Quickslide‘s Adrian Barraclough talks about the rise of heritage-style windows.
Heritage windows are popular – those that accurately replicate the original styles installed in genuine period homes, or even homes that are styled to represent period architecture, such as Victorian or Georgian. These days homeowners are becoming smarter and better informed about what is available and the window industry has responded, with some excellent, authentic looking frames that offer up to the minute performance but with traditional – heritage – looks.
A few years back my firm was one of the first to offer good-looking, affordable replacement vertical sliding box sash replacements in PVC-U. This was perfect for millions of homeowners that had leaky old timber box sash windows who could simply not afford to replace or repair them, with even modest sized timber frames costing four figures. Even those with homes that were not constricted by conservation orders, before PVC-U replacements became available they had no choice but to spend thousands.
Nowadays of course there’s a wide choice of prices and needless to say, quality; but if there’s one window style you should not stint on it’s this, with too many things that can go wrong if done on the cheap. More than ever, buy from a reputable supplier – it’s just not worth cutting corners.
More recently the flush sash window has gained enormously in popularity, with the majority of window manufacturers producing windows in this style, which are distinguished by sashes that close into the frame and finish flush with the face of the window.
The potential for flush sash frames is enormous, as not only do they offer an excellent replacement for non-listed period buildings built in the 18th and 19th and early 20th centuries, they also suit many more modern homes with their fundamentally simple and elegant sight lines. In fact so popular have flush sash replacement windows become it’s a wonder that they were only popularised in the past five or six years. Now every window system brand has a version and prices have come right down.
Seek a supplier that you can trust and then explore all of the options that should be available for you to present to your customer. Colour and authentic looking woodgrains are now so popular that they now account for half of the windows bought in this style. Take a stack of brochures with you to show the options and you’ll come out with the order!
