Save money, stay safe with double glazing

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In this age of internet price comparison sites, it seems that the world and his dog are scouring the web in the hope of finding a cheaper energy tariff. While this isn’t a bad idea in itself, it overlooks the fact that energy suppliers tend to bump their prices in sequence. As soon as one of them has increased rates, you can be sure the rest will follow in quick succession. If you’re serious about saving money on your heating bills, then it’s a good idea to make sure that your house is properly insulated, and that your doors and windows are double glazed.

Regular single-pane windows are made using a solitary sheet of glass, and as glass is a good heat conductor, it goes without saying that single-pane windows and doors are not the best way of keeping your house warm during the winter months. If you want to keep bills down and do your bit to help reduce carbon emissions, then double glazing can be a very sensible investment indeed. Rather than the glass itself, it‘s the air sealed between both panes that gives a double glazed window its insulating effect, as it slows down the transfer of heat from one side of the window to the other.

After you’ve installed double glazing, you might find yourself wondering why your home is much less draughty, particularly in the areas around your windows. This is because the heat transfer process affects the air flow in a room – hot air rises and cold air falls, meaning that you often get a constant low-lying draught underneath a normal single-pane window. By comparison, the interior pane of a double glazed window is usually much warmer than the exterior pane, and so won’t affect the air temperature inside a room as much as a cold, single-pane window. More heat, less draughts, lower energy bills – and the benefits don’t stop there!

As well as keeping your home nice and warm, double glazing also offers a few security benefits that aren’t immediately apparent. For a start, a sheet of single-pane glass is much easier to break than a double glazed equivalent. Glass is brittle and shatters easily, but the air sealed inside a double glazed window offers a degree of cushioning that makes the glass more difficult to break, while damage to the outdoor pane may not carry through to the indoor pane either. On top of that, many double glazed windows and doors come with toughened or laminated glass, which make them even more shatter resistant.

As well as a wide selection of windows, you can get double glazed doors from Zenith or a number of other suppliers. If you want to make sure that you’re kept warm and safe this winter, then check out what they have to offer.