Roofing

Heat loss from cupola after replacing glass

Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 3.47 PM

Our 1880s townhouse conversion has a large cupola in the communal stairwell. One of the panes was cracked and leaking water & we struggled to find someone willing to take on the job of replacing a single pane as they were huge. (1.5x 2m each) We decided to refurb the whole cupola and replace the 6 huge panes with 12 smaller panes, adding some extra astragals (are they still astragals if they're structural? anyway!) The original glass was 6mm Georgian wired glass & has been replaced like for like. The builders had a scaffold & deck inside the building for safety while the work was ongoing. When this came down it was apparent that there was a huge difference in temperature in the hall, which made our flat freezing. if the wind was up, i was able to feel a draught in the hall so I knew something was off straight away. The builder advised that they had vented the cupola as this was standard in flats with a communal 'close' (we're in Glasgow). Since it's a townhouse, it should never have been vented like this as the hall would have been in the living space of the original house. The builder then sealed along the bottom edge of the panes with silicone to prevent the movement of air. (seems a fudge to me) However it's still freezing out there. Can anyone offer any advice on how to proceed with the builder? Are there any fundamental differences in how the cupola would be constructed for a close vs within a house that would cause a difference in heat retention? Cheers