Replacing windows

Crazy_Diamond

We are about to have an extension built and are wondering what windows to use and whether we should change the windows on the existing house to match.

The house is a 4 bed detached brick house with hanging tiles on the first floor. The current windows are timber painted white and are original to the house which was built in 1995. They are not drafty and are double glazed but are not the best in terms of insulation and noise and get a little condensation in the bedrooms in the winter. They are in need of painting which costs around £3k every 5 years or so. We live fairly near an airport and get a bit of plane noise.

As the house is quite modern I would quite like the thin frame aluminium coated dark grey windows in both the extension and existing house but this would cost about £30k. Replacing all with pvc is about £25k The current house without extension is valued at 900k so my view is that anyone paying this much for a house would pay a little more for a high specification finish.

My husband however is reluctant to spend that much on windows and thinks we should get timber windows in the extension to match in with the existing as he thinks we would not get the money back in terms of house value.

What do people think would be the best option in terms of resale
1. Replace all the windows with dark grey aluminium (or white aluminium) at cost of £30k
2. Replace all the windows with slightly cheaper white pvc for around 25k
3. Put timber windows into the extension to tie in with existing and paint existing for around 6k
4. Keep timber windows in original house and put white pvc or aluminium in extension to tie in for around 5k

saverbuyer

Crazy_Diamond wrote: »

We are about to have an extension built and are wondering what windows to use and whether we should change the windows on the existing house to match.

The house is a 4 bed detached brick house with hanging tiles on the first floor. The current windows are timber painted white and are original to the house which was built in 1995. They are not drafty and are double glazed but are not the best in terms of insulation and noise and get a little condensation in the bedrooms in the winter. They are in need of painting which costs around £3k every 5 years or so. We live fairly near an airport and get a bit of plane noise.

As the house is quite modern I would quite like the thin frame aluminium coated dark grey windows in both the extension and existing house but this would cost about £30k. Replacing all with pvc is about £25k The current house without extension is valued at 900k so my view is that anyone paying this much for a house would pay a little more for a high specification finish.

My husband however is reluctant to spend that much on windows and thinks we should get timber windows in the extension to match in with the existing as he thinks we would not get the money back in terms of house value.

What do people think would be the best option in terms of resale
1. Replace all the windows with dark grey aluminium (or white aluminium) at cost of £30k
2. Replace all the windows with slightly cheaper white pvc for around 25k
3. Put timber windows into the extension to tie in with existing and paint existing for around 6k
4. Keep timber windows in original house and put white pvc or aluminium in extension to tie in for around 5k

3k to paint the windows on a 4 bed is serious money. How many windows do you actually have?


30k for alu windows on a 4 bed is also serious money. Is this London?


Have you looked at alu clad windows?


FYI. A relation got over 25 sash windows replaced and it wasn't anywhere near 30k.


I'm assuming the extension is mostly glass.

Crazy_Diamond

The original house has 24 windows (including a bay, 2 sets of French doors and and unusual shaped feature window). We would have 2 sets of French doors and 3 further Windows in the extension.

Stevie_Palimo

If this is a mainstream supplier ie:- Anglian or Everest then shopping around for a smaller independent firm will drop this cost quite a bit, Just be sure to do your homework on them and look at previous jobs they have carried out if possible or based on friends/family recommended ones.

dominoman

In my opinion, definitely option 3. Timber windows will always be more desirable than aluminium ones to a buyer. Why spend money replacing timber with plastic or alu when for a much lower cost you can just use timber in the new extension and leave the original ones as they are.

And BTW your repainting costs are way too high! Last Summer I paid £1200 to have all mine repainted on a 5 bed house in outer London (inc sanding, fixing rot and two coats). They hadn't been done for at least 15 years so there was a fair amount of patching needed too.

phil24_7

Agree with everything dominoman says.

I would have wood framed windows in a flash if I could afford them (or their upkeep), Aluminium would be second choice and uPVC (which I have based on cost alone) would be my last choice!

It sounds like you like paying over the odds for your work, perhaps you like the 'reassurance' a large national company provides, but you will likely get a better product installed with more care, for a better price, from a reputable local installer.

I hope you have gotten several quotes, from reputable tradesmen, for your extension works too. Or else you may well be paying over the odds for this too.

Regards
Phil

Smiley_Dan

The very best windows are alu-clad, which means an aluminium external cladding to reduce exposure to UV and then cross laminated timber under that to give you all the durability and longevity of timber.

The smartest windows are, imo, aluminium externally. We aren't talking about those old silvery aluminium here.

So, option one, if you can afford it. Look at the premium manufacturers, not local shops. This is an important purchase, look throughout Europe. Typical companies are Internorm, Rationel et al.

But also it is extremely important that you hire someone who knows what they are doing them in fitting them. Looking up "window fitter" in the yellow pages is NOT likely to be good enough. If necessary, pay for the manufacturers to install them. At the very least, get the installation detail from the manufacturer and bind the fitter to a contract to make sure it is followed.

saverbuyer

Smiley_Dan wrote: »

The very best windows are alu-clad, which means an aluminium external cladding to reduce exposure to UV and then cross laminated timber under that to give you all the durability and longevity of timber.

The smartest windows are, imo, aluminium externally. We aren't talking about those old silvery aluminium here.

So, option one, if you can afford it. Look at the premium manufacturers, not local shops. This is an important purchase, look throughout Europe. Typical companies are Internorm, Rationel et al.

But also it is extremely important that you hire someone who knows what they are doing them in fitting them. Looking up "window fitter" in the yellow pages is NOT likely to be good enough. If necessary, pay for the manufacturers to install them. At the very least, get the installation detail from the manufacturer and bind the fitter to a contract to make sure it is followed.

I agree 100%. Alu-clad is the way to go if you have the money.