Triple glazing may not be a requirement of the Future Homes Standard 2025, but why wait for government legislation? At VELFAC, we believe the case for making triple glazing the new norm now is strong.
Here are five reasons to make triple glazing your go-to choice sooner rather than later.
Improved U-values
According to research carried out by the Home Builders Federation¹, 24% of respondents said energy efficiency will be crucial to their next move. In fact, being ‘eco-friendly’ and a ‘good EPC rating’ were the second and third most important factors cited after ‘private outdoor space’. Low U-values are obviously an important factor in preventing heat loss and improving energy efficiency; triple glazed windows can improve U-values by around 40% compared to similarly specified double glazing.
Better solar heat control
As hard as it may be to believe in the UK, summers are getting hotter. Controlling solar heat to keep interior temperatures comfortable will become increasingly important. Triple glazing, with a G-value of 0.53, offers a 17% reduction in heat gain over standard double glazing with a G-value of 0.64.
Increased acoustic performance
Noise control is especially important when building in urban areas or close to transport infrastructure. The third pane of glass in triple glazing can improve noise reduction properties by around 5-10% for standard glass. This can be improved to 15-20% when using triple glazing with specialist acoustic laminates.
Enhanced safety and security
Recent research² by Neighbourhood Watch discovered that burglary is one of the UK’s most feared crimes, with 52% of respondents citing it as a concern. Strong and very difficult to break, triple glazing is a highly effective deterrent against break-ins; even more so when using toughened and laminated safety glass.
Cost uplift only around 10-15%
VELFAC window systems can be double or triple glazed as standard, without the need for special upgrades to the strength of the framing, or to the ironmongery. The moderate uplift in cost relative to the improved performance makes the case for upgrading from double to triple glazing easy.