

[GarethM]

It is a necessary evil for most jobs tho.

But like expanding foam, evil but somewhat necessary.

[AHPP]

12 minutes ago, GarethM said:

It is a necessary evil for most jobs tho.

But like expanding foam, evil but somewhat necessary.

I nearly said expanding foam too. They’re not necessary. They’re just evil.
Plastic underlay under aggregates is another thing I have in my sights. I’ve never found anyone who can give me a satisfactory explanation for what it does other than cost money, rip and be a wasteful mess to extract. 

[GarethM]

Do you mean DPM ?.

Usually for people who don't want to put a deep enough layer down in the first place to stop things growing through.

Edited March 5, 2023 by GarethM

[AHPP]

1 minute ago, GarethM said:

Do you mean DPM?

Never considered it. Road fabric is the stuff that has always particularly offended me. Black stuff three or four metres wide that people put under whatever to fines to make a track. 

[GarethM]

Oh that black woven mesh, I get the idea to prevent mixing of aggregate.

 

But at the same time, the Romans just kept adding finer material until it compacted into a solid mass. Not sure how that all works with these new porous road they want people to use instead of good old tarmac.