The benefits of wood windows

The Wood Window Alliance (WWA), an independent body made up of 17 members manufacturing many different kinds of doors and windows, has launched a campaign to highlight the benefits that having wood windows can bring property owners. Here’s wood window lover Naomi Cleaver’s top five reasons for choosing wood windows:

1) The way your house looks is important to you
Whether you live in a conservation area or just appreciate good design wood windows offer a range of styles, colours and finishes in both traditional and contemporary formats to meet your particular taste

2) You want to add value to your home
Fitting inappropriate PVC-U replacement windows can reduce the value of your home. The important rule is to fit windows that are authentic replacements. A national survey of estate agents by English Heritage found unsympathetic replacement of windows and doors – particularly plastic and PVC-U – to be the single biggest threat to property values in conservation areas. So, if your home originally had wood windows, invest in authentic wood replacement windows.

3) They offer better value for money because they last longer
When it comes to buying windows, you may be tempted to purchase PVC-U based on apparent cost savings. Before you do, consider initial outlay versus lifetime value. According to research by Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, wood windows last longer and therefore have a lower whole life cost than comparable PVC-U windows giving you better value for money and more attractive windows.

4) You want your home to be as efficient as possible
Wood is a good insulator and has very low thermal conductivity, making wood windows extremely thermally efficient. Wood windows are widely available with A-C Window Energy Ratings.

5) Sustainability and environmental impact are important to you
WWA windows are energy efficient and are made from the only naturally renewable material used in window manufacture. In a nutshell, wood windows have the lowest environmental impact of any window material

Useful web sites for more information
Property Search Engine
Independent property news

Recent Posts on Property

• Where do most millionaires live in the UK?
• Wandsworth tops aspiring young professionals hotspot list
• Record home price rises (and not just in London)
• It's National Work From Home Day today
• Where have property prices been reduced most in the UK?

• Pacificweather

  The best reason for selecting wooden windows is the joy of painting them and watching the paint flake off over the next five years. It really adds value to your property. As there is going to be plenty of Ash around soon they shoul become really cheap to buy so don’t paint them – just replace them.

• bossa nova

  yes, wooden windows are lovely even though much more expensive than the upvc ones.
  however, a word of caution. from my experience wooden windows will be provided by bespoke suppliers and many are not fensa registered.

  my experience was the folowing. i ordered triple-glazed wooden windows from a bespoke wooden joinery in oxon. i did not even consider the legalities attached to having replacement widows installed. it was the joiner who commented that the triple-glazed windows were only a ‘D’ grading – on the day they were being installed. i looked up gradings on the internet later that day only to find that the windows, by law, should be a minimum ‘C’ grading. furthermore, on the local building authority website, it says that the responsibility for installing the correct grading of windows when installing replacements lies with the home owner – something which caused me a couple of sleepless nights.
  of course, i contacted the supplier iwho fobbed me off with saying that he would contact his friend in fensa to find out what could be done. i never heard back from the supplier. i have sent him a letter on the advice of citizens advicetrading standards telling him that the windows are not fit for purpose.
  i have not heard back from him so i have been advised to send him another letter threatening legal action.
  furthermore, this supplier did not use soft spacers (he used metal ones which allow the heat to pass easily through the window panes) even though i had had a lengthy conversation with him about spacers before installation.

  i feel that the legalites attached to having replacement windows installed should be highlighted and traders should, at least, be required to let the buyer know of these legalities. i had done searches on the internet before choosing this trader and had seen nothing about legalities. most ofl the upvc window traders seem to be fensa registered.

• bossa nova

  yes wooden windows are lovely …. but a word of caution.

  i am talking to trading standards about a trader who recently supplied me with tripled-glazed wooden windows which were not the required grading standard.
  they were only a ‘D’ grading instead of a minimum ‘c’.
  i had no idea that there were legalities attached to having replacement windows installed pre-installation in spite of extensive internet searches for wooden window suppliers. the upvc window suppliers all seem to be fensa registered. if you choose bespoke as i did, they are often not fensa registered or do not have an accreditation. however, to add insult to injury, the local building authority website says that the responsibility lies with the home owner to install the correct grading of window. i feel that the vendor should be obliged to, at least, let the buyer know of these legalities.
  the window supplier was from thames, oxon.
  i am in contact with trading standards who have advised writing letters to the trader from whom i have had no reply.

• http://oatc.livejournal.com/ oatc

  I strongly suspect many plastic windows are being installed after hard selling with inadequate consideration. It is easy for the rapid, packaged, and often “financed” plastic deal to simply seem better than even just repainting existing wooden frames, given the expense of labour, and access over several days which may now often require scaffolding, due to ladders being deemed unsafe. Construction regulations seem to have been amended in private to favour the plastic, without justification, so that what is easier for them to comply with is required, and what is difficult for them is ignored.

  Only later is it realised that the plastic frames almost always provide less window area, view, and illumination, and do change the look of the property. Or that the steel mechanisms within the frames are often flimsy, and not fit for purpose. Safety latches are often small, recessed, or positioned out of reach, disabling sufficient ventilation. Locks will disintegrate, and opening frames will be blown open by wind, with no possibility to add window stays since the plastic will not support screws.

  There urgently needs to be a wooden components industry body that ensures fair regulations, facilitates compliance, the upgrading, replacement, or installation of wooden windows and doors, and liaises with those who provide glazing, and the materials for, and do the resurfacing of wooden products.

  Perhaps simple wooden replacement packages, supplied fully finished, and re-using glazing units, where compliant, would be competitive. Or far more than competitive when wooden frames advantages are fully considered.

  It seems to be for the lack of that our homes and streets are being downgraded dramatically, and a hugely expensive maintenance, and ecological, disaster in a decade or so is being created, when plastic windows in vast numbers start to need total replacement.