To ask if you’ve installed secondary glazing in a period property?

[ethelfleda]

I’m posting for traffic...

Have you a period/listed building that you installed secondary glazing to? We are potentially looking at buying a listed cottage and I’d like to know what our options are for upgrading the windows without replacing the frames and what sort of cost we would be looking at.
Theyre hinged windows (not sash) with window grills.

Thank you!

Was in this house when I moved in. Last house I replaced all but one window with hand built wood double glazed to the specification required by the listed building officer. The one window I didn’t replace I fitted secondary glazing
Cost £1k per new wood double glazed window. £350 for the secondary glazing. Noise reduction is better with secondary glazing

Not personally installed, but the previous owners put secondary glazing in our conservation area property with hinged casement windows. It works well IMO for both keeping warmth in, and noise out. We have sliding secondary glazing which can be lifted out for cleaning or in summer if desired. I think it's ~£500 a window, but I haven't had a quote for a while, and I haven't ever bought any. Some people don't like the way it looks, but I like to be warm :)

Might I suggest you talk to the listed building officer / conservation officer in your area. They are best placed to offer this advice and whether you need consent for it. You may need to pay but it’s worth it in the long term.

We also have new wooden double glazing in the back of the house, and I think I would agree that the secondary glazing is better at both noise reduction and heat retention

Thanks all
Mouikey
Will do - just wanted to get an idea of whether we would consider this as an option.

We had it in our house but removed and replaced the windows. It's a real pain to clean as you have 4 surfaces for every window instead of 2. We also had lots of cobwebs etc between the 2 sets of windows. Also our original windows were so badly fitting it did nothing to keep the what in our house. Our new windows were eye wateringly expensive but worth every penny.

I think I would agree that the secondary glazing is better at both noise reduction and heat retention When I was looking into this, I think I picked up that the optimum gap for heat retention was relatively small (comparable to standard double glazed units) whereas for sound reduction a gap more like 3-4inches was best. We have double glazing throughout and secondary glazing at the front, and it's exceptionally good at sound reduction.

An alternative that's become available more recently is polycarbonate secondary double glazing - looks as good as glass, but much easier to handle, especially if you have lift out panels. The alternative, assuming you want to open your windows, is hinged, but then you have a pane of glass opening into the room.