Hi Chaps,

The new to us house saga moves on. Heating sorted now have 26 windows to replace but what with?

Existing windows are wood and rotten so I'm not keen to repeat that and our last house had UPVC but the frames were quite chunky with not a lot of glass space. Since the whole point of windows is to put glass in I went off UPVC.

Whats aluminium like? I really like crittal windows (steel) as the frames are so thin but recall the older ones were draughty have things changed?

Cheers!

Not Windows 10 !!

All of my windows and doors are UPVC, and are perfect, yes you lose a very small percentage of glass but that is negligible

However, my patio sliding doors, are alui, and in the winter, the metal is so cold,to touch, we leave the curtains drawn, as you can feel the cold from the metal frame, standing a couple of feet away, this really only when we are in minus temps

So your choices are very limited, UPVC, Wood and that rots, and needs regular maintenace,,in painting etc or metal, i dont think there are any other choices

You can get UPVC windows that look like painted wood (until you get close enough) but they are quite £££. Considering them for our new place at the moment as it's got single glazed rotten wooden sashes at the moment..

We had our windows replaced with uPVC a couple of years ago - modern frames are usually reinforced internally with metal, and they can be quite slim.

It's really worth shopping around - we had a recommendation from my daughter-in-law's father (a builder) who'd used a particular company on his own house, and on a couple of his projects. We got a quote from them - and they were just over half the price of Everest (not that I was going to get them from THAT company anyway!).

So word-of-mouth recommendations are invaluable, and it's worth avoiding the big players if at all possible.

uPVC is the 2020 equivalent to wooden windows in terms of tech.

All the rage is composite where you get a greater range of colours. Get a few quotes in and get them to bring samples, they're a fair bit more expensive.

uPVC are by far the best value, but as you say frames get chunky. This can h=be helped by choosing a style with less bars in it.

Last time I looked crittall were over 2k per sq metre. Ouch.

If you have sliding sash windows, you can get them made up double glazed in hardwood. I did that on a refurb, the chap used a light hardwood (some kind of redwood from memory) but still double uPVC costs. But I had no choice, it was a conservation area so uPVC in the back, wood in front. 8 bays or windows. About 25K all in from memory. I had those installed etc, the weights cost 1K!

Have to say years ago I was against white upvc and had expensive hardwood frames made, looked good and no draughts. We moved to a new house with white upvc and brown woodgrain soffits etc. 15 years later I have changed my mind completely. We made some alterations and one window was replaced with triple glazed, I had decided to start changing to grey but the cost difference was substantial The window went from the lower floor to soffit in one pane at the staircase. We went back to white upvc. The glass is about 50mm thick but allows no sound in and feels much better than the old double glazed (smaller) one it replaced.
My vote is for triple glazed upvc in white from now on.

I quite like wooden windows. Any rotten bits can be routed out using a bullnose bit in a hand mini router then fill with flexible epoxy filler (repair care flex4). Great system. Quick sand 4 hours later and painting time. Not cheap compared to bonds but doesn't shrink and much nicer to work with.

Thanks for the info Chaps generally you mirror my own experience.

Keen to try something different to UPVC. Steve, how old are your ally patio doors? They allegedly have a thermal break built in to stop the cold bridging problem it would be nice to know if yours have this or not!!

Def no wood I'm not into maintenance for houses I'd much rather be in the workshop having fun

Does anyone know how much area is taken up by the respective frames there must be a stat for it. Seem to recall summat about fenestration area? %? must google it.

Cheers

My parents replaced all their wooden framed windows with Aluminium framed windows 4-5 years ago. Excellent fit and finish and noting you comment on frame thickness the frames are significantly thinner than the uPVC windows on my house.

My parents did have trickle vents fitted on nearly all their windows. You can open close these, but they allow some air circulation and help prevent condensation, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms. Any decent window company should advise you the same. I'd advise having them fitted - having them fitted after the windows have been fitted will cost you more!

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Originally posted by nick205
My parents replaced all their wooden framed windows with Aluminium framed windows 4-5 years ago. Excellent fit and finish and noting you comment on frame thickness the frames are significantly thinner than the uPVC windows on my house.

My parents did have trickle vents fitted on nearly all their windows. You can open close these, but they allow some air circulation and help prevent condensation, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms. Any decent window company should advise you the same. I'd advise having them fitted - having them fitted after the windows have been fitted will cost you more!

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quote:

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Originally posted by v8kid

quote:

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Originally posted by nick205
My parents replaced all their wooden framed windows with Aluminium framed windows 4-5 years ago. Excellent fit and finish and noting you comment on frame thickness the frames are significantly thinner than the uPVC windows on my house.

My parents did have trickle vents fitted on nearly all their windows. You can open close these, but they allow some air circulation and help prevent condensation, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms. Any decent window company should advise you the same. I'd advise having them fitted - having them fitted after the windows have been fitted will cost you more!

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Hi Nick,

Did your parents experience any of the problems that Steve did? i.e. the cold framed absorbing heat and feeling cold?

Cheers

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thanks Nick

I dont know how old the patio doors are, but we have been here 34 years, so older than that

Thanks, Steve that explains it since then the manufacturers add a thermal break (lump of plastic) between the inner and outer parts of the frame.

All looking good just need to find a reputable manufacturer to supply only and a window fitter who will fit them

Cheers

quote:

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Originally posted by v8kid
Thanks, Steve that explains it since then the manufacturers add a thermal break (lump of plastic) between the inner and outer parts of the frame.

All looking good just need to find a reputable manufacturer to supply only and a window fitter who will fit them

Cheers

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We had CRSmith in when we replaced windows. They were bragging that their windows had the smallest upvc profile compared to competitors. That was a few years ago like, so don't know if it's still the case. The windows are good, but the monkeys they sent to fit them just butchered the walls when they pulled the old frames out.
I personally would stay clear of aluminium frames. Warm air inside hitting cold aluminium makes for condensation.

I'm with you on the condensation they claim its fixed now but I'll be checking that up and asking to speak to "satisfied customers"

Cheers

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Originally posted by harmchar
but the monkeys they sent to fit them just butchered the walls when they pulled the old frames out.

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Thought for a laugh we would get a quote from Everest.

Came in at over double our budget

£40k Everest, £18k online (unknown quality)

I think Ill buy one small unit from the online store (slideandfold) and see what the quality is like