Internorm (de)coupling

[Mr Blobby]

I did write in another thread some time ago about how the coupling on the internorm windows was rather neat.  

 

.. oh dear, I should have looked a bit closer. 

From the top it could be seen that the coupling unit had been propery installed and the window was tight together.  All good then, I thought.  Except no, just because the top 75% of the window was ok, I should not have assumed that the window fitters coupled the windows tightly together all the way to the bottom. 

I have recently discovered a gap between the windows that starts at about 50cm from the bottom. Such a gap seems strange, as I imagine the frame must be bent for this gap to be only at the bottom.  Like this:

 

 

I am fairly cross with myself that I did not see this earlier, before recent construction around the window.  This is a full height window with plasterboard installed at the top and it will be a major headache to remove and refit the window. 

 

The window has an opening pane on the right which hinges on the right, so that it closes against the secion that may be bent. 

 

 

 

It opens and closes ok, I think, but I need to get my laser on it to see if and where there is a bend in the frame.

 

There is a lesson here for anyone reading this at the planning stage.... do not have big windows that need to be glazed or coupled on site, it introduces risk of the fitters totally cocking it up.

 

One of the fitters will be visiting in the next week to run through the long list of issues. The question is, what do I do about this?  Do I insist the window is fixed, which would mean deconstructing the surroundings and, potentially delay the build, or, as our builder would prefer, throw some CT1 in the gap, or glue a panel over the gap, and press on.

 

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Mr Blobby

[Mr Punter]

With a dark colour frame it is not clear in the photo what the issue is. How big is the gap?

 

The reason they arrived unglazed and uncoupled is probably weight.  Unless you had good access and were prepared to pay for a glazing robot it will be in sections.

[Mr Blobby]

37 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

With a dark colour frame it is not clear in the photo what the issue is. How big is the gap?

 

The reason they arrived unglazed and uncoupled is probably weight.  Unless you had good access and were prepared to pay for a glazing robot it will be in sections.

 

 

Its hard to see with the white protective stuff, thats kind of why I missed it until recently 🙄

 

Heres a better picture, from the inside above, with white stuff removed.  The gap on the inside is only on the bottom 50 cm.  From there up the inside is tight together.

I can see daylight through the window at the very bottom, but only a few mm square.  Its easy to find from all the condensation around it 😂

 

There is something white in the middle of the frames in the gap, which may be the coupler, but I would have thought that the coupler would have held the frames tight together and prevented a gap like this.  Unless, perhaps, some bending motion is introduced 🤔

 

 

 

On the outside, there is a 3mm gap running down the lower 75% of the join, but not all the way through.  About 15 mm deep.

 

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Mr Blobby

[ProDave]

Quite apart from the issue of the gap may not have been pulled tight all the way, to me it looks like the joining strip may have been cut too short and it seems to end above the bottom of the window.  That might explain the daylight you can see?

 

[craig]

6 hours ago, ProDave said:

it seems to end above the bottom of the window.  That might explain the daylight you can see?

That’s what it looks like from the picture.