Storm Doors & Storm Windows in the UK

[junediamanti]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> Don't know why this question suddenly came to me, maybe it's 
because
> it just got cold here in Minnesota (lowest temp in the state 
today; -2F).
> 
> Do houses in the UK typical or ever have storm doors and storm 
windows
> on them?
> 
> For those who don't live in cold climates, storm doors & windows 
are 
> second doors and windows that go over the primary doors and 
windows to
> help keep cold and wind out. 
> 
> It would be absolutely unheard of for a house in Minnesota to not 
have
> them. Although, an alternative might be multi-pane windows with 
two or
> three layers of glass. The storm door/window and the multi-pane 
glass
> help insulate, so not only do they keep wind and cold out, but the
> keep heat in and make your house much more energy efficient.
> 
> In the HP story and in most photos I see, storm doors and windows 
do
> not seem to be the case in the UK. That's seems odd in a country 
that
> appears to be concerned about energy efficiency.
> 
> Can anyone confirm or deny this???
> 
> Silly question, I know, but I'm curious. One of the largest storm 
door
> manufaturers is located near my home town. 
> 
> bboy_mn

No storm windows - I know you tend to have like extra things you fit 
on in autumn/winter - correct me if I am wrong.  

The nearest we have to this is double glazing which is where windows 
and doors are pre-manufactured units consisting of a kind of 
sandwich of two sheets of glass with a thin layer between them, 
creating greater insulation and reducing the heat loss through 
windows.  

Please bear in mind that we do not get particularly extreme climate 
conditions as you do in the continental US.  Because we are a 
maritime climate.  Severe (for the UK) winter temperatures are -10 
degrees and that is exceptionally bad.  Wind chill factors may 
increase the feeling of cold but that is about as bad as it gets.  
Contrary to the beautiful snowy winter scenes in the HP movies, we 
do not usually get much snow in winter - it tends to be a newsworthy 
happening.  When we do get snow, it generally goes after a few days.

As regards winds.  Again, we do not experience anything on the scale 
of winds that you might experience in say the mid-West.  We can and 
do get gale force winds from the North and Irish seas but these tend 
to be at a maximum of force 8 on the Beaufort Scale.  The last very 
serious wind weather I can recall was the notorious 1987 Hurricane 
(it is notorious because the Weather Man publicly laughed at the 
idea on TV because viewers had heard a hurrican WAS on the way).  
This caused major damage and some deaths (it is often immortalised 
in TV dramas set in that period to give viewers a sense of 
authenticity!).  This only affected the southern half of the country 
though (I slept through the entire thing...).

So to some extent, there would be little market for the kind of 
storm and extreme weather protection you are referring to.  Mind 
you, if global warming becomes all that is threatened, who knows?

June