When you are building or renovating a building, it’s not easy choosing your window fixtures as you need to take into consideration many variables the design to the thermal and acoustic insulation
Today environmental regulations for residential and commercial buildings are – quite rightly – more and more strict. These regulations force engineers, architects, project managers and constructions companies to invest in insulation work and minimize as much as possible thermal dispersion.
With regards to window fixtures, the standard in this sense is represented by the double-glazin.
Let’s look now at what a double glazing is, its uses and why it’s so important.
Double glazing and its benefits
With the term double glazing, we describe – as the name suggests – a kind of window fixture that considers the use of two glasses distant from each other 6mm or more.
A space is created between the two glasses, a cavity in fact, which has very positive effects when it comes to thermal dispersion and acoustic isolation.
As you can imagine the bigger the distance between the two glasses the more insulation, you get from your double glazing.
Creating this space between the exterior glass, which is directly in contact with the wheatear and other external agents, and the one inside, it possible to diminish very substantially thermal dispersion which is essentially the movement between the cold or the warmth from the inside to the outside and vice versa.
The air cavity between the two glasses can be filled up with nobles gasses like argon and krypton to enhance even further thermal and acoustic insulation.
[bctt tweet=”Double glazing: The perfect solution for thermal and acoustic insulations of buildings” via=”no”]
To guarantee perfect close the two glasses that made the double glazing are sealed.
You can also find double glazing composed by three glasses instead than two
It’s also worth mentioning the advantages regarding privacy and safety, in fact, the presence of double glazing makes much difficult for a burglar to break in and conceal that happens inside the house to the outside.
Double Glazing: Stratified glass and low transmittance (low-e)
We said how a window fixture with double glazing is characterized by the presence of 2 or 3 layers of glass, placed at a certain distance between them.
The glass can be of different kinds:
- a monolithic glass that we could call ‘simple’; this is essentially a traditional glass, also called float, smooth and without imperfections, available in different widths;
- stratified glass, constituted by 2 or more layers of glass and one intermediate level of PVB film.
When we talk about double glazing a term that often comes up is low transmittance (low-e). What is it?
It would be quite complex to explain what a how a low-e glass works because it would require making many premises and show data and diagrams that only an engineer or an expert in the sector could understand, so please excuse the very simple and straightforward way we will use here.
A low-e glass is capable of enhancing the insulation capabilities of the a window fixture. Simply put this is a coated glass (with different coating agents) that improve its thermal performance.
A low-e glass generally is made of-of four different layers: an outside layer, a protective layer, a silver layer and an adhesive layer.
Window fixtures with double glazing: aluminum, PVC and wood
When double glazing was first designed, everyone thought that the most suitable material to frame it was aluminum. In few years, in fact, the installation of aluminum fixtures become almost a standard, threatening the dominance of wood.
Being a relatively cheap material, light, resistant and 100% recyclable aluminum entered strongly into the market and people homes across the world, sacrificing the esthetical appearance . The esthetical aected (the beauty of wood is undisputable!!) for a better insulation for the house which results in significant savings when it comes to electricity and gas bills.
Luckily, in recent years, companies have made big efforts to improve the aesthetics and the design of window fixtures with double glazing, proposing, multiple solutions and different styles.
With the arrival of PVC, the market of window fixtures was shaken and all the cards on the table were shuffled. Thanks to reduced production costs, the adaptable material and the excellent energy yield, PVC windows have become in a short time very popular and requested amongst wholesalers and technicians.
The frame of PVC windows is perfect to host a double glazing with the advantage of being esthetically more pleasing than aluminum.
However, the quintessential window fixture, especially in Italy, has always been the wood one and for very good reasons.
In fact wood is excellent from esthetic and insulation point of view, it’s also resistance, durable and environmentally friendly. The only downside is the cost which is higher than PVC but which doesn’t have the same elegance.
To go around this problem is possible to go for hybrid solutions with fixtures in aluminum or PVC and covered in wood cladded.
Double glazing with integral blinds
Window fixtures are decorative elements as well and choosing them will have an impact on the overall design of the house, office or shop where they are installed.
In homes for instance, after having spent time and resources trying to find fixtures of high quality with an excellent thermal yield and esthetically pleasing these are often covered with curtains and blinds that can cover them entirely.
Double glazing represents a new and increasingly popular solution for this problem with integral blinds.
What does this mean?
As we said, double glazing is only a space between two layers of glass installed in the frame. That’s why it’s possible to install inside this cavity a blind, regulated by an external remote control, to be able to display your window fixtures as well as have privacy.
Double glazing with an integral window is extremely popular today especially in spaces with a particular style and decor
As the blinds are inserted in this sealed cavity, these are protected from external agents such dust and sunlight. This, for example, would mean that you won’t have to take off your curtains, wash them, iron them, etc. anymore.
[bctt tweet=”Double glazing with internal blinds ensure a constant protection from dust and atmospheric agents” username=””]
If you are thinking to change your fixtures or if you are building/designing an apartment or a commercial space, think carefully which blind to choose and ask the advice of professional sellers and technicians capable of offering you the best solutions.
