Common Concerns
Traditional sash windows, although beautiful features of period properties, often cause serious problems. Typically these can be:
- Noise penetration
- Draughts and rattles
- Dirt, dust and insect penetration
- Difficulty with opening and closing due to paint build up
- Poor security
- Generally appearing tired and old, with loose putty and broken cords
- More significant decay - most often wet rot in cills and bottom sashes.
Many people have tackled these problems by replacing their traditional sash windows with UPVC double-glazing... but at what cost?
Financial costs of UPVC
- Outlay for the replacement windows. This is often in the region of £10,000 for an average 3-bedroom house.
- Reduction in the value of the property through the loss of a key period feature. This is likely to be a further £5,000 - £10,000 for a similar, average, 3-bedroom house.
Social costs of UPVC
- Society as a whole loses the intangible benefits that beautiful architectural features provide. The 'plastic' appearance of UPVC is inevitably out of keeping with the rest of the house.
- As we aim to help meet the country’s obligations under the Kyoto Agreement, it is worth noting that the embedded carbon required to manufacture and install the replacement UPVC windows is roughly 30 times that required to renovate the existing sash windows.
