Cheap plastic sheets for double glazing?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Cheap plastic sheets for double glazing?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

kyhwana2

2566 posts

Uber Geek

#453182 29-Mar-2011 15:59

Jaxson: Hi all,

Crack up, bringing up a thread from a year ago. It's getting cold now so I've started to look at the DIY double glazing again.

The bubble wrap has gone, was ripped down over summer, and the wife found some quite thick clear plastic sheet at spotlight for like $8 a meter. It's 1.36m wide so 1 meter does a few smaller windows. Only needed 3 or 4 meters for both the kids rooms.
.

How are you looking at attaching the plastic sheet to the windows? (Either on the outside or in.)

I was looking at doing this for my apartment, so i'd need something that is removable and can be used on the in and outside, as im on the 3rd floor and can't stick anything to the outsides of some of my windows!

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#453191 29-Mar-2011 16:26

Jaxson: Thanks.

Yeah I just got a quote of $1300 to do our house (100m2 roughly) and that's installed and includes the 1/3 covered by the energy grant thing. ($650 grant contribution and $1,300 by me so price to company is actually $2,000).
.

I got our insulation for just over $600 from a guy on the north shore. I was Bradford Gold insulation. Heaps cheaper than Pink Batts, and the same quality (unless you like pink of course compared to yellow)

Cost me $40 for the trailer, but much cheaper than anything I was quoted. We have a 110sqM house and I got 15 bales (3 left over)

EDIT: here is the link to the auction for the batts: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=302478223
(he gave me a discount cause I brought so much. I think it came to $650 in the end)

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#453361 30-Mar-2011 08:30

kyhwana2: How are you looking at attaching the plastic sheet to the windows? (Either on the outside or in.)

I'm looking at using some cheap builders PVC tape from the warehouse. Needed to be ok for outdoor use as I'm going to the outside with my windows. I'm using the outside because the design of my windows means I get a 20mm type gap on that side but only 4mm or so on the inside.

There are lots of options. You could use double sided tape, but this is expensive. There are 3M window kits with the glad wrap style plastic you heat tight. The tape with that apparently is hard to get off though.

You could also build a quick wooden frame to rest in your window inserts. Remove after winter sort of thing. This would assist with dealing with the heat loss via aluminium/metal frames if you have these too. Hard to use the windows though, to open for ventilation etc.

The magnetite company approach is to lay magnetic sticky tape to which their metal frames or similar metal tape will attach. This is a great approach to remove for cleaning etc but obviously the price goes up. I was after something cheap that would prove the principle. It worked so well for me I'm repeating this winter.

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#453363 30-Mar-2011 08:36

jaymz: EDIT: here is the link to the auction for the batts:

Thanks very much for this info and feedback. Yes I had already eyed up the bradford gold product as Bunnings has this and it is very much cheaper than batts or the greenstuff polyester type equivalent.

Having looked into it I do believe the blanket approach will be best for my situation where I want to cover existing insulation and the ceiling joists. Bradford offer this product as well.

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#453379 30-Mar-2011 08:57

Jaxson:
jaymz: EDIT: here is the link to the auction for the batts:

Thanks very much for this info and feedback. Yes I had already eyed up the bradford gold product as Bunnings has this and it is very much cheaper than batts or the greenstuff polyester type equivalent.

Having looked into it I do believe the blanket approach will be best for my situation where I want to cover existing insulation and the ceiling joists. Bradford offer this product as well.

No worries, I did quite a bit of shopping around for a good price for them. They guy looks like he imports bulk lots of it at a time and stores it in his warehouse.

I would recommend getting some disposable overalls, face mask, knee pads and some long thick gloves for the job. I got some old planks of wood and laid them between the roof joists so I could kneel on too.

A nice sharp craft knife will make your life easier when cutting the batts to fit.

Also, make up a tool to push and move the batts into place (where the roof gets at it's lowest) I got a long pole and attached a nail in the end, it made it heaps easier to move the batts into place.

It isn't an easy job, it is hot and itchy but I did a bit more each night and slowly worked through it.

timmmay

20587 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#453399 30-Mar-2011 09:49

I found all the quality insulation products cost about the same as batts, back when I was looking around. I got my batts at trade price though, though a friend.

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#457725 12-Apr-2011 10:25

Found a cool trademe auction for 10 full sized bags of pink batts offcuts left over from professional installs. Cheap as and got to be better than nothing. Spent most of Sunday close to death cursing and getting covered in sht in the frustratingly low roof space of my house.

Whatever those guys get paid, it's not enough.

Highly recommend a plasma in winter.....
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/51dcf2fe93f4a990ee68f7b6e5ead814.jpg

Am starting to evaluate this years double glazing efforts and think initially that the bubble wrap was much better than the single, but thicker, sheet of plastic.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

timmmay

20587 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#457730 12-Apr-2011 10:41

As long as there's no gaps the cutoffs should be fine. Installing it is a real pain in the butt, but the guys get used to it, wear proper clothes, etc.

Where'd you get the thermal camera from? I was looking for one of them last year.

HybridE506r

59 posts

Master Geek

#457731 12-Apr-2011 10:42

as an idea for a removable panel on the inside of the window - find some old fridge door seals and remove the strip magnet inside it - tape around the window frame - make the plastic sheet with another set of strip magnets as the outside edge shoulddo the trick

pih

649 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#457737 12-Apr-2011 10:46

Jaxson: Found a cool trademe auction for 10 full sized bags of pink batts offcuts left over from professional installs. Cheap as and got to be better than nothing. Spent most of Sunday close to death cursing and getting covered in sht in the frustratingly low roof space of my house.

Whatever those guys get paid, it's not enough.

Haha... totally understand! I did polystyrene under the house last winter and that was bad enough! I didn't have to do my ceiling batts but I've been up there a few times over the last few years squeezing into sub-30cm gaps, drilling and hammering while sweat poured off my face, itchy from the batts, trying not to stick my knee through the ceiling panels... Gotta hand it to people who do it every day - it would drive me nuts (er ... batty? *ahem*)

timmmay

20587 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#457742 12-Apr-2011 10:48

The "magnetic" double glazing I had installed is basically a 3-4mm thick clear plastic panel over the window, with a plastic bezel, mounted to the window. Most of mine are screwed on through the bezel, not magnetic, as the panels are too big and heavy. They're permanent, they look fine.

A good DIYer with access to panels and the bezel could do it easily enough. The place that did mine did a horrible job anyway, they were back half a dozen times to fix things.

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#457867 12-Apr-2011 15:15

timmmay: Where'd you get the thermal camera from? I was looking for one of them last year.

I have access to a Fluke thermal image camera at work.

That's my AV cabinet in the back ground and you can see the heat coming out the back/front of that. Kids had been listening to some cd's and I have the door shut for that. Have ripped the whole back panel off for ventilation.

The hot blob on the top is the Ultraplus 700hdmi PVR unit, on standby!.....

timmmay

20587 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#457874 12-Apr-2011 15:22

Handy :) If you're in Wellington and feel like some beer/bottle of something in exchange for taking some photos let me know!

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#457896 12-Apr-2011 15:49

timmmay: Handy :) If you're in Wellington and feel like some beer/bottle of something in exchange for taking some photos let me know!

Ha will do. Always thirsty....

1 | 2 | 3 | 4