Amberella

I really appreciate all the responses - and it is very interesting to see all the different points of view. I completely understand that for some people draughts are a problem and something to get rid of. @Redbeard - you would be very disappointed in us 😂, but I have to say that we love our draughty old house and we've never had a problem with damp, mould or condensation (we've lived here 20 years) @craig - maybe because of the draughts! 😂 In any case, we don't have trickle vents now, so can't imagine the condensation situation will be drastically changed if we were to put in new windows that also don't have trickle vents. I've been investigating PIV a bit more - thanks for the suggestion @ETC - and it seems like that could be our solution if the FENSA people were to make a fuss... Also going to do more research into fans. Thanks again everyone! You'be been so kind and helpful. I really appreciate it!

I believe this is true but the local authority are not being helpful at all!

Thanks, Redbeard, yes you're right - it's trickle vents in windows we're trying to avoid. Although, tbh, we'd rather avoid putting any extra holes in our house! It's draughty enough as it is! 😂

Thanks so much for the kind welcome, IceVerge - do these fans go in the wall? Would we need to put one in every room? Sorry if I'm being very ignorant!!!

I would love to, but it's very difficult. I gather it would probably be fine to have the windows without trickle vents until/unless we're selected by FENSA/Assure for an inspection and then it would all depend on the view of that particular inspector, so 🤷‍♀️. I'm wondering if the inspector came and refused to give us a certificate how much of a problem that would really be!?

Yes. We've been thinking about PIV but have had conflicting advice. If we could just put it in the loft with one vent onto the landing - as one installer suggested - then it would be fine, but another window installer told us we would have to have ducts running to every room and that would look awful so we're not doing that! If anyone knows the truth of this I'd be grateful!

Gosh! Turns out I'm a bit nervous about posting - never having done it before - but I really hope that some of you lovely people can help me. Please be patient if I don't give all the right info! 🙂 Basically, my husband and I have a tiny cottage built around 1650. It is not listed. The current windows are UPVC double-glazed units (without trickle vents). Ever since we moved in 20 years ago, we've longed to be able to replace the windows with timber windows that would be more in keeping with the cottage, but we simply couldn't afford it. Now at last we can, but now trickle vents are required by building regs and I hate them with a passion (as well as not really wanting to pay the additional cost of having them). Even our local conservation officer agrees that they are utterly unnecessary for a cottage like ours, given that it's very old and very draughty, but building regs aren't very nuanced and they state that all replacement windows have to have them! If our cottage was listed or in a conservation area we would be OK, but it isn't either of those things and my husband is dead against listing it. So here's the question - is there any way we can avoid the dreaded trickle vents without going rogue and falling foul of the building regs? Or are we doomed? Any advice/help would be very welcome. Thank you!