Postby OLBC Group » Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:05 pm
"Looking to find a reputable company to upgrade the windows in our house."
"Thinking that we will only do once so looking for a recommendation and quality over cheaper price."
You are thinking along the right lines.
To paraphrase Evelyn Waugh, in Decline and Fall
“We class timber double glazed sash windows, you see, into four grades: Leading Windows, First-rate Windows, Good Windows, and Windows. Frankly," said Mr OLBC, "Windows are pretty bad...”
Joking apart the difference tend to be:-
Quality of the wood used generally - varies from total rubbish to really, really good;
Quality of the sill - should be hardwood;
How well are the windows precoated with decent paint in the workshop;
Brush strips - do they really seal;
Weights vs springs - generally weights are better but for windows you don't open often it doesn't matter;
But oddly and most importantly the Double Glazing Unit (DGU) itself - you really could write essays about the comparative quality of DGU's - they really are not all the same - not even remotely.
The issue with the DGU are amongst others:-
Glass quality itself;
How has the glass been tempered or is it acoustic glass or laminated or anti bandit;
And the most important - how good are the metallised coatings?
Most people don't realise that modern double glazing units are meant to have metallised coating on them to reflect out sun heat and keep in room heat. The original branded one was Pilkington K Glass.
So the glass coating are super, super important. For instance the window in my study was top of the range glass in 2013. However, during the heatwave it wasn't pleasant to sit close to it even with the blind down due to the heat radiation from it. Contrast that to the newest windows, I have, where even when they are blasted directly by the sun there is very little solar thermal gain. So coating quality really does matter as it saves a/c or heat gain in the summer and saves heat loss in the winter.
But I would state with a lot of confidence that really good sash windows will make your home much more pleasurable to live in as well as being a lot greener by reducing carbon footprint but mainly by mitigating annoying temperature fluctuations.
Some window suppliers don't exactly splash out on the coatings or the timber, or the......
The Oxford & London Building Company is a long-established local firm specialising in major home refurbishments & basement conversions in London
www.olbc.co.uk
0208 877 0555
@OLBC_Ltd
5 Morie Street
SW18 1SL
Marina Studios
SW10 0XD
