New windows - advice please

[senua]

We are ordering new windows. Anybody got any comments? I just want to make sure that we have covered all angles, detailed everything.
We are replacing original 1930s single panes with DG. I'm sorry but we are going for plastic because I can't justify the cost of wood but we are having dummy sash inserts to try to make it look more authentic.

Can we have the benefit of anybody else's "I wish that I had specified .." or "I wish that someone had told me ...".

Check whether you can clean the outside from inside.

Oooh, good point. I may have to change the pattern of openers / non-openers on the bay window.
That's the sort of thing that I am worrying about - things that you don't appreciate until afterwards, when you think "if only ...".

You can get removable restrictors on them which are useful for dc's rooms.

Do you have any original stained glass? One of the previous owners of our house had the 1930s stained glass preserved in the double glazed units in the top sections of all the windows at the front of the house and in the hall window. It's a lovely period feature and I think it's much nicer than the replicas or more modern versions on some of the other houses on the street.

make sure you have trickle vents before placing the order. Your old windows were probably quite draughty, which will have given you unintended ventilation. The new ones will (should) be well-sealed so you need to consciously ventilate your home. If you have got in the habit of draping wet washing over radiators, or have no extractor fan in bathroom or kitchen, it will be much more humid.

The old windows may have had substantial timber sections which the wall above relied upon. You may need extra lintels. Bay windows in particular will need extra supporting pillars, which can be incorporated in the window build at initial design. It is very much easier to do before the wall has sagged and the windows has been bent.

Hide your vacuum cleaner and its hose in two different places. Don't let anyone damage or clog it with brick and plaster dust. The fitters should have their own. Consider buying a canister vac, with a cartridge filter and disposable paper bags, from a DIY supplier for such work.

and make sure all the windows are fitted with key operated locks and the fitters leave both the two supplied keys with every lock (instead of pocketing them and selling them to other people who have had theirs keys pocketed)

for example, if you look at this big UK company, you will see that every locking handle comes with two keys.

A good trick is to put a cup hook, out of sight and out of easy reach, on the top corner of the window, where it will be hidden by the curtain but you have a good chance of not losing it. If the key is not in the keyhole, a burglar has less chance of getting hold of it.

Might be worth asking them about 'sight-lines' too. If you're going for sash, probably not an issue, but basically having all the sight-lines the same means the PvC around the windows are the same thickness (those houses you see where there's a variance in thickness between opening and non-opening windows are those who didn't have the sight-lines matched). Again, there is a slight difference in cost, but not huge.

Also, if you're having a bathroom window replaced don't go for frosted (the patterned glass), but sandblasted as less see-through (if they won't add it for free though, you may be better just getting some decent contact paper).

Many thanks all, some very useful comments.
The aesthetics (period features, sight lines, etc) have been a big consideration. I always think that if eyes are the windows to the soul of a person then windows are the, um, windows to the soul of a house. It's amazing how many people ruin properties by putting unsuitable windows in. We are trying to recreate the original look- I would have liked wood but can't justify the cost and have finally been persuaded over to the dark side (plastics) because they seem much better than they used to be in days gone by.
I don't think that we need trickle vents because we still have ventilation courtesy of open fireplaces. The matter of structural support on the bay has been covered.
Thanks!

Good advice about the vacuum cleaner Piglet. I'll keep the old, cumbersome one I want to chuck out until the work we want doing is done! The new nifty lightweight one will be locked away.

A house near us has had blinds installed between the panes of glass which I love the principle of - no idea how much extra

Including trickle vents in the original order should be inexpensive, and of course you can close them if the house is still draughty.

However adding them in future, if you ever feel the need, will be much more trouble. I do strongly recommend them.

I hear what you say about trickle vents but I think that they spoil the look of a window. Thank you, but I'm going to be one of those annoying people that ask for advice and then don't take it on board well, this bit of it - the rest of the advice is top notch, as per usual.
One installer told me that (current rules) say that if you already have trickle vents then the replacement windows must also have them. If not, then not. So it's an irreversible decision, and one which I'm happy to leave for the next person in a few years' time.

BTW, what are your thoughts on the Green Deal PJ?

Do you have sash windows at the moment? It just seems strange if not- 1930s properties don't often have sashes.

I'm a wood fan and hate uPVC so I'm probably not the best person to comment on this thread. Just be careful your not actually devaluing your house (I know wood is expensive though). Did you consider aluminium?

Not sash windows. They are flush-fit which means that they look like this, i.e. uniform.
Many UPVC windows look like this or this and its neighbour with an obvious difference bewtween openers and non-openers.
You can adapt the UPVC windows to look flush-fit by adding in bits to get the sight lines right - confusing they are called dummy sashes but are nothing to do with sash windows.

The Fensa rules do say you should keep the trickle vents yes.

We had a long chat with our installer about them. We're not keen on them either. He reckons it weakens the structure of the window. In the end we had them in upstairs windows but not downstairs.