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What sort of windows would be best |
Soft wood |
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12% |
[ 2 ] |
Hard wood |
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62% |
[ 10 ] |
uPVC |
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25% |
[ 4 ] |
Other (please suggest an alternative) |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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Total Votes : 16 |
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Author |
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Message | |
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Midland Spinner
Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 2931 Location: Under a green roof
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 10 8:38 am Post subject: Replacement Windows - which would be best for us? |
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Advice needed please!
We need to replace the windows at the front of the house. The existing ones are of two types:
uPVC upstairs, these were in place when we bought the house 17 years ago and still work, although they are getting very long in the tooth, let in fearful draughts, and the opening parts aren't where we want them. The ones we have at the moment are just big sheets of glass with no glazing bars and make the house look rather blank.
Softwood downstairs, these were installed about 15 years ago and are now almost completely rotten. They have openings where we want them, but have so many locks that they are a fiddle to open, so we mostly don't bother. These have glazing bars and look much better than the big panes upstairs.
Our house faces the prevailing winds and the sun and is almost completely exposed to the elements. The windows get the full force of any weather that's around.
We lead a fairly busy life and can't always tie up time to paint windows with good (but not excessively sunny and therefore un-paintable) weather, so painting the windows is (realistically) always going to be behind schedule.
On the environmental side we are trying to weigh up the relative merits of the three main options:
Softwood - Fairly cheap. Can be sustainably grown. But needs painting at least every other year so lots of VOCs, paint etc. Lots of scaffolding / ladders (don't much like heights!) Painting is difficult to schedule in. Will probably last about 12-15 years if we are lucky.
Hardwood - probably not sustainably grown? A lot more expensive. Will need painting about every 3-5 years (see above about VOCs & ladders). Should last longer.
uPVC - Cheapest? Won't need painting (so once it's installed that's it bar cleaning). But it's Plastic. Quite a lot of embodied energy in manufacture. But won't need painting. Should last quite a long time.
Builders: We are also trying to decide whether to use a local builder (expensive, possibly busy and won't be able to fit us in) or a national window firm (cheaper, but the fitters won't be builders and we need at least one lintel replacing as well, and national double glazing firms have their own special set of problems - ceasing to trade, high pressure salesmen, etc. etc.)
What do you all think? We have a bit of money to do this, but not loads. Ideally we'd like to sort the job once & for all. Our house is old, but not in a conservation area or listed or anything.
I've made this a poll as I'd like some quantifiable input. |
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vegplot
Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 21301 Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd
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Behemoth
Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 19023 Location: Leeds
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ros
Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 2469 Location: Beds
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Gervase
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 8655
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ian1
Joined: 12 Dec 2004 Posts: 314 Location: essex
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cab
Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 32429
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cab
Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 32429
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 45470 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 45470 Location: yes
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cab
Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 32429
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Gervase
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 8655
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Midland Spinner
Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 2931 Location: Under a green roof
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 10 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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Gervase wrote: |
Are you looking for sashes or casements? You can keen the narrow glazing bars which are a feature of sash windows with narrow-spaced DG units like these. |
We need Casements, the windows in our house are wide & low - as are many in this area. (I expect that originally they might have been Yorkshire sashes - i.e. sideways sliding, but OTOH, this building was never originally a house, apparently it was a cattle shed until about 60 years ago.) The window openings aren't any sort of standard size (which will affect the price I expect!) Ideally we'd have a casement at either end & a top light in the middle in the bedroom, that way we can always have a window open whatever direction the wind is in - or several on very hot nights.
I'm not so fussed for the bathroom, but it'd probably be nice to have them matching & the same for downstairs.
Obviously the more openings we have the more expensive the windows will be, but we've lived for ages with only one casement in the upstairs windows and cooked in Summer and had them blowing around in gales in the winter... So while we are going to the expense of replacing the windows we figured that we'd get the openings we want (assuming we can afford it - Ernie! Hint)
Quote: |
Timber does need some basic care |
I know, that's why we are looking at the options; we have to be realistic - last Summer there literally weren't any days that we could have painted the windows - you need a 12-18 hour stretch of good weather during which the window can be open for the paint to dry. We were so busy that we didn't have very many days at home, and the days that we did have were wet, or were part days where we had to go out & couldn't leave the windows open. OH & I rarely had a day off together, so it wasn't even as if one of us could have stayed in and kept the burgulars out. |
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Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9715 Location: Devon, uk
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cab
Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 32429
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