On double versus triple, i went for triple, uv value was 1.0.
A few reasons,
1)Solar Gain - you get less of it with triple, but when we had our ‘95 original pvc double windows, if it was a hot day, we do get some of these ! the solar gain, heated up the house, and i always had trouble sleeping, that issue is now gone with triple glazed, as it blocks some of the solar gain coming into the house.
2) Heat retention, Conversely, triple keeps the heat in better, so in winter, you loose less heat.
3)Noise - a very noticeable reduction in external noise, which i personally appreciate a lot.
We did a full windows and door replacement, and heat pump, we priced it up in 2021, but waited, and were lucky, the grants increased significantly in 2022, so went for it last year.
If you get to B2 mimimum,(one stop shop scheme) the grants for a full windows and 2 external door replacement, is €5,600 for a detached house + heat pump grants are €8,500, and a few other smaller grants, so, we got approximately 15k in total, and paid roughly 15k, allthough we were lucky the 2021 quote was honoured, appreciate prices have gone up significantly since then.
For some, for various reasons, including affordability. its a choice of : waiting and doing a bigger job later on, & claiming the fairly sizeable grants, or, doing some of these upgrades, bit by bit, but, in that case you are not getting full grants.
In the grand scheme of things, i thought 15k, for a significant upgrade from Ber C2 previously, to A3 now, was a good decision. Some people spend a lot more, changing their cars, or big holidays. Our priority was the house, but appreciate, people have very different priorities, young kids, etc.
It has made a big difference, a much more comfortable house, but needs to be coupled with good electricity usage, as heat pump uses a lot of electricity, so a day/night meter got installed last year, you can do things like heating all your hot water on a cheaper night rate, have the heating come on, early in the am, while night rate is still going etc.