Best place for affordable timber windows?

Tom99

martinsurrey wrote: »

not all softwoods are created equally, same for hardwood.

softwood does not mean soft wood and hardwood does not mean hard wood, they just mean the type of tree the wood comes from.

you can get very hard softwood and very soft hardwood, the species of tree is important, not necessarily the wood type.

I think balsa wood is a hardwood.

martinsurrey

Tom99 wrote: »

I think balsa wood is a hardwood.

you are right, its a very soft "hardwood"

Larch is a hard "softwood" which is harder than English oak on the Janka side hardness test scale.

Richard_Overton_2911

"Off the peg" shop bought windows such as Jeld-Wen will do a job but they are mass produced,constructed from low grade timber and they only have 1 type of moulding which looks awful on oler properties. Just to give you an idea of what type of workmanship and quality you get with mass produced windows they have a complete window coming off the factory line every couple of minutes. Jeld-Wen boxframes will have spiral balances instead of weights /sash cords and they work well for a few years but tend to rust and fail after a few years use.

Keeping the existing sash boxes and making new sashes is ok but sooner or later you will need to replace the box frames or in the case of softwood sashes being used they won't last much more than 10-12yrs because the Joinery Grade redwood pines are not very durable. TRADA (Timber Research and Development Association ) now class Redwood pines as "slightly durable".. Far better to use Sapele,Idigbo or Douglas Fir (Which is a softwood pine but the only decent one)..

As mentioned if using the existing boxes and you intend to double glazed the new sashes they will weigh about 70% more so more often than not lead weights will be needed and this may not be possible if the windows are quite wide but not very tall because there may not be enough room in the pockets..

Also worth checking out if the property is Listed or in a Conservation area which could make a difference to whether off the peg windows will be allowed.

Richard_Overton_2911

martinsurrey wrote: »

you are right, its a very soft "hardwood"

Larch is a hard "softwood" which is harder than English oak on the Janka side hardness test scale.

There are some Joinery workshops that use Larch ,as you say it is hard but quality can be very varied, has a tendency to spit and knots can be a real pain. Most workshops will buy it in as an "engineered" timber so lots of pieces glued together which isn't an issue as long as its painted and not stained.

Richard_Overton_2911

pineneedles wrote: »

Oh yes, sorry, what I should have said was that that price quoted was for new windows made from softwood, and hardwood would have been even more expensive, so wasn't a realistic option. But the standard quote from every company was certainly for softwood.

I've never really understood why companies price for Softwood because unless they are pressure treated (most aren't) they won't last and softwood is unstable compared to most hardwoods and will expand,contract and twist .

The vast majority of the price you will pay would be the labour element for making the windows . Making them from Sapele would add around £75-00 per window to the price of the average sized boxframe window. To me an extra £75-00 for Hardwood over softwood on a window costing say £1,500 is a no brainer. Any company making boxframe window out of redwood pine with a pine window sill shouldn't be in business unless its pressure treated and even then its not a great idea.

pineneedles

Richard - thank you so much for the detailed explanation about the different types of wood. I sincerely hope we don't have to do any more work to the windows while we're in this flat, but I'll be much more knowledgeable next time.

Good note about the conservation area, that was also a factor for us since new windows would have required permission but repairs didn't, even with the double glazing added.

PawelHC

Personaly I woud reccomend accoya wood because if properly maintained can last for 50-80 years. But it is very expensive, so the cheaper option can be oak, or meranti. The prices are simmilar. Found this

bespokewoodenwindows. co. uk website

maisie_cat

We had 15 custom windows and a set of 2.5m bifolding doors for £20k from glyngary windows and we love them.

jennifernil

Not local to you, but I can recommend this company.......

https://www.allanbrothers.co.uk/

We got all our windows from them when we had our house built in 1988 and we still have the original windows

DCFC79

jennifernil wrote: »

Not local to you, but I can recommend this company.......

https://www.allanbrothers.co.uk/

We got all our windows from them when we had our house built in 1988 and we still have the original windows

If your replying to the OP, its a loss cause, the thread is from last year.