Hi,

Following on from my Window hunting, one company has offered me two
choices of Low-e glass, the first being Pilkington K-Glass which I have
heard of which is a hard coat Low-e glass and the second is a
Saint-Gobain soft coat Low-e which looks a lot more opaque than the
K-glass. Sales guy (its Colefax in Hull) claims the Saint-Gobain soft
coat is actually a better u-value than the K-glass although looking on
the Saint-Gobain website, their standard low-e glass seems the same
spec as K-Glass, but it does look more natural than the tint on the
K-Glass.

Any of you DIY'ers had any dealings with Saint-Gobain glass, from an
aesthetic point of view I think the Saint-Gobain is nicer, but is it
really as good as K-Glass?

Cheers,

Mike

Mike Myers wrote:

Hi,

Following on from my Window hunting, one company has offered me two
choices of Low-e glass, the first being Pilkington K-Glass which I
have heard of which is a hard coat Low-e glass and the second is a
Saint-Gobain soft coat Low-e which looks a lot more opaque than the
K-glass. Sales guy (its Colefax in Hull) claims the Saint-Gobain soft
coat is actually a better u-value than the K-glass although looking on
the Saint-Gobain website, their standard low-e glass seems the same
spec as K-Glass, but it does look more natural than the tint on the
K-Glass.

Any of you DIY'ers had any dealings with Saint-Gobain glass, from an
aesthetic point of view I think the Saint-Gobain is nicer, but is it
really as good as K-Glass?

Cheers,

Mike

I have frequently visited both Pilkington and Saint-Gobain main flat
glass production units, seen the glass made, seen the coating process,
and studied the technical specifications in depth.

The Low-E coating differences have a small significance for the sealed
unit fabricator but none at all for the end user. The level of thermal
efficiency is so similar that you would not be able to measure any
variation between the two options.

My suggestion would be that you go with the windows that you prefer,
regardless of the coating. There are other features that are much more
important (including your perception of the appearance).

HTH.

--
"S'ils te mordent, mords-les"