These are our windows, how can we save them ?

[bingalingg]

New house, it’s Edwardian with all its originals features including the windows all downstairs. Single panes though and we are feeling the cold when the heating isn’t blasting. I really don’t want to lose the windows, I would hate to change them to plastic. Is it going to cost an absolute bomb to get new wooden frames and double glaze ? We had a quote to encapsulate the stained glass and it was 12k 😳😳😳

I can’t see a picture but look at secondary glazing

Definitely secondary glazing. Internal frames are very thin and can be effectively hidden by lining them up with the external frames.

But think also about ventilation. I had a place with heritage windows that I could not change, so I added secondary glazing. Made an immediate positive effect. But the other windows were metal Crital windows, and they still ran with condensation despite the secondary glazing. I was mopping up every winter morning. I don’t know whether wood frames would have the same problem. I don’t know whether my windows could have been installed differently.

My parents had a pvc inner frame & sliding windows as they had leaded lights. (sp?)not perfect for insulation, but hugely improved !
(no condensation)

Sorry !

We wooden frames on an Ewardian House and they were able to remove the glass and using a router increase the depth and fit double glazed units in.
(The frames need to be quite thick though.)

Have a long think about whether you want to keep the stained glass. We have coloured panes on the upper section of our single glazed windows and we have decided to lose them. They aren’t as nice as stained glass but still original.

But it cut a lot off the already horrendous price of new wooden windows which means we can keep all the other original detailing in the frames. Ours are casement windows.

friends Had their sash windows encapsulated and done in expensive pvc where the profile is thinner and they do look great.

I’m looking forward to not having to window vacuum every morning.

cheap solution will be secondary glazing.
All comes down to do you want an effective system but are willing to trade off against its looks

You can buy magnetic plastic double glazing which would help and isn't very obvious. If that isn't enough then I would try getting double glassed units fitted into the existing wooden frames.

We recently replaced snicker timber single glazed with timber double glazed and it cost a humongous amount for the 14 windows of the entire house.

we left one single window with single and installed secondary as we are planning an extension that side and it looks awful in comparison to the bespoke timber double glazed windows and I couldn’t imagine having that all over the house.

if there isn’t the financial capacity to replace wood with wood secondary is the only option.

We have a Victorian house with sash windows and a few of them have small stained glass sections across the top. We have had them all replaced with double glazed wooden sashes. We kept the box frames as they were in decent nick and only replaced the actual sliding sash parts, this saved a fair bit.

For the windows with stained glass, they replaced the window like for like, with double glazing where the plain glass was, and reused the old stained glass panels at the top of the new sash. The stained glass was not encapsulated, those sections are still single glazed, but as they’re small it didn’t make too much difference and we still got most of the heat benefit.

Not cheap but such a huge difference heat wise. We now actually use our N facing rooms!

For some of our stained glass we have had double glazed glass put into a wooden frame and then fixed to the outside of the window just where the stained glass is. It warmer but you can't see it from the inside and it protects the glass.

We put roller blinds and thick lined cream curtains on our Edwardian bay. Single glazed wooden original. Layered up the floor with rugs in winter. Our mistake was not to have four curtains in the bay(the original would have had four I think ) instead of big wide ones.
Looks very light though and definitely keeps draughts at bay in winter as you can draw them partly and they insulate the wall a bit by the frames.

It's been fine. The cost of heating is much cheaper than new windows. We always draw. curtains and blinds when sun goes down and sometime earlier in winter . Our windows are beautiful from outside and in. Light through stained glass is magic

Most heat is lost through walls and floors. Could your rug have a much bigger one underneath or a fluffy small wool one at foot of the sofa? Blankets!