Double glazing recommendations

[...]

I will be replacing the glazing in my house and was looking for some recommendations of companies who will manufacture new windows for me. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[ransley]

Does the company make their own glass units, like they buy whatever and put 2 together. Here in the US as im sure you have independant testing of units, My experiance here is go with a quality company that is known , check out

and the way the make dual units, Ive bough stuff that is localy make and junk. The install is most important as all warrantys are void from poor install, normal is a 1/8" tolerance on plumb, lever and sqare. Alot of hacks dont do it right so you can be without a warranty from day one, I was. Best is to get a install certified by the manufacturer Before You Pay, it only cast me 100$ US and he found several that had no warranty and the instaler fixed before I would pay. To do comparisons you need to understand ratings, Cdf, Shg, Vlt, U and R value air infiltration and more and see these tests have been done by an acredited independant lab, Here in the US there is alot of cheap stuff with warrantys full of holes that will never be honored when the seals fail, im sure it the same where you are.

[dent]

What sort of building, and what sort of style window? Timber or uPVC? Sash or side-hung? Energy efficient, or basic budget? That all affects what sort of company to go for.

When I lived in a listed building and had to replace some sash windows, I just used a local carpenter. When I replaced the Crittal windows in my current house I bought them from here:

They are extremely well made and very energy efficient. Triple glazed as standard. Pretty expensive, but they still did it cheaper than some other quotes I had for comparable windows.

dan.

[sm_jamieson]

Assuming you want PVCu windows, I've found my local supplier to be the best. There are two associated companies that make the sealed units and windows between them. Avoid the national chains - they have a bad reputation. Simon.

[...]

The house is a 1964 detatched villa built by Wimpey construction.

I want good quality upvc double glazed windows at a reasonable price. Any recommendations of British based companies who manufacture and supply to the public would be great.

[Tim Watts]

... wibbled on Friday 16 July 2010 22:33

Have a look at

If nothing else, you can play with the options and get a price to negotiate to others with.

Haven't bought any of their stuff yet (got mine from the local place).

[stuart noble]

I used a local firm too. By the time you've added the cost of complying with that FENSA nonsense plus all the bits and bobs you might need to d-i-y (trims etc), it just wasn't worth it.

[Tim Watts]

stuart noble wibbled on Saturday 17 July 2010 11:13

Why would you bother?

I don't know - at least mine are done the way I wanted :) But point taken...

[Dave Liquorice]

Avoid the large national chains like the plague, most operate on a franchise basis and employ installers on short term contract basis. Getting things corrected can be a nightmare, head office won't want to know, the franchise just want to maximise their profits.

Keep your eyes open for people having windows done in the area, note who is doing the work and do a bit of door knocking a week or so after the work has been completed. Ask about cleanliness (workers and site), time keeping, attitude etc. Hopefully you can get close up look at the windows and standard of installation as well.

Have a trawl through the yellow pages to see which companies actually make the frames up themselves rather than just supply/install and how large an operation they are. They probably won't do the sealed units but sub-contract that out to say System 3:

you look at new windows look for the printed maker/date/size information on the spacer bar inside the unit.