Double Glazing

Read this:

http://www.renovateforum.com/f84/imp...-china-112782/

The price difference is astounding. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get it landed here for under a grand.

I have recently installed a double sliding door like yours, 3.4x2m and chose the comfort plus laminated glass with a green tint. I will not be using blinds either. I chose comfort plus based on the demonstration set-up at the door provider. It was a box with a flood lamp and 4 glass samples. The comfort plus glass clearly transmitted far less heat (unless I was somehow tricked into feeling this). A friend also has comfort plus with no blinds and much larger glass areas than me and he seems to think the house retains heat well. This is further south in a colder area.

BTW, the green tint gives the view nice enhancement and makes the grey tint look very ordinary.

You still have a reasonable amount of heat loss using either double glazing or comfort glass without curtains but it is certainly far superior to single sheet 4mm float glass. We retrofitted the whole house for about $7K in double glazing (Veridian supplied) which was about 48 panels supply only. We tried one window with comfort and another with double glaze. Using an extremely unscientific hand on the pane test on a cold winters night we went for double glaze, I've read the tests and we also opted for low E on the outer pane which I think is the same treatment as comfort, I might be wrong on that but it was the emissivity tests provided by Veridian that brought us to that decision along with the problem that we were limited to a 6mm gap between the panes. Mind you having completed the job I think we could have used a 10mm gap and got away with it had we used a different bead.

Have you had a look through the Viridian performance specs?

http://viridianglass.com/Products/do...-%20Energy.pdf

Both the smartglass and the low E double glaze units have a similar SHGC which means they will both allow a similar amount of solar heat through. This would probably explain why in a showroom with heat lamps you wouldn't notice much difference between the two types of glass. However in terms of retaining heat/cold they have drastically different U values (1.5 vs 3.7) so heat transfer through the double glaze will be at least twice as slow as the smart glass.

Does your basix certificate dictate a maximum U-Value (for example 2.5) which would rule out using smart glass?

Originally Posted by paddyjoy

Have you had a look through the Viridian performance specs?

http://viridianglass.com/Products/do...-%20Energy.pdf

Both the smartglass and the low E double glaze units have a similar SHGC which means they will both allow a similar amount of solar heat through. This would probably explain why in a showroom with heat lamps you wouldn't notice much difference between the two types of glass.

The showroom test I had didn't include the double glaze, just 3mm and laminated.

We have gone with the Veridian Smartglass option,as we may fit blinds/curtains later (adding around $2200)..we feel this is a good compromise because as usual, we're already $35K over budget!
Local weather is reasonbly mild with winter ave 3-10 deg and summer 12-24.House is Basix compliant without upgrade as well.
Regards,
Blocker.

Originally Posted by Blocker

We have gone with the Veridian Smartglass option,as we may fit blinds/curtains later (adding around $2200)..we feel this is a good compromise because as usual, we're already $35K over budget!
Local weather is reasonbly mild with winter ave 3-10 deg and summer 12-24.House is Basix compliant without upgrade as well.
Regards,
Blocker.

I think you'll find the smart glass will serve you well in summer and the addition of curtains will do the same for winter. If you rely on heat gain through the north facing windows in winter smart glass works against you though.