magnetic strip secondary glazing

[spongebobgreenpants]

How's it going,

i'm researching ways of reducing heat loss via windows in a renovated stone walled farmhouse. The  problem in winter is exacerbated by excess condensation on the insde of the windows overnight. (first condensation of autumn/winter appeared last week). Has anyone experimented with magnetic strip/perspex sheet secondary glazing? this appears to be a relatively low cost solution however i'd be grateful to hear from anyone who has any experience / advice on this subject.

cheers
spongebob

[Mike N.]

We had this in our first house and it worked well and was cheap. Problems were that it got quite grubby (I don't think they had antistatic cleaners then - except for turntables ) and they were quite bulky to store in summer.

The other big downside is that none of our kids have ever known the beauty of those patterns of frozen condensation on the inside of their bedroom windows in winter like we did .

Mike

[WyeSolar]

I also had this type of secondary glazing in my stone cottage when I first moved in.

As I neither bought nor installed it I can't comment on its cost but it sure seemed to work very well.

As Mike rightly noted, storage in summer could be an issue.

On a very positive note it did stop my house from burning down!
Long story short...stack of timber against flat roofed back of house caught fire (unattended BBQ + farm dog trying to get last sausage = fire). The house had a lovely warm orange glow behind it when we got home....I found the timber blazing, the guttering gone, the roof melting/burning and the window directly in front of the fire was burning with the glass smashed and melting. The perspex sheet secondary glazing was shying away from the heat by ballooning inwards but still holding firmly on the magnetic strip. Obviously I was very lucky to control the fire in time, but the perspex stopping the fire entering the house certainly saved a far more serious situation.

So in essence I’m very fond of perspex secondary glazing!

Uncletig

PS Before I get health and safety tips it was a long time ago, I always now water the BBQ after use and never leave food out! I learnt my lesson.

[spongebobgreenpants]

thanks for the replies chaps, think i will experiment with this set up,

ps uncletig, had my own scary fire experience recently. was sealing limestone floors with boiled linseed oil and left a linseed oil soaked rag in a bedroom overnight. the rag spontaneously combusted and caused a lot of damage to the room. anyone using boiled linseed oil beware!

good luck
spongebob

[Jonzjob]

Before we moved over here to France our house near Stroud had a pair of single glazed french doors. I used a single sheet of toughened glass on each of the doors covering the complete glass part of the window. These was fixed to the doors with glazing sprigs and silicone rubber. When the rubber had dried, about 2 days, the sprigs were removed. The glass was completely secure, stopped all the condensation, didn't dull and stayed in place permanently. It worked really well, looked OK and was quite cheap too...

On windows I doubt that you would even see it and as they are not covered by the law for toughened glass as long as you had the right thickness it would be even cheaper?