New Windows & Doors!

Hooray, our super duper wooden triple glazed windows and doors are in!

Made by Viking Window in Estonia (which sounds like a lovely country) installed by Retrofit Windows, to passiv-haus standard – so thoroughly sealed & draft proofed. (We did get a quote for regionally made, from Bereco in Rotherham, but they cost twice as much, so completely unaffordable for us.)

Before

After

We love natural materials like wood, so opted to see the wood grain on the inside. I’m so glad we did, we think they look great.

Note that the white frames you can see around the windows on the outside will be finished in matching green (RAL 6009 Fir Green, in case you were wondering, which I don’t think you were).
They are insulating sub-frames, to thoroughly insulate the window frames from the cold external brick walls. They are made of compacfoam. It’s a sort of polystyrene, highly insulating, yet so strong it can be used structurally.

On the inside, the black material surrounding the frame makes an air tight seal with the building fabric. It’s a pretty technical job, using a bewildering array of elements including illbrook i3 foam, compriband strips, pva, spray activator …

Most windows in the UK are installed … not very well. It was great to see tradespeople doing such a quality job.

The house feels completely different now. Before, you could see daylight around the frames, and feel the draughts; now, it sounds so quiet!