Victorian homes benefit from energy saving glazing

Large old well established towns along main transport arteries like the M4/M40 corridors and old county towns and cities in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, like Reading, Aylesbury and Oxford, have more than their fair share of properties built before the twentieth century. Consequently, many of these buildings are not very energy efficient, and there is a surprising proportion that still have the original box sash wooden windows.

The same is true for many parts of the large town of High Wycombe, an old staging post on the route from London to Oxford, where horse drawn coaches used to stop, and home to Hazlemere Window Company. Nowadays the A40 still runs from London through High Wycombe, past Oxford, all the way to the port of Fishguard in West Wales where you can catch a car ferry to Ireland. The Victorian stock of mostly terraced houses is also a legacy of the vibrant furniture making industry that grew around High Wycombe in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Removing the existing wooden box sash’s is a skilled job, as often the frames are supporting the brickwork, so it is wise to get an experienced window installation company involved in any box sash removal, if you plan on fitting energy efficient, energy saving replacement windows.

In an article on the Energy Saving Trust website posted by Emily Thomas on 19th October 2010, entitled “Victorian home improves energy efficiency with triple glazing” it describes how “work has begun on retrofitting a Victorian home with triple glazing and other home improvements as builders investigate the best ways to make older properties energy efficient.”

Phase one of the project began in Hertfordshire in October 2010, organised by Building Research Establishment (BRE) and industry partners and supported by the government. Under this project “The Watford Victorian terrace is currently rated F for energy performance, but will be made into a B-rated property. Double glazing, triple glazing and other innovative prototypes will form five different types of windows installed in the property.”

Climate change minister Greg Barker commented: “It’s vital we learn as much as we can about how to make Victorian terraced houses more energy efficient, as this is a common type of housing. The practical knowledge gained from this project will be extremely valuable as we set out on the biggest overhaul of home energy efficiency in history,”