Window shopping

[runningon]

My Dm is fairly young, but disabled/vulnerable and lives alone in a very large single glazed house 8 hours drive from me or any other relative.
I need to buy her double glazing, but I'm not sure how to go about this, I don't want to involve salesmen.
Is there a company where you can buy online that anyone can recommend?
She lives in a period house, with beautiful wooden windows at present. I'm thinking of replacing them with non-wood (so there isn't the maintenance) but they need to be fairly cheap and long-lasting. Is there such a thing? She doesn't have much money and will not sell up and move as it was her family home and the only place she has ever lived, it's just not an option. (Plus she has a million pets/animals which would be impossible to move/re-home!)

If it's a period house with wooden windows, make sure the house isn't listed or in a conservation area first!

Hopefully other posters can help with the actual buying of the windows

I think that you need to think about resale impact if you put non-wooden windows on a period property. We bought a lovely house with plastic windows and knew we’d need to change them and factored that into purchase price.

If you want to get quotes, maybe get one salesperson over to measure, then use their spec to get other quotes via email. That’s what I’ve done and all of the other companies use size and spec from first company, so I’m comparing like with like.

What area is she in? Just don't go to Anglian etc ? They are very hard sell . We had ours done with a local business and they were fab .

Not worried about re-sale value at all, just don't have much money now to spend.
She doesn't actually own the house, but can live in it for the rest of her life for peppercorn rent. Unfortunately that does mean she she has to pay for all the upkeep. She is unable to work, and I can't afford to help out financially either, so the cheaper the better without completely ruining the look of the house.

It's not a period property with restrictions on it, eg listed or in a conservation area as such.

She is in the Midlands

I would speak to the owner and say you can't afford proper windows and will replace for standard ones . It will affect its re sell value and they may want to pay the difference ?

Maybe look at secondary glazing? Or having the existing windows refurbished?

I don't know if this stuff works - www.theplasticpeople.co.uk/plastic-types/acrylic-(perspex)/magnetglaze-extreme-secondary-glazing-kit/ - but I'd be loathe to spends £1000s on windows for a property you don't own.

Local companies are better than the nationals ime

Can you join a local FB group for her area and get a recommendation?

She could be in the property of the rest of her life (45 years at least hopefully) so she doesn't mind spending the money on double glazing to help keep her warm and comfortable in the winter and reduce her heating bills.
She just doesn't want to spend lots of money on it, she wants the best value one she can get.

I'd suggest secondary glazing might be cheaper and more efficient. You can buy acrylic panels to size that fit with magnetic tape.
Or better quality DIY kits in eg Wickes. If you don't feel up to fitting it yourself, you could try a local recommended handyman.

Do you think secondary glazing will last 45 years? If not it seems a false economy as well as looking not very nice?

Because of the amount of rent she pays, she is happy to buy double-glazing so that she is comfortable in her home.
She wants this.
Anyone got any good suggestions on the best way to find a firm - baring in mind I'm not local to her?
Thanks

Can she ask her neighbours to see who they used? You can google her local area and double glazing and see if you can find a couple of local firms to give quotes. Age UK sometimes have lists of firms they recommend so could try them. Even UPVC double glazing probably won’t last 45 years, 20 is about the average.

I'd look for local double glazing companies - maybe try Nextdoor or something for recommendations from local people?
A person from the company will need to visit in order to quote; when booking the appointment, as if they need to do a separate survey afterwards (in my experience, larger companies have salesmen and then do a survey afterwards, whilst smaller businesses tend to do the survey as part of the quotation visit). Make sure they are FENSA registered.
Regarding prices, I expect secondary glazing would be a lot cheaper, but for basic uPVC double glazed windows (not sash, no fancy stuff) my mum paid around £3.5k for a small three bedroom terrace a few years ago. Period properties often have big windows, so I'd guess around £500 a window? Bay windows count as more than one (a three-sided bay is three windows).

Thanks awkward that's useful info.

Aluminium window frames should last a fair bit longer than uPVC. A company near us has a promotion of aluminium-for-the-price-of-uPVC so you might find a deal somewhere.

Thanks Pragmatic I'll look out for aluminium and get quotes for both.

I’m not sure most double glazing will last 45 years. The local modern estates around here started changing their windows about 12 years in. I was shocked because I had no idea that they would need replacing so quickly.