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Original poster

UPVC windows - sensible or a mental aberration?

50 replies

Quattrocento · 19/10/2009 21:21

House is 30 years old so not a period property. Four windows leak. Should we just get the lot replaced in tasteful plastic and never have to repaint again?

The downside is that there won't be any more draughts and the house will be hermetically sealed and not be able to breathe. The upside is that there won't be any draughts ...

I'm going around in circles here. The trouble with plastic is that it's just not wood.

Also I feel I may be letting my neighbours down. All the houses in the street have hardwood (as do we at present). Probably their windows don't leak though. But they might feel vaguely aggrieved at someone introducing plastic windows

But plastic windows don't ever have to be painted again ...

Tell me what to do.

OP posts:
Littlefish · 19/10/2009 21:36

Go for wood.

Plastic always looks nasty in my opinion, particularly when all the others in the road have wooden windows.

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 19/10/2009 21:41

Get a decent carpenter to look at your windows and repair the leaky ones. And don't ever let me catch you thinking about plastic windows again.
OK?

luvaduck · 19/10/2009 21:42

looks awful and pvc is toxic stuff....

wood all the way

Original poster
Quattrocento · 19/10/2009 21:49

Oh thanks

I was, y'know, intoxicated with the idea of never repainting

As well as no more leaks

I think I just needed some sense knocking into me

OP posts:
eggshapedbanana · 19/10/2009 21:52

bleurgh, plastic is horrible. Just paid a lot of money to have the wood on the outside of our house painted, but that should do for another 4 years. I would be so disappointed if one of our neighbours had plastic. Somebody round the corner has had it done and as there is a lot of wood on the outside of our houses it looks awful.

Original poster
Quattrocento · 19/10/2009 22:00

Repainting does seem to cost a fortune though - the cheapest quote we had was £5k without them being sanded down properly first.

Oh well, I knew this plastic idea was a Bad Thought. I absolutely knew the neighbours would be aggrieved ...

OP posts:
EccentricaGallumbats · 19/10/2009 22:03

PVC are disgusting but they keep the draughts out and never need painting.

They do have a vent thingy that let some air in so not an airtght box.

and you can get your plastic in tasteful wood colour. mmm nice.

fortyplus · 19/10/2009 22:03

Speaking as someone who lives in a house with uPVC windows... I would say that if your neighbours have wood then you must stay with it! Wood enhances the whole area and you may even devalue your house by installing uPVC.

happywomble · 19/10/2009 22:06

We live in a house the same age. We had single glazed wooden windows and replaced them with double glazed upvc. The house has been so much warmer and we have had no problems with the windows and doors since having them fitted 6 yrs ago. There is some very tatty UPVC around. We found a company with some good quality plastic windows (did not go for the cheapest ones) and I think our house with new windows looks as attractive as some of the neighbouring ones with the original wood.

Do you think you will be living in the house for 10 yrs or 25 yrs...if it is your forever home maybe it would be worth buying more expensive wooden windows. If not maybe the UPVC would be good enough.

We used a company called Horsham glass who I would really recommend (if you live within their radius - I think they supply as far as London).

Original poster
Quattrocento · 19/10/2009 22:14

I'm feeling too guilty about the neighbours now to venture into plastic

I quite like the idea of making do and mend - sounds thrifty and sensible and better for the environment too.

We've lived in the house for 10 years or so and will live here until the DCs leave home I think - so another ten years or so.

OP posts:
happywomble · 19/10/2009 22:26

Depends how well you can mend. Surely draughty windows mean more heating (bad for the environment!)

BloodshotEyeballs · 19/10/2009 22:31

I live in a draughty, cold Victorian house with knackered original wood single glazed sash windows. If someone offered me uPVC windows tomorrow I'd bite their hand off. Period is nice but warm is nicer.

ramonaquimby · 19/10/2009 22:34

we have lovely (refurbished) double glazed sash windows. we get ENDLESS double glazing salesmen knocking on the door asking if we want to replace them

can you replace/repair the wooden ones in the front and use UPVC in the back where they are less noticable?

we are one of 3 houses on our street with the original sashes

Original poster
Quattrocento · 19/10/2009 22:38

But see, your friends will all admire your period house and period windows and no-one will tut disapprovingly and you are probably much healthier for not being overheated etc ...

Our current windows are double glazed by the way. Single glazed would be a bit brr, I agree

A propos of nothing, read this article about Daphne du Maurier once. She adored the house that she lived in and based Manderley on it. Tragically all that her son said about it was that it was freezing cold all the time ...

OP posts:
jeanjeannie · 20/10/2009 09:14

We have wood windows - shed loads of 'em and our house is nice and toasty! We're insulated up to the hilt - which makes far more difference to your heat loss than UPVC versus Wood. We've even got a wood rafter with glass roof utility room and seriously it's the warmest house I've ever lived in. I had a Victorian house in london and the biggest reason that was cold was because of the floor boards.

Wood - it's the nuts

scaryteacher · 20/10/2009 09:25

Mil lives in a listed house in a conservation area. The house next to her has UPVC windows and they are fab. They look like wooden sashes until you touch them, and then it is apparent that they aren't. I keep asking her to find out which firm did them, as I want something similar for my house which has UPVC already (previous owners), but I want to put double glazed sashes back in when I move back.

If you can get something that looks in keeping go for it. Buildings can change, otherwise we'd all be stuck in halls without chimneys and no glazing at all.

frogthistle · 20/10/2009 18:05

Oh oh oh I was just about to post the same question.

We have UPVC windows everywhere on a 30s bungalow, same as the vast majority of the houses (all ages) on the street.

Am currently in final stages of planning a loft conversion & works. The architect is most insistent that I must replace all windows with wood, which I am against as not all of them need replacing& they are expensive.

Her main argument is that 'people look for wood windows on properties when they're buying'. I didn't, maybe I should have reading the other posts - would you?

Original poster
Quattrocento · 21/10/2009 22:55

I'm a bit of a wood snob

Which is why this fixation with plastic is a bit surprising

It's because plastic never needs painting

OP posts:
VulpusinaWilfsuit · 21/10/2009 22:58

Heh heh heh. Me, you and Swedes first crossed swords on this very question about 2 years ago when I joined MN. Weren't you persuading her not to back then?

Don't do it: your soul will shrivel and die. Get fancy metal architects windows instead...

Original poster
Quattrocento · 21/10/2009 23:10

OMG, did I really? See what MN has done to me. Where will it end?

Thanks for the reminders all.

OP posts:
VulpusinaWilfsuit · 21/10/2009 23:23

heh heh heh the evidence...

WOOD
WOOD
WOOD
WOOD
WOOD
WOOD
WOOD

psychomum5 · 21/10/2009 23:30

we are halfway through replacing our (very rotten) wooden windows for upvc. look much nicer (at the moment, they are shiney and new), and the thought of never having to paint them is a fabulous incentive.

mainly tho, the price was the enticer........could not afford to extend, do the kitchen, build me a futility room and have wooden windows......just was not possible.

oh, the fact that I don;t have to beat them open is also a very good reason

MitchyInge · 21/10/2009 23:44

Waiting for quotes for refurbishing my scabby old wooden windows, did order some plastic sash windows earlier this year but chickened out and got my deposit back. I don't know what I was thinking, but it's passed thankfully, and am expecting to save £££ this way.

Original poster
Quattrocento · 21/10/2009 23:45

ROFL at that thread. Oh thanks Wilf. You remind me of when I was young and insouciant and preferred style over low maintenance.

You understand, I was passionate about wood until four windows started LEAKING. And my old bones don't like draughts now and I used to think draughts were so bracing.

I think I need OBM here as well to take the piss out of my ageing so rapidly.

Psycho - you remind me of a quaint feature of my wooden windows. In summer they mostly open easily. Apart from the frenchies in the dining room which have to be prised open. In winter they all have to be prised open apart from the frenchies in the living room. Why is that? How does that happen?

OP posts:
MitchyInge · 21/10/2009 23:49

Exactly half my windows won't open at all, the other half won't shut. I can't begin to imagine how exciting it will be when they are fixed!