Double Glazing - Again!

cpu

Seriously undecided what to do about replacement windows.

Just had a large double glazing company round who said they made their own windows and they were made to fit your house specifically. Their windows have a 16mm gap between the 4mm glass panes which is filled with Argon gas. They also use wood to finish inside, sills/framing etc.

2 other smaller, more local companies use Profile 22 windows which are apparently partially ready made (so not exactly sized for your opening - opening altered if need be to fit window) and have a 20mm gap between the 4mm glass panes, don't think they are gas filled. They use MDF to finish inside.

Larger company are roughly £3500 dearer.

All offer a 10 year guarantee. All use 'Virgin' uPVC

Does the size of the gap matter? Anyone familiar with Profile 22?

Any opinions please? I'm about demented with it all!

Katmc2k

hello

i'm not going to be much use i'm afraid but when i got my windows fitted a medium sized local company were by far the cheapest and still made the windows completely to order with oak inside and brown upvc on the outside. (9 windows, each 3mx90cm for £4k) For this i had been quoted twice as much by a rude, condescending, national firm who still phone and harrass me even though i told them another firm had fitted them a year ago. their representative also lied to me telling me that they used UPVC which was of a higher quality than PVCU (the other firm used this) but they are the same thing...!

anyway, sorry (rant over) if you want to go for the large firm you should be able to haggle your way down on price if you haven't tried this already? i don't know about custom 22, but i wouldn't think its much of a problem. mine were made to measure but even with that there needed to be a bit of alteration of the openings. in an old house like mine the window gaps were not perfectly sqaure and so even the most perfect made to measure ones were a bit off. the filling of the gaps was done very professionally and aren't noticable and don't let in extra noise/cold. if your house is newer its more likely that the windows will be nice and square.

oh and i now this is rookie advice but ask to phone a previous customer of the company, this was valuable in my experience. i phoned two (both in my street!) and went round to see them which was great.

if you are in scotland/glasgow i can recommend the company i used. otherwise sorry if i haven't been much use... but i enjoyed my rant at the start

wadge

Profile 22 is a profile manufacturer. I'm sure your windows will be made to measure. There is no such thing as 'partially made'.

Most of the market uses 28mm (4mm glass, 20mm gap and more 4mm glass). Argon filling will have an effect on thermal insulation, but I don't think it is THAT significant a difference.

If you are anywhere near the Rugby area, let me know if I can give you a quote. I also make and install my own windows and doors.

ormus

how many windows and what were the quotes?
if you are in the manchester area i can give you the name of a local company in stockport.
beware the national companies. they make !!!!!! turpin look like mother teresa.

stevegray

Wadge is right, Profile 22 is a good quality profile on a parr with Rehau etc The 28 and 24 mm units are more to do with the beads used than the profile, argon in my experience not really worth the extra money I would be inclined to go for the local company, if you like the look of the profile used and beading, and i work for a BIG window company!

alba37

stevegray wrote: »

Wadge is right, Profile 22 is a good quality profile on a parr with Rehau etc The 28 and 24 mm units are more to do with the beads used than the profile, argon in my experience not really worth the extra money I would be inclined to go for the local company, if you like the look of the profile used and beading, and i work for a BIG window company!

Steve, can you give any other hits/advice when getting replacement windows? I really need to take the plunge, but am so worried I make a mistake! If anyone has any recommendations around the Glasgow area, please let me know.

Thanks

bob_a_builder

Don't forget buying is only half of the problem the other half is getting them fitted properly - or rather getting them to fit them properly

You'll have to keep a close eye on what they're up to

Might find a sprit level handy if you haven't already got one.

Interesting discussion with the fitter doing mine recently, had asked for a window to be refitted as it wasn't vertical.

It was a large patio door and internal reflections when the room was lit at night alerted me to it being wrong

Using his sprit level, the bubble was between the two lines, touching one of the lines on one side (But the space between the 2 lines was 3-4mm wider than the bubble, so not a very precise tool)
So he claimed it was vertical - "to british standards" no less

But my simple plumb bob, of a bit of cotten and small lead weight clearly showed that it wasn't - by 5mm over the height of the door
And so did my spirit level - where the gap between the lines does match the bubble width

It was refitted.

Sounds obvious, but make sure all the windows/doors seal correctly all round, shut a peice of thin paper in the opene on all sides - is it held or not

If having leaded windows, check carefully for knife marks on glass around lead, check horizontals and verticals are. Pilkingtons do seem to have some problems at the moment
My recent leads were clearly done by someone who only had a passing aquaintance with a set square, also patterns were inconsistent from pane to pane
All had to be replaced

This is with a local supplier, and whilst the above is a pain at least he is being responsive and pretty proactive about sorting these issues out (would a national co have been - who knows) - of course it would have been better not to have them to start with

What advice would I give (but failed to take myself ).

Get 2 or 3 reference customers details from who you choose and go and see their installation

cpu

Sorry I never replied to this thread before now, I was called away at short notice with work.

The house is in Scotland so a lot of the more known companies mentioned on this site don't cover that area.

There are 5 windows measuring 1800 x 1150, [EMAIL="3@1200"]3 @ 1200[/EMAIL], 1 @ 2400, 2 @ 900, (all of these are the same height) and 1 @ 2400 x 2100. Also front and back door.

Quotes given were exchanging like for like (although we are changing the back door and putting in patio doors but for the purposes of getting the quotes we stayed basic as it was easier to compare). Cheapest quote has been around £9k for wood effect/white and dearest has been a little over £11k.

We could buy the windows and get them fitted ourselves which would be a lot cheaper I believe but we don't have tradesmen contacts here which is a problem. I'm often called away and my wife doesn't want to be left in the position of having to sort out fitters etc. She'd prefer if the job was just done by professionals. Also that way the guarantee is for longer.

RedTiger

I've just had all my windows replaced - 1 @ 2300 x 2000, 3 @ 1800 x 1050, 3 @ 1200 x 1050, front porch (front door + 2 full length glazed panels approx 90cm wide per panel), back door with floor length 120cm wide window next to it, replacing a 1800 x 2100 dining room window with patio doors and also replacing pvc cladding above the back door and above the porch and garage. Done by a local company for £6,700 - this was for a white pvc finish including a pvc surround around each window inside (think they called it a 'picture window'?) The glass they use has a u-value of 1.1 which is apparantly very good - ie very energy efficient, can't really comment on that yet though as they've just gone in this week. I'm in West Central Scotland, not sure where you are in Scotland but if you want details of the company or more info feel free to PM me!

ormus

my SIL had his done a few yrs ago now. average semi detached house, but with 2 large bay windows, 3 doors, and a large porch.
all fitted for 5500 quid.

prices around here havent increased much in that time either.

dejoxy

Can anyone recommend a good firm in the Gravesend/Kent area please? Thanks.