Back to the Future

It's almost surreal... After thirty years of proving that draining and venting is the ONLY sure way of preventing premature sealed unit failure, we seem to be faced with a resurgence of the very cause of the problem - solid-bedding in oil-based putty. (And/Or NO drain and vent plus insufficient sealant and edgecover, all of which will almost GUARANTEE early failure.

It all stems from this new love-affair with so-called Slimlite double-glazed sealed units, characterised by the use of a 4mm gas space (rather than 12mm or 16mm). The logic sounds OK but is deeply flawed on several counts. I'll develop the theme over the next few weeks, but I predict a return to screaming headlines of the 1980's - "DOUBLE GLAZING = TROUBLE GLAZING" (Sunday Mercury 198?) once the complaints start to flood in (as they will).