1930s house and encapsulated stained glass

[ToodlesMcGee]

Has anyone had this done to their door/windows and can you tell me if the stained bit looks as good after being encapsulated or if it looks a bit "flat"? I know stained glass isn't great for energy efficiency and it's better to have it encapsulated but I'm worried it'll ruin the look to have it done and the colours won't be as bright etc.

Does it matter if it is slightly less bright? The energy efficiency aspect would be my priority and a slight loss of brightness will just become your norm after a few weeks.

It matters to me! Especially for the front door which I'd see multiple times every single day and I don't want to regret getting it done so I'd like to know from people who have had it done already what they think.

We had it done in my last house because it was a burglary risk. It did look a bit crap to be honest.

I live in a safer area now and I just put up with the heat loss because I love it

I don't like how it looks, it seems like it's dead. It's better than getting rid of the glass completely- but if you can I'd keep it.

We've had it done in the top windows in all our bays. It looks great and we're really glad we had it done. Previously the single glazed sections got a lot of condensation. Because they were deeper than the single panes which were taken out, we had to have the wooden surrounds re-made so it was a bigger job than first anticipated.

We've not done the front door or the stained glass panels either side of the door though. I don't think that it would look right and also the style of the door wouldn't take the deeper panes. We just have a curtain behind the door which we pull when it's chilly/at night and that keeps it warm enough.

Friend had it done, I was sceptical, but it honestly looks fantastic. It's a beautiful house and the glass is a great feature. It was fairly expensive and I think she went to look at previous houses where the particular people had done it.

We had this done with one feature window on the stairs and we're happy with it. I know what you mean about it looking a bit "flat" but in our case this wasade up for by the fact that the glass has also been cleaned and a couple of cracked panes replaced. That and the benefits in insulation and getting rid of draughts and condensation have been week worth the slight compromise to aesthetics.

We researched this with our front door and decided against. Our glass is so lovely and tactile and we didn't want to compromise it. We have a thick velvet curtain which we out up in winter and pull across on chilly nights (the whole curtain has just come down for spring!). In any 1930s house there's a lot that is character vs energy-efficient like a new build would be, and I'm happy with our choice.

The previous owners encapsulated the stained glass in our house. Lots of houses on our street have opted for new double glazed stained glass instead. Of the two I definitely prefer ours as the colours look more authentic (Edwardian houses). The colours in the modern stained glass are much brighter and the textures are not the same either, I prefer the more dappled original texture personally.
However, I can’t comment on how it looked before it was encapsulated.

To add to my earlier post I've just been looking at ours in the sunlight and from a distance it looks great! How often do you actually stand up close to your windows looking at them?

Thanks for the photo @CasperGutman that's particularly helpful to see!

It's interesting to see the range of opinions on this but it's pretty similar to our thoughts so at least I know I'm not worrying for nothing Maybe I'll ask if any of the neighbors have had it done and we can take a look

Hi OP, I wanted to tell you what I learnt as I'm also looking into this. The window company told me regular double glazing has Argon gas between the panes. But that it's not possible to do this with encapsulated glass, so the insulating value is much lower than you'd expect. I'm not sure what to do about this in my house as my hall window is enormous & I'm thinking about thermal efficiancy. If you learn anything else about this do share please.

I wouldn't do it to a front door. Might compromise on aesthetics for some other windows you examine less closely.
If you're worried about draughts and security, could you not install a panel of plain glass behind the door panel on the inside?

Contrary to the last poster, there are quite a few houses near me who've done it to the front door and it does look ok if it's nicely done.

My parents had it done and it looks really good.

Thanks for all the opinions - this is super helpful!