uPVC glazing a benefit?

TBagpuss

I think it depends on the property and the quality of the doors and windows.

I'm glad that the 1950's ex council semi I am about to move into has double glazing - I looked round another, very similar property which didn't have and there was nothing in terms of style or character there which would make up for the drafts and heat loss in the winter. Just because something is old does not mean it is better.

On the other hand, our office building is a listed, period town-house with lots of sash windows. In winter it is chilly and draughty and and it is very expensive and inefficient to heat. It does look better than if all of the vast, wooden framed sash windows were replaced with UPVc double glazing, but both in terms of noise (we are on a main road) heat and maintenance it is a lot of extra faff!

Mgman

Davesnave wrote: »

I agree. I used to live in an avenue of 1930s houses and only a few out of the 40 properties actually maintained the original look when converting to plastic.

Luckily, thanks to the old biddy who had it before us, ours was one of those true to type. The rooms were still extremely well-lit, despite there not being one huge picture window, as on our neighbours' houses. To me, theirs just looked like shop fronts.

I love all things 1930's including my house (big six panel double bay fronted with stained glass). As you, mine was one of the few left in the avenue with the original wood windows.

They are draughty, a pain to maintain and play havoc with my heating bills but the house looks fantastically original at the front.

The rear windows have been replaced with UPVC and are brilliant. I did this to keep bills down a bit and to ease maintainence, and on the grounds that 1930's houses were never "pretty" at the back anyway (the front of mine is all nice brick and pebbledash, the rear just ordinary common bricks).

To me a good compromise. :-)

cattie

As a chilly mortal who over the years has lived in period properties with lovely big sash single glazed windows, both 60's & 80's properties with wooden single glazed windows, then a 30's house with upvc windows & a cottage house built in 1905 with upvc replacement windows in the style of the original Georgian Bar, I have to vote for upvc windows every time now.

Although my current windows are wood framed double glazing, which eventually are to be replaced due to the wooden frames shifting & letting in draughts, which have to be sealed with sealant to keep the wind from sneaking through.

It's the ease of maintenance, the complete lack of draughts & the reduction of noise from outside that appeals to me most as I'm getting older, so that's why upvc gets my vote.

Davesnave

Mgman wrote: »

I love all things 1930's including my house (big six panel double bay fronted with stained glass). As you, mine was one of the few left in the avenue with the original wood windows.

They are draughty, a pain to maintain and play havoc with my heating bills but the house looks fantastically original at the front.

The rear windows have been replaced with UPVC and are brilliant. I did this to keep bills down a bit and to ease maintenance, and on the grounds that 1930's houses were never "pretty" at the back anyway (the front of mine is all nice brick and pebbledash, the rear just ordinary common bricks).

To me a good compromise. :-)

You misread my post.

I said the previous owner stayed true to the style of the original windows when she converted to plastic. Most other people went for one huge picture window; something that was never a feature of 30s houses.

Yes, the stained glass is very nice, when present, but our road had none of that, just plain wooden casements or Crittall metal frames. Rumour had it that money wasn't spent on the houses because of the large plots they were given.

tigsly

We replaced our windows - a while ago - with sash double glazed wooden units - they look fab and are block sound - and
but - the neighbours have just replaced theirs with sash pvc - you can't tell from the street the difference btween our windows - as theres follow the original lines and are obviously good qualtiy - i'm assumign theres will last longer and are easier to maintain?

i hadn't realised UPVC was such a bad thing..

phoebe1989seb

We live in a small village mainly comprising period houses and cottages with a few later (1950s onwards) properties thrown in for good measure. Almost without exception those that have replaced their windows have done so with white UPVC which imho look blooming awful - the character properties are just not suited to white plastic (some are sash style & some are not) and I think the newer builds would look less like bland boxes with coloured windows

Our house was one of the remaining few with wooden sash windows when we bought it three years ago and as part of the major work we've undertaken we took the decision to replace these as they were rotting and for the most part, beyond saving. We also live on the main road through the village so traffic noise was a consideration when choosing what to replace them with.

We are deliberating over whether to sell up when the work on the house is finished later this year, but despite the additional outlay for hardwood DG windows we thought these not only better suited the style of our house - it's a 200+ year old stone, thatched house - but that they would not devalue the property in the way that unsuitable UPVC would.

The windows are being fitted this week and look fab so far. They were factory sprayed in F&B green smoke which complements the dressed stone facade and several neighbours have already commented on how lovely they look

In previous houses we have always retained the original windows where possible and have only ever installed UPVC (dark brown wood effect) to the rear of one house that was in a conservation area......but then we have only ever lived in period houses

tigsly

some look so much better than 'cheaper' pvc windows.. (i'm not convinced by all of them.. but some look fine to me)..

http://www.sashwindowsuk.com/index.php/about-sash-windows/

Do you object to this kind of UPVC?

Davesnave

tigsly wrote: »

i hadn't realised UPVC was such a bad thing..

It isn't.

I used to live in Bath, where there are thousands of Victorian and Edwardian terraced properties, currently worth around £250k - £400k. The vast majority of these have now been fitted with UPVC framed windows.

Obviously, the quality varies, but no one gives a hoot when purchasing whether there are plastic or wooden windows in that type of house, provided they maintain the original style. It's completely different from the situation with Georgian properties.

Most of the population don't live in old listed properties. That doesn't stop a few people having personal preferences about window frames, but that's all they are. It won't be a deal breaker.

moneyistooshorttomention

My preference looks-wise is for original windows on the house, so my ideal would be for triple-glazed windows that looked as similar as possible to the original windows.

Having said that, my starter house was Victorian and the windows had already been replaced anyway and the replacements were awful and ineffective, so I swopped them to cheapest upvc I could get (with it being a starter house, albeit one I landed up staying in for many more years than anticipated).

Current house is the era that taste forgot (ie 1970s) and had cheap upvc windows when I moved in. They're not the good-quality, triple-glazed ones I would choose these days, but are basically in good nick and, if I have to replace them ever, I'll get better-looking/more effective ones.

Must say I don't quite understand why it would even be mentioned on EA details these days that a property is double-glazed, as I would think most of us automatically assume it will be these days anyway and it would need to be mentioned if it HADNT been iyswim.

Double or triple-glazed is a necessity these days I would say, with the high level of noise in our current society (road and air) and then there's the Neighbours From Hell and characters like that are much better able to disturb Normal Neighbours than they used to be (courtesy of tv/stereos/cars/power tools).

dominoman

tigsly wrote: »

We replaced our windows - a while ago - with sash double glazed wooden units - they look fab and are block sound - and
but - the neighbours have just replaced theirs with sash pvc - you can't tell from the street the difference btween our windows - as theres follow the original lines and are obviously good qualtiy - i'm assumign theres will last longer and are easier to maintain?

The wooden sash windows in the house Im renting have lasted well over 100 years and still look great. With a bit of maintenance and paint they could easily last 100 more. I'm not sure how good the plastic ones will look in 100 years...