Replacing timber french doors with UPVC

[Femmefatality]

I have a set of french double doors leading out to the garden. They are wooden and seem to not be the best for heat efficiency. I can't tell whether they are double or single glazed.

I love the crittal look but can't afford to replace them with true crittal or aluminium. So the only other option is UPVC in black heritage style. I was all set to change but I've now been told that changing my timber French doors to uPVC will devalue the house. Thoughts?

Yes, probably. Personally I dislike uPVC and if I was considering buying a house with uPVC windows or doors would be thinking about how much it would cost to rip them all out and replace them with timber. I doubt the fact your current doors are wooden is the reason for sub-optimal heat efficiency - perhaps they are single-glazed, and that's the problem? Or badly fitting? You can get double-glazed wooden windows and doors (I have some). True, they are more expensive. But look SO much better!

Thanks, the uPVC can look a bit chunky and doesn't age too well. You are right jn that the single glazing may be the problem

We (and pretty much everyone on our estate) have UPVC windows and doors, including French patio doors. Houses were built in the 1980s with single glazed timber frames and lead lights. By the mid 90s the windows bowed and the frames rotted. The choice was to replace with more wood (covenant says frames must be brown and windows must have the leading although this finally expired a couple of years ago) or UPVC. House values have increased substantially since we bought ours in the 90s. There are 2 identical houses for sale in our street at the moment - one with wooden windows and one with UPVC. The one with the UPVC is actually valued higher and us the only difference between the two...

What are the rest of the windows/doors in the property made from?

Personally, i wouldn't think twice about buying a property with well made and fitted upvc doors etc.

Wood requires mtce and unless specific woods used, can easily move, letting in drafts.

you should be able to see the air gap between the panes of glass if DB glazed, failing that, measure width of door frame, then measure from frame to glass on both sides and subtract from total width - single pane of glass will be 3mm to 5mm maximum.
DB glazed will be 14mm as a minimum.

Thanks for the tip, I can't see an air gap, looks very much to be single glazed.

It's a period house with the original wood front door and windows, although the bathroom does have UPVC windows

Personally I wouldn’t buy a house with wooden windows. Or if I did, they’d be getting replaced pronto. The upkeep is terrible. No sound insulation, very poor heat retention, poor security,

Surely only if they are single-glazed? I have double-glazed wooden sashes fronting a busy road, and they cut out nearly all the noise. And my utility bills are very low. (You can also get triple-glazed wooden windows.) They do need more maintenance though than uPVC, as they'll need external repainting every 7-10 years and obviously uPVC doesn't.

Wood can usually be destroyed by a sharp screwdriver or jemmy.

I think it’s one of those issues that divides opinion - I would always prefer wood (especially if original/ period wood) and uPVC would put me off. I would be less fussed about 1980s wood or wood that was obviously much later than the original house but it would be a cold day in hell before I would put in uPVC windows. That said - and you will see on this thread - some people like uPVC and dislike wood.

So whatever you do you won’t please every potential buyer!

good thick curtains and a draft excluder would help a lot with heat efficiency if your budget is limited, especially in winter.