How important are the number of weather seals in a window?

[fatgus]

We’re gathering quotes for (mostly) aluclad timber windows and there’s (predictably) a very broad range of prices. The two systems we like most are over £30k more expensive than our third choice, but have 2 or 3 seals instead of just 1 in the cheaper system. They all have comparable Uw values and perfectly acceptable aesthetics. The more expensive systems feel more substantial in operation, but a lot of the windows are fixed and most of the openers will probably be rarely opened. So I’m wondering how important are the multiple seals? £30k buys an awful lot of other stuff….

[Mr Punter]

It it worth getting the cheaper ones for fixed and more expensive for opening?  There is no rule that says they all need to be from the same manufacturer.  Get them both to send a RAL sample before you commit.

[fatgus]

11 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

It it worth getting the cheaper ones for fixed and more expensive for opening?  There is no rule that says they all need to be from the same manufacturer.  Get them both to send a RAL sample before you commit.

That’s probably quite feasible. I can see us using different companies for windows & sliders anyway. The openers are mostly first floor, with ground floor being fixed, sliders or patio doors, so slightly different aesthetics probably wouldn’t be too noticeable.

 

 

[Alan Ambrose]

I wonder whether @craig has any thoughts? Also how you tell a good window from a bad one?

 

We were at the Farnborough housebuilding show yesterday and looked at windows from Internorm and Norsken. I remember Internorm being on Craig’s good list, but actually we preferred the look of the Norsken ones.

 

The question we had in our minds was ‘what makes the Internorm ones better’? Something with the mechanism or seals or insulation?

[fatgus]

17 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

I wonder whether @craig has any thoughts? Also how you tell a good window from a bad one?

 

We were at the Farnborough housebuilding show yesterday and looked at windows from Internorm and Norsken. I remember Internorm being on Craig’s good list, but actually we preferred the look of the Norsken ones.

 

The question we had in our minds was ‘what makes the Internorm ones better’? Something with the mechanism or seals or insulation?

 

We're getting a quote from Craig  👍

 

Internorm & Norrsken are probably our two top contenders at the moment, but they're pricey. I think the Internorm seals seem 'better' than Norrsken, insofar as there are more of them, but we'd ideally prefer outward opening which Internorm don't do. Nordan is currently number three, but is notably cheaper. Some of our fixed windows are quite large and a few manufacturers can't do them in one piece. For aesthetic reasons, we also really want our main lift & slide to be three panel but a few of the suppliers can only do two or four, or a two with a fixed side panel which doesn't look right.

 

This really is proving quite tricky!