Your new double glazing tips and advice please

[JaynePoole]

I’m collecting quotes on replacing all of my double glazing, and would welcome the benefit of your advice.

I’m thinking brown outside, white inside at the front and white at the back. I would like a bright composite front door (what colour?).
The house currently has fake diamond lead at the top of windows but I’m thinking of going plain or possibly rectangle fake lead.

I've got grey on the outside and white on the inside windows in my new build and I wish they were just white as I think they will date quite quickly. I would definitely get a bright coloured door is I'd had the chance. Mine is grey and I hate it. There are some lovely doors.

Obviously your choice, but I would say brown is quite dated?

The in colours after white are now grey, black/dark grey or green.

Brown Upvc is very dated. Grey is the latest trend, and won't date for maybe 20 years as people don't get their windows changed that often! For smartness, go for a grey or black front door.

Although outnumbered by white I think brown is more in keeping with the street (and I like how it doesn’t show the dirt).

Grey seems very fashionable but not to my taste and would really stick out.

Get quotes for triple glazing as well.

Ooh thanks, I hadn’t realised that was a thing. my main motivation is improved insulation and security.

I’m not sure about brown now.

Brown doesn't look nice and is very dated, in fact when ever any one posts a link to a house people always comment negatively on the brown framed windows. It's the pebble dash of double glazing.

If you really don't want another colour go for white.

I think brown looks really good on the houses that have it down here.

There's one with grey that looks really out of keeping.

It depends on your house. How old is it, wha Style is it? In our village of very old houses, White looks awful.
Our house is Tudor and again white would look dreadful. A lot of people have a pale green- look at Farrow and Ball French grey.

Triple glazing is good for noise, but on an existing house it wouldn't help much for insulation except if it's a large window eg patio doors.
Also consider composite windows rather than upvc eg aluminium clad timber

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Hope this works. Should say French grey looks like a pale green in daylight.

We have brown windows on our house. I don’t love them, and they were here when we moved in. In a cul de sac of 6 houses they all have them and if one went rogue (as is their right) it would look odd.

I sort of hope that by the time ours need replacing one of the other houses has gone for non-brown as then we would too, but as it stands I’d likely stick with the herd and go for brown.

If the rest of the houses around you are brown and it’s in keeping with the rest of the house then I would go with brown.

Otherwise I’d go for white.

We have replaced old brown windows with french grey.

It looks so much better (60’s) house. But it is a personal choice.

Check how deep the glazing is, the colour of the strips inside, the thermal break around the frame and handles and locks.

The colour is important but thermal quality matters.

Just on another note, make sure that window restrictors are included (if you want them) we had Anglian fit ours and they weren’t included as we hadn’t specified so had to them retrofitted which doesn’t look as good.

What are window restrictors?

My house is an inter-war mid-terrace. Big bay upstairs and down. Originally the wooden frames were either glossed or then, later, painted white.

Check how deep the glazing is, the colour of the strips inside, the thermal break around the frame and handles and locks.

Could you tell me a bit more about all of this?

Don’t sign anything until you’re dead sure - window companies will swear anything but there’s a loophole in the law that says if you are ordering something bespoke, and they start work on it immediately, you waive your cancellation rights. Windows are considered bespoke as they have to be measured. So learn from my mistake and don’t sign anything until you’ve done lots of research and got a number of quotes!

Window restrictors stop the window opening wide open. You can click them and adjust them so that the window only opens a few inches or all the way. Usually they are incorporated in to the inside of the frame, or in our case were drilled in after. We have a toddler so was a must especially at first floor.

I got out of it in the end by sending about four solicitor’s letters and reporting the company to Trading Standards.

And would you consider wooden windows? They’re so much nicer.

I've just replaced my brown windows, hated them.

We’re looking at replacing our brown framed wooden (rotten) frames. It may be worth contacting suppliers then sourcing an installer yourself, I’m assuming an installer would charge a little extra on the windows you’ve ordered!

If you like the look of wooden frames then have a look at the flush casement windows, they’re getting better all the time and not too dissimilar to wooden from a distance. The supplier I’ve been speaking to stocks Renaissance windows, might be worth having a look at them although I know they’re £££!

The brand we’re looking at are called Optima, they offer traditional style upvc as well as the flush. We need 16 windows (approx 1mx1m each) and a small set of patio doors. The quote is just over £9k for supply only. If we want the plastic astragal bars it adds almost £3k to the total price!

I’m just about to get a quote for aluminium windows from Origin to see the difference in price is worth the thinner sight lines!

We've just ordered new front windows and they are brown outside, white inside and plain no lead. Brown (actually rosewood), is what matches our house, and the houses nearby that have changed to white don't look as nice imo. Very much depends on the house though. I like white inside to brighten it up and match decor better. Grey would look awful on our style of house, even though most of the inside of our house is painted grey!

Get lots of brochures and look at the technical details it should show the depth of the space between the two glass sheets. The gas they use makes a difference too.

When fitting the frame it is important the seal around the frame is complete, there is a foam strip which works really well it expands and truly fits the gap.

We have had Rationnel wood and aluminium and are so pleased with the quality of the finish - downside is we have to open the window to hear the bird song from the garden!