How PC are your PVC windows?

Pete C · 2004-11-25T15:49:28+00:00

From the BBC website: PC are your PVC windows?One of the biggest revolutions in the look of Britain's buildings inrecent years has been in windows. The British government's efforts to cut energy use in homes hassingled out windows for special attention. All new and replacement windows now have to be double glazed to cutheat loss. Consequently, wooden window frames have given way to PVC framed doubleglazing, which is cheaper to buy and install than double glazed timberframes. In fact, wood double glazing can cost up to three times as much as PVCdouble glazing. Brittle Many environmentalists acknowledge that double glazing helps cutenergy use, but they also argue that PVC is a damaging chemical. "The main problem with PVC is that it deteriorates with the action ofultraviolet light from the sun," says Jeff Howell, building expert,author and journalist for the Telegraph and the Independent newspapersin the UK. "This apparently causes the chlorine to actually evaporate from thematerial and it goes brittle, it goes discoloured, you lean a ladderup against the window sill and after a few years it becomes so brittlethat it just breaks off." The claim is refuted by industry officials who insist critics of PVCsimply do not understand the material. "They don't know what PVC is," says Jean Pierre DeGreve, of theEuropean Council of Vinyl Manufacturers. Insulation value Mr DeGreve argues that PVC is as environmentally friendly as thealternatives and generates benefits for consumers. "People prefer PVC because they do not have to maintain the frame ofthe window," he says. Not so, insists Mr Howell. "People are often sold replacement PVC double glazed windows with thepromise that it is going to save them money in the long run by keepingin the heat," he says. "PVC is often sold as being a long-lasting energy saving material, butit's not. It lasts maybe 20 years." Moreover, Mr Howell continues, "the frames themselves do not have ahigher insulation value and the glass isn't all that...

Nov 25, 2004 20 Replies

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:::Jerry:::: 21 years ago

[ re uPVC windows ]

Some don't....

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