Ugly uPVC Windows and Should you Change Them?

Plastic UPVC windows don't have to be ugly, although they often are, compared to traditional windows. This is because whoever specifies the uPVC windows will usually chose the cheapest. However this isn't always the case.  

This is a house with ugly uPVC windows. I happen to live in this house. I didn't specify the windows, I bought the house with them already in situ. These windows won't have been the cheapest option in the brochure, either. they're solid, don't leak and have secure locks. But somehow the person who chose this design wasn't satisfied with the appearance of vertical sashes, they decided to specify a thin horizontal member to be put through the double glazed panels, giving the appearance of Lego. Nothing wrong with Lego, It's one of the best ever educational toys, but most people don't want to live in Lego buildings.

The house has an even uglier door in similar material, presumably chosen to the taste of the owner some twenty years ago. But I haven't chosen to change the door, or the windows, because they all still work. The windows open and close, as does the door. The double glazed panels are in working order. Therefore I chose to live with somebody else's taste because I won't replace something which works just for the sake of change. It's currently an unnecessary expense, and environmentally undesirable. Many old units are not disposed of sustainable, although this is increasingly possible to do

Some double glazing companies now promote zero-landfill policies, which means every part of your old window, down to the last screw, is either reused, repurposed, or recycled. These companies often work directly with uPVC recycling plants, collect scrap metal for processing and offer take-back schemes or green disposal guarantees. 

If sustainability is a priority for you and your client, it’s worth asking potential installers what their policy is before making a commitment. If sustainability is not a priority for you or your client, maybe you should, ask why not? 

Windows with Character

 

Window set into the corner of a modernist building on Exhibition Road in London. 

Sustainable Solutions for Old Windows

Plastic windows are often put into older buildings, to ‘upgrade’ old single glazed wooden windows. They can provide improvement in insulation via double-glazing and improved draft-proofing and so are often viewed as the sustainable solution. This is belied by their limited longevity, the PVC-U they are manufactured from gives them an expected maintenance free life of not much more than 30 years, at the end of which it is more likely that they are discarded and replaced than maintained.  There is a huge carbon footprint created in their manufacture and replacement and waste plastic is an increasing environmental problem.  

Old sash Windows don't have to be as beautiful

and rare as those on this Queen Anne townhouse

to be well worth preserving and restoring.

Listed historic buildings cannot be sympathetically re-fitted with modern plastic windows and the appearance of many otherwise handsome, unlisted buildings has been spoilt by the addition of carelessly chosen replacement windows. The making, rebuilding and repairing of sliding sash windows is now a reviving market which deserves encouragement

Wooden window frames and sashes of whatever age can be easily repaired if they have not been allowed to rot, though sliding sash windows in particular are often seen by the inexperienced as more trouble than they are worth to restore.  However weights, sash cords and other traditional sliding sash accessories are readily available from specialist suppliers and slender, pre-manufactured double glazing units can be used to replace original Victorian glass, which was often especially thick in larger windows. An expertly restored wooden sliding sash should be no harder to open and close than a UPVC replacement and will let in more light than a thicker framed plastic window, as is noted in the Building Regulations.

Marine Court, St Leonards, a 1930’s work of art made more

ordinary by the later, indiscriminate insertion of randomly

chosen windows and the infilling of balconies in the

apartments to the left. The sustainable solution here

is not obvious

UPVC can now be recycled and one major manufacturer of window profiles and other parts recycles up to 90% of old UPVC windows, including the glass, on their site in Derbyshire, though even this process has a carbon footprint in the energy used. The RecoVinyl Scheme is a European wide initiative to collect and recycle used  PVC building products to support the Vinyl 2010 Voluntary Commitment. The British Plastics Federation claims that, since inception of the scheme, the UK has led the way in the volume of PVC collected and recycled in Europe. The question is, how many discarded UPVC window actually do get recycled? Figures are lacking and it may be that too many still go to landfill and incinerators.

Window in Flint Wall - Picture of the Week 14 August 2015

This pretty, shuttered window is on the front of a small terraced house in St Leonards-on-Sea. The window seems rather large for the house and was probably once a shop window. It is a shame that the flint stones, arranged in careful rows in the wall, have been painted over. Nearby houses have left them plain, as originally intended and though rather dark, they are an attractive part of the local Sussex vernacular in building. The ugly grill at ground level covers a small light-well to a cellar room.

Renovating the office windows - they are 120 years old

office windows removed
 

Condition of sill
 

sash cords
 

wet paint

 

old paint layers
 

Romanesque Window - Picture of the week 27 March 2014

This Romanesque window is on the third floor of a building on Exhibition Road, London, not far from the V & A and the Natural History Museum.

The area has an extraordinary and varied number of high quality buildings, this charming window is on one of the architecturally less important ones.

Window, Natural History Museum London. Picture of the week 23.02.2014

 

A beautiful window in Victorian eclectic style with Romanesque arches, elaborate mullions and plaques and statues representing animals, there are an eel, a snake and a  jackal below this window, but each window has its own unique creatures. The stone pilasters are covered with naturally occurring patterns such as crystals, tree bark, honeycomb and fish scales. The ornamentation is in cast terracotta, a material which was chosen partly to save money when the building was built between 1865 and its opening in 1881.

The architect, Alfred Waterhouse created the museum’s distinctive blue and buff colour scheme by tinting the terracotta clay with ground slate before it was fired. A shortage of materials meant he had to cut back on the amount of blue.