Hardwood, plastic or aluminium?

[patp]

We are at the stage of selecting windows. We have lived with the same hardwood windows for about 35 years in our old cottage. Apart from the maintenance which is not onerous on a bungalow I am swaying towards installing them again. They are, however, about twice the price of plastic.

Plastic used to not be as thermally efficient as wood. Is that still the case?

What about the thermal qualities of aluminium? I am not sold on the minimalist look of aluminium. We live in a rural area. I like the idea of the low maintenance though

[scottishjohn]

that is a question that has puzzled me for some time 

why plastic frames are  not as good as wood  for insulation?

 

is it the hollow nature of the extrusions  they are made from ?

and if so why don,t they  fill them with foam   ?

or is it the amount of metal that is needed in them to make them strong enough ?

[Gone West]

6 minutes ago, scottishjohn said:

that is a question that has puzzled me for some time 

why plastic frames are  not as good as wood  for insulation?

 

is it the hollow nature of the extrusions  they are made from ?

and if so why don,t they  fill them with foam   ?

or is it the amount of metal that is needed in them to make them strong enough ?

They can be better than wood. We have Rehau Geneo frames which are fibre reinforced plastic which means there is no steel required. The sections are foam filled and they are better than PH requirement.

[scottishjohn]

1 minute ago, PeterStarck said:

They can be better than wood. We have Rehau Geneo frames which are fibre reinforced plastic which means there is no steel required. The sections are foam filled and they are better than PH requirement.

but still alot more expensive ?

 grp frames I had also thought about .lol

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by scottishjohn

[Gone West]

1 minute ago, scottishjohn said:

but still alot more expensive ?

 

Possibly, depends what you want and what you're comparing with.

[scottishjohn]

ok no more economic then than high quality wood framed alluminium coverd windows

[Gone West]

3 minutes ago, scottishjohn said:

ok no more economic then than high quality wood framed alluminium coverd windows

Half the price of Internorm.

[scottishjohn]

ok thats sounds worth a look then 

[gravelld]

46 minutes ago, PeterStarck said:

Possibly, depends what you want and what you're comparing with.

 

This is it - you can't be overly broad about comparing windows just based on the material. You can get PVCu that is more expensive than wood etc etc.

 

@patp you didn't mention alu-clad timber or alu-clad PVCu which is another option. Alu tends to be the best for low maintenance and high durability.

[the_r_sole]

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Edited September 26, 2019 by the_r_sole

[scottishjohn]

so why would you buy internorm ?

[the_r_sole]

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Edited September 26, 2019 by the_r_sole

[patp]

1 hour ago, gravelld said:

 

This is it - you can't be overly broad about comparing windows just based on the material. You can get PVCu that is more expensive than wood etc etc.

 

@patp you didn't mention alu-clad timber or alu-clad PVCu which is another option. Alu tends to be the best for low maintenance and high durability.

That's because I did not know you could get them! Any tips on suppliers? I have found a local window company that does PVCu, Wood, and Aluminium but they did not mention alu-clad PVCu.  The aluminium windows I have seen are a bit stark for my liking. I like the idea of not using plastic at all if possible in order to help the environment but must be practical about these things.

[the_r_sole]

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Edited September 26, 2019 by the_r_sole

[patp]

I do like a more traditional style and am struggling to find it with aluminium windows.

[the_r_sole]

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Edited September 26, 2019 by the_r_sole

[patp]

Other half is concerned that the timber part of alu clad might rot in time?

[Conor]

From quotes we've been getting, aluclad and aluminium are approx double the cost of PVC. We're going for a mix of the systems - pvc at front and gables, aluminium for the large windows and sliders at rear. Brings cost down from £30k to £20k.

 

Edit, these are for triple glazed, passive certified systems.

Edited May 29, 2019 by Conor

[D Walter]

We have a lot of glass in our house and I got quotes from about 15 different suppliers and manufacturers.  In the end I went for Internorm UPVC triple glazed windows, clad with aluminium on the outside.  The inside has a 3M tape covering which makes the inside look and feel like aluminium.  Not a mm of UPVC in sight.  The "whole window" U values are between 0.7 and 0.8 depending on frame to glass ratio, which is basically equivalent to triple glazed timber windows.  The windows were significantly cheaper than the Internorm timber windows and priced almost identically to the best price I managed to get for aluminium windows from other suppliers/manufacturers but with massively better U values (the best U values I got for aluminium windows was around the 1.5 level).  The quality of the windows is superb and I have nothing but praise for the distributor I bought them through and their installation team (we used the supplier's installation team as some of the larger windows were over 6 square metres and I preferred the supplier rather than my builder to bear the risk of any accidents).  More importantly, my builder, who is the ultimate perfectionist, was really impressed.

 

 

[D Walter]

It is also worth noting that some manufacturers give their suppliers seasonal discounts around the Christmas period.  We were notified of the discount window by our supplier about three months in advance and got our order in on the last day of the discount.  In a sense we were fortunate that our build had been delayed by some months or we would have had to place our order on the basis of the pre-discount quote to keep the build schedule on track and would have missed out on the 10% saving which we obtained.

[gravelld]

7 hours ago, patp said:

Other half is concerned that the timber part of alu clad might rot in time?

 

If that happened either the weather is getting past the aluminium, which means the warranty applies (most of these windows have 10 year warranties), or water's getting to it from inside, which sounds like it's not a problem with the window.

 

The design of the alu cladding does change from window to window. Some have cavities. Some fill in the cavity with insulation for better U values.

[Coops85]

16 hours ago, D Walter said:

We have a lot of glass in our house and I got quotes from about 15 different suppliers and manufacturers.  In the end I went for Internorm UPVC triple glazed windows, clad with aluminium on the outside.  The inside has a 3M tape covering which makes the inside look and feel like aluminium.  Not a mm of UPVC in sight.  The "whole window" U values are between 0.7 and 0.8 depending on frame to glass ratio, which is basically equivalent to triple glazed timber windows.  The windows were significantly cheaper than the Internorm timber windows and priced almost identically to the best price I managed to get for aluminium windows from other suppliers/manufacturers but with massively better U values (the best U values I got for aluminium windows was around the 1.5 level).  The quality of the windows is superb and I have nothing but praise for the distributor I bought them through and their installation team (we used the supplier's installation team as some of the larger windows were over 6 square metres and I preferred the supplier rather than my builder to bear the risk of any accidents).  More importantly, my builder, who is the ultimate perfectionist, was really impressed.

 

 

 

Which internorm supplier did you use? We love the internorm product, but worried about reviews on suppliers and installers! Would love to have a recommendation! 

[D Walter]

Hi Coops85.  We used At-Eco.   We originally contacted At-Eco over 2.5 years ago when we were investigating products for the build.  They were very helpful (and patient) throughout.   As I said, my builder was very impressed by the installation team and it takes a lot to impress him.

[Mr Punter]

@D Walter do At-Eco supply and fit or supply only?

[D Walter]

Hi Mr Punter,

 

At-Eco do both supply and supply and fit.  My builder was going to do the fitting but given the volume of glass and the size of the triple glazed panes we decided it was better to put the risk on At-Eco rather than a small builder.

 

The installers laser-levelled all the windows during installation and were happy to work around my builders.