saveasteading Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 Looking ahead somewhat to window and door supplier, in case we need to allow any detailing at the repairing walls stage. I have been trawling through the local suppliers by web search. Every one does uPVC, some do timber but none seem to do aluminium. Apart from £50/m2 differential is there a local reason for this? We are favouring aluminium to get a slate grey colour, and because there is a large feature panel where I don't think pvc will cope. btw I have a strong dislike for 'wood effect' on plastic. Also, I was once persuaded to use coloured uPVC and liked the saving, but not how the grey windows became lilac over 2 years. Perhaps the colouring is better now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamieled Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 Also in the highlands. We have alu clad 3g, timber on the inside. They are rationel, bought from ADW in the central belt. No complaints after a year or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 We have aluminium clad timber by Rationel, that will be available in the colour you want. The local dealer around here for them is ADW who have a branch in Aberdeen now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldwidewebs Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 7 hours ago, saveasteading said: We are favouring aluminium to get a slate grey colour, and because there is a large feature panel where I don't think pvc will cope. Make sure you get to see a sample of whatever grey you choose - the most common one is quite 'green', which is great if you want that but not if you don't! We ended up going with Internorm and choosing one of their 'premium' colours purely for this reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 Thanks all. So the companies from Aberdeen and 'the south' are happy to travel 2 hours plus, to measure and to fit. Or have local reps and fitters more likely. Have used slate grey aluminium on multiple commercial jobs and had no colour issues, but will bear this in mind. I can see that the blue in it might go green if unstable. Thinking about it more, this was in a very populous area and we still had a company from 70 miles away to get the product and service we wanted. Rationel are awfully expensive though (last I checked) and we will have 40 m2 of windows. (Rationel's website says they typically do jobs over 100m2!. I know they target, and are often nominated suppliers, on school projects) Maybe I should extend the search 'to Aberdeen and beyond'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamieled Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 37 minutes ago, saveasteading said: Rationel are awfully expensive though (last I checked) and we will have 40 m2 of windows. (Rationel's website says they typically do jobs over 100m2!. I know they target, and are often nominated suppliers, on school projects) We're definitely not in that league! Maybe Rationel will only directly contract for larger jobs? They were pretty similar to other quotes for standard windows like Nordan when we got ours. Not sure about the measuring/fitting, be best to check with them but I think they might be supply only. As we were starting from scratch I just gave them and the joiner the same dimensions and it all went to plan. A local rep did contact us during the buying process but I never needed to use him. TP have a small display in Inverness if you want to look at colours/styles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliG Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 We have Rationel alu clad 3G windows which we are very pleased with. We have recently had quotes from Rationel, Nordan and Ecowin/Zyle Fenster. All were a similar price for similar 0.7 U-Value alu clad 3g windows - Around £400 a square metre. We have decided to use Russell Timbertech where the price is around £300 per square metre for their 3g windows with a lower spec U-value of around 1.1. I believe they were in the mid 300s for 0.9 U-value. These are rough supply only prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 27 minutes ago, AliG said: We have decided to use Russell Timbertech They have quite a few fans over at Green Building Forum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 1 hour ago, saveasteading said: Thanks all. So the companies from Aberdeen and 'the south' are happy to travel 2 hours plus, to measure and to fit. Or have local reps and fitters more likely. Their rep was certainly happy to come from Cumbernauld (Aberdeen office was not open then) when we placed the original order. The builder that build our frame fitted them so it was supply only from ADW and it was the builder that confirmed the measurements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 Great info thanks. My recollection is that Rationel (aluminium clad)were 50% dearer than upmarket pure aluminium ( ie without the timber). I have talked to Rationel at trade shows and they made no attempt to suggest they could be cheaper. I think this was partly that their product is clearly complex and very high quality, but also that their market (Architect specified) could handle that price level. £400 supply is much cheaper than I remember and that was some years ago. Perhaps the market has changed. I have sent their Aberdeen office an initial query. Also Russel timber at Glasgow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 12 minutes ago, saveasteading said: My recollection is that Rationel (aluminium clad)were 50% dearer than upmarket pure aluminium ( ie without the timber). It was nearly 6 years ago now, but I put my windows out to tender to about 6 quality window manufacturers. My findings were Rationel were actually the cheapest, and the second best in terms of Uw value. Only Internorm offered better Uw but at twice the price. But it does seem a very random thing because people here have reported Internorm being the cheapest. There seems to be no logic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliG Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 Internorm were around 75% more expensive for us. I don't know why you would use them at that kind of price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandg Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 2 hours ago, AliG said: We have Rationel alu clad 3G windows which we are very pleased with. We have recently had quotes from Rationel, Nordan and Ecowin/Zyle Fenster. All were a similar price for similar 0.7 U-Value alu clad 3g windows - Around £400 a square metre. We have decided to use Russell Timbertech where the price is around £300 per square metre for their 3g windows with a lower spec U-value of around 1.1. I believe they were in the mid 300s for 0.9 U-value. These are rough supply only prices. A similar experience - could have thrown a blanket over Ecowin, Nordan and Rationel on price. Had discounted Russell Timbertech by final quote time as windows were a fair bit cheaper but doors more expensive and they were much the same but with lower u-values. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliG Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 I ran the numbers on the extra heating cost versus the extra cost of the windows. The extra heating cost came out at only around £100 a year which seemed like a no brainer versus the cost saving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 I have had a look at the Rationel website. I don't see any mention of them doing large feature panels (one is a full gable opening to roof). That doesn't mean they wouldn't do it. In such cases I provide an intermediate steel support to allow the glazing framing to be normal sections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliG Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 We have triangular gable windows from Rationel but they are made up of multiple elements. The largest fixed window they can do I think is around 6sq metres, with a limit of 2998mm in each direction. They are, however, more limited than some in the size of sliders that they can do, which has discounted them from parents' build. The max height is only 2388 I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 The only thing that bugs me about our Rationel windows is the way that a slider is made up from a two pane door and a fixed window. it means that the frames across the sliders don't match up. Those in the picture are 4812 x 2088 . The middle triangular pain is 1603 x 2013 to the point 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 This would look very odd and clunky made of several units, but is simple enough made of sections. Hence needs to be a company used to this, and not one mass-producing normal windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 I used Wood Kraft in Elgin, they are wood, not Ali clad, but very good quality. I have a some big windows with angles, so wanted the same company to measure and install. No real issues, any issues were solved easily, with the workshop just 3 miles from site. Would recommend them and use again. Not cheap, but worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vala Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 I used Origin for my aluminium windows. I'm sure if you contacted them they'd be able to recommend an installer local to you. I set up an account to buy them direct and fitted them myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalvinHobbes Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 32 minutes ago, Ralph said: The only thing that bugs me about our Rationel windows is the way that a slider is made up from a two pane door and a fixed window. it means that the frames across the sliders don't match up. Those in the picture are 4812 x 2088 . The middle triangular pain is 1603 x 2013 to the point Hi Ralph, lovely house. What have you clad the sides with, top and bottom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 40 minutes ago, Ralph said: The only thing that bugs me about our Rationel windows is the way that a slider is made up from a two pane door and a fixed window. it means that the frames across the sliders don't match up. Those in the picture are 4812 x 2088 . The middle triangular pain is 1603 x 2013 to the point Nice looking house. I wanted to call our last house Shaidzagray but was overruled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 9 minutes ago, CalvinHobbes said: Hi Ralph, lovely house. What have you clad the sides with, top and bottom? Thanks, it's cedral on ground floor and standing seam steel on first floor and roof. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 4 minutes ago, Gone West said: Nice looking house. I wanted to call our last house Shaidzagray but was overruled. Thanks, ours is apparently refered to locally as the Stealth House. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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