Secondary glazing - worth it?

[Fjgb]

I am keen to keep our original wooden windows as the stained glass is beautiful but our house is freezing! Has anyone got secondary glazing and if so would you recommend it. I am worried it might look really ugly and we might as well bite the bullet and go for PVC double glazing. Any advice welcome?

[Bumpkin]

We've got secondary glazing but it was specifically to cut noise down as we're on a main road. I was told that it doesn't really impact on the heat that much as the gap is too big. Works a treat with the noise, isn't that noticeable (but it's a bedroom so don't look at it that much). If you're specifically only looking for reducing heat loss, I'd go double glazing or even a thick pair of curtains or ones with thermal lining, I had those in a room with drafty single glazing and they made a big difference.

[GinaG3]

From my experience they aren't worth it for preventing drafts and cold. My mum and dad have secondary glazing on their old manor house. The whole house is very cold during the winter despite the secondary glazing. I remember many nights of whistling wind through the windows and freezing draft in my bedroom. I find the back of the house warmer than the front, and it doesn't have secondary glazing but instead all new wooden frames with new single glazing. Theirs was originally installed for noise at the front as its on a main road.

[scareyt]

Hi we had old rattly sash windows properly draft proofed and in the coldest bedrooms we also had them retro-fitted with thin double glazing inside the existing sash frames. The draft proofing alone makes a big difference. They take the wooden beading off the frames and fit proper brushes inside new ones so the windows then fit perfectly with no drafts and open and close really nicely. The cost of that wasn't too bad compared to all the other options. The retro fit double glazing saved the frames but not the glass so wouldn't be much help to you, and it cost nearly as much as brand new windows.

[RoLo1]

It does sound like a shame to lose the beautiful stained glass. I know my neighbour retained his stained glass when he got double-glazing, so definitely worth looking for wooden sash window company that would remove and integrate what you already have. I say partly as a good friend of mine replaced all her wooden sash windows with brand new ones, but single-glazed - she hadn't realised she could have had new wooden sash windows that came double-glazed/ She was gutted as you can imagine, so thought I would mention in case you weren't aware, wasn't sure from the original post.

[azurh]

how much are you being quoted?? my stain glass window seriously needs some glazing.