28 September 2026
You have chosen your timber windows. You have thought about the style, the colour and how they will look on your home.
Then comes another decision you might not have given quite as much thought to.....
What glass do you actually want in them?
In this article, SashWise will help you find the right glazing options for your home.
Glazing is not simply a choice between single and double glazing anymore. Perhaps you want more privacy in the bathroom without loosing all that lovely natural light.
Maybe you live on a busy road and would quite like the traffic noise to stay out outside.
You are worried about direct sunlight fading internal furnishings within your home.
Or perhaps you have a beautiful period property and want your new windows to look as though they have always belonged there.
Your glazing can actually do quite a lot.
There seems to be a bit of a myth that frosted glass means less natural light, but that doe not have to be the case.
Etched or frosted glass is designed to create privacy without blocking out natural light, which is exactly why it works well in bathrooms, en-suites and cloakrooms.
And it does not have to be the plain frosted glass you might be picturing.
Different levels of opacity can be created, from a complete satin finish to decorative etched designs. SashWise offers designs such as Fleur and Double Fleur, which can add a little more character to the finished window and are more in-keeping with the look of period homes.
Better still, etched glass can be incorporated into a double glazed unit, as can textured glass.
Privacy, natural light and improved thermal insulation can all happily coexist.
So do we.
Perfectly flat modern glass can sometimes look a little too perfect in an older property.
Wibble Restoration Glass recreates the slightly irregular, wobbly appearance associated with historical glass. Those subtle imperfections can help a window feel much more at home in a period property.
But here is the clever part: it can also be incorporated into a double-glazed unit.
So you can retain that traditional appearance while benefiting from modern thermal performance.
Absolutely!
Windows do not have to quietly blend into the background.
Stained glass gives you an opportunity to preserve something special or introduce a feature that is completely individual to your home.
If you already have original stained-glass panels, upgrading the window to be double-glazed does not necessarily mean loosing them. SashWise can carefully remove the original panels, send them to a specialist stained-glass restorer and then encapsulate the restored glass within a new double-glazed unit.
And if restoring the original is not viable, the design can be replicated.
You can even create something personal.
One previous SashWise client was a hot-air ballooning enthusiast and chose to incorporate that interest into their stained glass.
If you are investing in bespoke timber windows, why not consider whether there is an opportunity to make them unmistakably yours?
Your glazing can help here too.
If your home is affected by traffic, people talking, barking dogs or general street noise, acoustic laminated glass is designed to provide additional sound insulation.
It uses two layers of glass bonded together with a polymer interlayer, helping absorb vibrations generated by sound waves. It can also be incorporated within a double-glazed unit, giving you around a further 50%. reduction in noise pollution compared to a standard double glazed unit.
Particularly useful for bedrooms, home offices or homes on busier roads where sometimes would simply like the outside world to turn its volume down a notch.
The answer might actually be more than one.
Your bathroom may need privacy. Your bedroom might benefit from acoustic glass. Your lounge with laminate glass to cut out UV Rays to protect furnishings. The front of your period property might call for something sympathetic to its original character, while elsewhere your priority could simply be improving thermal performance.
Your glazing does not have to be identical throughout your home just for the sake of it.
The important thing is choosing glass based on what you want each window to do, as well as how you want it to loo.
At SashWise, we offer a wide range of glazing solutions for timber windows and doors, from double glazing and FINEO vacuum glazing, to acoustic, etched, restoration and decorative glass.
So if you are currently staring at all the options thinking "I have not got a clue which one I need", that is absolutely fine.
Talk to the SashWise team about your home, your windows and what is important to you, and we will help you explore the glazing options available.
