If you have a mobile phone with you, please keep it switched on.  Try to keep the line free in case we need to call you en route. It might be tempting to poke or fiddle with a broken key, but we strongly advise against it.  You could cause further damage.  Please also retain the other part of the broken key so that your locksmith can quickly identify the correct replacement. We certainly are and we offer 24 hour service, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Whether you are locked out or you need key replacement urgently, our Belfast locksmiths can be with you within 60 minutes anywhere in Greater Belfast.  In fact, we are usually with you much quicker! Our locksmiths in Belfast specialise in the repair and replacement of UPVC window and door locks, including patio doors. We would be delighted to help you with your window security.  The type of lock we recommend will depend on the type of window.  For example, UPVC windows require UPVC locks and wooden casement windows require casement locks. 

Our expert Belfast locksmiths will be able to give you the right advice. Yes, all of the locks we provide are approved to British Standards. Our key cutting and key replacement service is totally mobile so our professional Belfast locksmiths can provide you with extra keys no matter where you are. Yes, we can provide a wide range of Belfast locksmith services for business premises. Yes, our Belfast locksmiths have the expertise required to get you back into your vehicle. Our locksmiths in Belfast have access to the latest in non-destructive techniques when it comes to gaining entry to a property.  Wherever possible we will avoid causing damage to your locks. Yes, we can supply and install any kind of mortice lock. No, our Belfast locksmiths will always use brand new locks when replacing your lock. Each of our locksmiths in Belfast carries a wide selection of spare parts.  That means we can usually finish the job within a single visit. We offer rapid response, 24 hour service, free callouts and low prices. 

Our experienced and qualified Belfast locksmiths are just a phone call away. No, we believe in offering our customers low prices and absolutely no callout charges. Once you have reported the break-in to the police and your insurance company, give our locksmiths in Belfast a call. Simply call our team on for immediate assistance or use our contact form.Bit by bit, we are being encouraged to switch from double to triple glazing. You may not have noticed yet but the pressure is on to improve the energy performance of windows and we are now reaching the stage where mere double glazing will no longer be enough. The rough and ready method of comparing the energy performance of windows is to use the U value measurement, just as we do with walls, floors and roofs. Traditional windows, with a single pane of glass in them, have a U value in excess of 5. Double glazing used to score over 3, but, over the years, the manufacturing process has undergone a number of improvements and currently the Building Regulations insist that any window you install today should have a U value no worse than 1.6.

These improvements have been brought about by the introduction of: Now, a U value of 1.8 may look good when compared to what we have been fitting relatively recently, but compared to the U value demanded for walls – currently less than 0.3 – you can see that windows remain weak spots in the overall thermal efficiency of a building envelope. best french door refrigerator searsHence the tremendous pressure to improve their performance even further.larson storm door replacement frame (MORE: Buyer’s Guide to Rooflights)garage door handles cape townTriple glazing is widely used in cold climate countries like Sweden and Norway, and the ultra-low energy PassivHaus standard requires triple glazed windows with a U value of no more than 0.8. shower door handles cape town

To get a window with such a low U value, you have to not only switch to triple glazing but also insulate the frame itself, as well as using more expensive manufacturing techniques — the gas krypton tends to be used, instead of argon. Now, though a U value as low as 0.8 sounds very impressive, the additional energy we are saving is minuscule whilst the payback time for triple glazing (like double glazing) is high compared to other energy-efficiency improvements. electric garage doors norfolkBut there is a little more to it than this.frameless shower door uk The key benefits are really to do with comfort. best non slip doormatIf you insulate the walls, roof and floor of a house, and you ignore the glazing, you end up with cold spots surrounding the windows at night, which cause draughts, draw heat away from you if you sit next to them, and result in streams of condensation running down the panes.

So, in essence, the standard of glazing has to match the standard of the insulation elsewhere in the house, so that the warm wrapping around the house performs consistently. (MORE: How to Solve Condensation) Which is where triple glazing comes in. Because if double glazing makes a modern house more comfortable to live in, triple glazing makes it even more so. The physics involved here have been worked out in Germany by the PassivHaus Institute. It has shown what happens to surface temp­eratures on various forms of glazing when it gets really cold outside, and the internal air temperature is designed to be at 21°C: So you can see that whilst a double glazed window is perfectly adequate, a triple glazed one is just that much more comfortable, because it hangs onto heat just that little bit better. So whilst triple glazing may make little difference to your heating bills, you will notice the difference inside the house. The PassivHaus standard promotes the use of triple glazing for precisely this reason – i.e. comfort – although it also states that the frames themselves have to be insulated, and the windows need to be mounted in the correct location within the wall assembly.

To make things more complex, windows behave rather differently to walls and roofs in that, when the sun is shining, they are capable of absorbing heat. In fact, the very best double glazed windows are already capable of being net heat contributors over the course of a heating season. In contrast, triple glazed windows slightly reduce the heat absorption characteristics of a window. To reflect these complexities, the British Fenestration Rating Council has devised a scheme for the energy labelling of windows, from A down to G. The top rating is reserved for windows that are reckoned to absorb as much heat as they lose, and they include both double and triple glazed windows. The upshot of this is that there are many who argue that triple glazing simply doesn’t make sense in a climate like ours. Triple glazing is more costly to produce, produces much heavier sections and has an embodied energy approximately 50% higher than double glazing. Window manufacturer Scheiwiller in Switzerland is producing quadruple glazing (i.e. four panes; three cavities).

There are, however, technical problems with simply adding more and more panes of glass: not only does the resulting window become ridiculously heavy, but the additional panes stop light coming through. In fact, in terms of energy efficiency, there may even be a fall-off as the amount of sunlight the window can absorb is reduced. It is more likely that future developments in window technology will evolve around new coatings, or phase change materials which absorb heat in sunlight and release it at night. Look out for GlassX, produced by another Swiss company, which is already manufacturing a product that does this. An alternative option that might make more sense is to revisit the traditional practice of drawing curtains across windows after dark. It may be low-tech, in comparison with glazed cavities filled with krypton, but it’s something of a natural British habit and it does cut down on heat loss. Perhaps it’s time we paid attention to improving the heat retention characteristics of curtains and blinds, rather than continuing to engineer glazing units to ever lower and lower U values.