craig

@NSS That's unfortunate about the neighbours. What has annoyed myself and my neighbours, is the client is trying to do this on the cheap and calling in favours and doing most work out of hours (at least he was). The first building went up (other builders, clients) was purposely built using old plans, where the patio doors at the back had been refused and we reported it but the council ended up approving it on an amendment. Builders have obviously done this in the past, several checks are in place before kit goes to production. In our case you can understand neighbours concerns.

You are most likely building in a residential/built up area? We have private builds being erected at the back of our house. I have no problem within building but I do have an issue with two factors. One the ground is to high and the Groundworks could a come down 2 / 3 metres to reduce ridge height and help with privacy. Two, we all live in disabled housing for various reasons. Privacy is a huge part but so is peace and quite. We have had to report contractors and clients to environmental health. We've had them turn up at 6, start the generator, cement mixer etc. and not be offsite until 9pm and working til 5 on a Saturday. Common courtesy should mean the clients/builders tap the door and ask if we mind, explaining they need to do some work. Would we? Of course not, but they are rude, ignore the rules and have been burning rubbish on site and toileting outwith the porta loos. These rules are there for a reason but if you are in a residential/ built up area, ask the neighbours. They generally wouldn't mind if explained.

It's obviously a bit late but you should have a word with one of the local building inspectors (Gwynn) who built his own house in Kirkwall about his windows. You have a very nice project.

Just to add to this, frame thickness/depth is important for the frame value (Uf). So larger/chunkier frames tend to be better performing. However, pretty much no matter what window you are using. A good detail will be over insulating the frame externally. So you can hide the frame on outward or inward opening windows. This will leave the opening sash only or a little bit of frame as well. One thing to consider with this method, is if the aluminium cladding extends to the end of the frame, ask the supplier what they do about cold bridging. Most will cut back the aluminium on site, others have systems that don't have the aluminium to the edge of the frame as standard. Internally, you can hide the entire frame of a fixed window but very advisable to keep the glazing bead area visible (if internally glazed) for maintenance reasons (i.e broken glass). An opening window dependent on system, will need a certain amount of frame visible for the window to open fully.

Depends on how the calculate the costs, what equipment is required, does the installation cost include transport and accommodation costs, compriband, membrane etc. These additional items need to be fitted and add cost onto an installation which is not just foam filled for example. I'll be honest, I have looked at numerous comparison quotes and wonderered how on earth they can offer it for that price and then questioned, how good is the installation service/after care.

That is the exact reason we prefer to supply the full package, we will only offer warranty on the window/doors. If a fault develops, who is to blame, what's caused the issue, how has it happened. We can usually tell if it's the result of install or misuse, however, it can cause falls outs with contractors/clients which we wish to avoid.

It depends really. standard windows (square, rectangular) - 15 working days production. Add a sliding door 20 days production. Add shaped windows 30 days. Add entrance doors, 8 to 12 weeks. Special requests can vary but these are all standard production timescales. Add 10 days for invoicing and payments being received/ transferred and 7 days delivery. We can be on site within as little as 4 weeks (tight but possible), just depends on the order. Generally we are 6 to 8 weeks, you also need to take into account time to package items for exporting (48/72 hours).

My middle aged daughter was born with a rare condition called SMA-LED with cortical dysplasia. She was the only child in the world with this particular variant, so the car we have is a Nissan X-Trail but about to switch to a wheelchair accessible Ford Torneo or similar. However, I'm also about to buy a Nissan Elgrand. @jack sorry to hear the difficulties experienced and your choice to go elsewhere. We are different from others, we tend to send out as accurate as possible quotations. So that nothing is missed and the costs we supply shouldn't really vary. I've seen some competitor like for like quotes and wonder at times how they get away with sending them out. We are also very keen to seen proposed section details as early as possible. Why? Basically some details may need wider frame / cladding details, may not be optimised and we may need to run thermal calculations on the detail and supply alternative proposals. We are also not scared to run away from challenges, if we think we can achieve a solution we will. We priced a glass cupola 5m (domed) glass to glass 8 sections. The fixtures and and fittings to be gold plated and a 500KG chandelier to be hung from it as well. We were on the extreme verge of technical possibilities but we did it, didn't win it in the end as the client changed his mind in a big way. We can't win everything but we do try to and we do try to be different from other suppliers.

Agreed, they are one of the best kits and companies to deal with around.

Sorry to pop into the conversation so late to this but as supplier used to urge clients to go with French doors or a lift slide door (used to anyway). I wouldn't recommend tilt and slide doors in the UK. People just don't know how to use them and it causes more call outs because of incorrect use. However, if you want bifolds in the future or anyone else. There is a great bifold door supplier from Germany (won't mention name as I'm not wanting to promote them PM for details). They are Passive House certified and suitable and far ahead of any other bi fold system I know of.

Excellent, always look forward to receiving schedules.

Yeah, we can't get on it for the kids

Sorry I'm not meaning to be condescening or rude. It just interests me as to why they are saying this, what reasons are they given and what do they actually mean by failure. It would also depend on the type of film that is being used, I'll have a look at what they are saying.

Hello All, I suppose I should let you all know who I am. My name is Craig and I've been in the passivhaus industry now for nearly 10 years and built up my knowledge and understanding from friends, colleagues and learning about the methods and different construction methods etc. I've mainly been involved in the supply of windows and doors and Im basically the tech guy at Ecowin/Gaulhofer Windows & Doors in the UK. I'm not here to self promote or claim we are better than everyone else but I'am happy to help anyone with my knowledge and understanding. I recently turned 40 (ouch), I have 3 wonderful kids and I was recently surprised to be informed of an impending fourth. As mentioned, I do work for Ecowin/Gaulhofer and I'm not here to generate sales or push products or claim we are better than anyone else, as a lot of good suppliers/manufacturers exist (a lot of poor ones also). If I can be of any help, please let me know. Thanks Craig

I'm curious to know what makes you think the triple glazed unit will fail? I'm presuming you have or have built to PassivHaus standard? I'm presuming the centre pane value is 0.5Ug (probably 0.53Ug or thereabouts). The the coating will be on the outside of the inner pane and the inside of the outer pane & the unit will probably be made up of 4mm Planiclear glazing x3 and Planitherm XNII coatings. With a G value of around 0.54 and shading coefficient of about 0.6 and light transmittance at around 74%. I've used films on the inside on many a project and and I've really only had take to take into account the shading aspect, I've never had a glazing unit fail as a result.

I would certainly suggest a window film applied internally to the glass, several suppliers of this film exist and you can get various levels of film from decorative to mirror effect. I would suggest having a look at window film companies such as [commercial link deleted]