[Greenbuilding] Adding glass pane to single pane wood windows ?

[RT]

On Fri, 26 Oct 2012 22:22:02 -0400, Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> dessicant.

I remember back in elementary school during a class spelling bee it had  
come down to two of us. The word was "Parallel" and I went first... and  
got the number of "L"s wrong.

In this spelling bee, "Desiccant" got Reuben.

But Reuben's suggestion of a desiccant like silica gel or kitty litter or  
a combination of, between the panes (placed into  
reclaimed-from-the-wastestream aluminum spacer bars from IGUs discarded  
due to failed seals) is a good one.

However Lance's idea of drilling holes into glass (presumably to enable  
fixing glass to his old sash) is not such a good one. Okay, it'd be a good  
idea if a person wanted a sure-fire way to break the glass (with the first  
tightening of a screw.)

Best to make a frame into which the glass can be set and which will allow  
the edges to freely expand and contract
(not doing so will likely result in broken glass) and clamp against the  
frame (with a gasket between it and the old sash to create an air seal).

Another of Lance's ideas that should be mentioned is proposed a one inch  
air space between the panes -- it's too big. (Encourages convection  
currents within the airspace that accelerate heat loss.)

PS.  You can't cut tempered glass (nor can you drill holes in it).

pps: A few years ago there were many houses built in the 1950's and 60's  
that still had their original windows consisting of multiple panes of  
glass set into dadoes milled into the wood frames, allowing the frameless  
glass panes to slide open & closed.

As people upgraded to sealed window units, those old sliders yielded  
perfectly good, relatively large pieces of glass which often ended up at  
the local H4h Re-store or stored in the garage. They'd be excellent stock  
for DIY interior storms in lieu of new glass.

PPPS: The glass itself contributes very little top the insulating value.  
It's the still air space created between the panes that provides the  
insulating value.



-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom					AOD257
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

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