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Comment by javiermaestro | Hacker News Reader

Can't understand your comment. You are agreeing with me that, in most other parts of the world, double-glazing (aka a glass that won't break if you elbow it by mistake!) is the norm. But in the UK, it's sadly the opposite. So we agree that they should replace their crappy windows with double-glazed, properly insulated, ones...

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I meant I never understood why people in the UK dislike double glazing and think of it as a kind of joke. Don't know much about the story of double glazing in the UK, though.

The only thing that comes to mind is that climate is supposed to be mild in the UK, so maybe double glazing makes less sense than in colder countries? But it can get pretty cold in the UK...

My comment wasn't meant as a criticism of your comment.

Double-glazing is popular in the UK - but it was a late-adoption: I didn't see it become popular until the early-1990s (I note this would be shortly after the privatization of British Gas, hmmm!)

A contributing factor is the popularity of rented accommodation, including council-owned houses, where the pressure to invest in double-glazing is less (as tenants are responsible for gas/elec bills, but landlords are responsible for capital-expenditures and improvements) - so there's not much incentive to upgrade windows in that case.

But all new houses I've seen built since the late-80s all tend to have double-gazed windows, the majority have white PVC framing, but I see wooden ones occasionally too. I've never seen white PVC window framing turn yellow - my parents had their windows converted around 1994 - now 23 years later the frames are still pristine white - and I'm not aware of any special treatment or care they require.

That said, public perception of double-glazing salesmen isn't the best - they were the butt of many a joke in the 80s and 90s, including Blur's Parklife video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSuHrTfcikU - though I never understood myself, perhaps because they were a commonplace sighting?

That... and even today they seem to capitalize on their public perception with intentionally gauche TV ads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgqJPd_YJtE

Thanks for the clarification!

I think this is itself a "legacy joke"; I would say it was the 80s-90s when door to door double glazing salesmen were rife. The only real objection was the sheer cost of retrofitting it, plus a bit of stiff upper lip about not caring about being cold.

A friend of mine lives in a single-glazed 13-storey 1960s apartment block. It can be quite drafty. There's no way it will ever be refitted and I'd give it a couple of decades until its demolition.

The UK's housing stock is very old on average and some of it is in very poor condition.

>> But in the UK, it's sadly the opposite.

Any data to back this up? Personally I find it a pretty rare sight to see windows that aren't double glazed and if I came across a property without them it's absurd enough I wouldn't move into it.

Sure, it's annecdata... but just come to London. All of the old housing from the 70s or before (most of Z1-Z2) is single pane. Also, go search in Zoopla for double-glazing... landlords mark it as an extra for a reason (unless it's a new development, in which case it will be double glazing).

Well, I've talked to people and been to quite a few places in the UK, Scotland, etc. I know many people living in London, the UK and Scotland. We all agree. I'm pretty sure it's the same all over the UK

And for the rental prices that you pay here, it's pretty shameful the state of the houses, windows included.

Interesting. Maybe it depends on where the property is located within the UK. There was a big double glazing push in Northern Ireland in the 90's and I can't remember the last time I was in a property without it. I've rented in London (Z2) a few times and haven't come across an issue yet but I may have been getting lucky. The different heating requirements between Southern UK and Northern are pretty astounding so that might have something to do with it. I haven't used the heating in my London flat in about 4 weeks now and throughout the winter 4 hours a day was plenty. In NI I would have been using it for another couple of months at least and almost constant during winter.

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