Good news *LINK*

[Anonymous]

Here's a piece from this week's Gl@zine:

According to Admiral Windows & Conservatories, in a ‘back to the future’ turnaround, the demand for timber windows and conservatories is on the increase.

While PVC has been the homeowner’s choice for over 15 years, Huntingdon-based, Admiral Windows & Conservatories reports an overwhelming demand for timber and has introduced new ranges of quality soft and hard wood for windows, conservatories and doors.

‘Given the recent increase in customer demand, it appears that timber has made a return to centre-stage as more people are choosing wood over plastic when replacing windows or building conservatories,’ explains Steve Thorogood, Managing Director of Admiral Windows & Conservatories.

‘After 15 years of taking wooden frames out of properties and replacing them with PVC, we are now taking out the plastic and replacing with timber - although this product is much superior to the timber that would have been used a few years ago.’

As environmental awareness also grows, customers are becoming more educated that timber is the only construction material that can be classed as truly renewable and sustainable when sourced from well-managed forests, which might be another reason for its increased popularity.



Gl@zine

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. Sad the about all those perfectly decent period windows junked cos placcy was going to be the way ahead! And landfill sites are going to be filled with these things and possible pollution... it's a lifestyle thing of course, nowt to do with heritage or conservation - placcy is being seen by some as not quite nice any longer dahling... along with the shell suit.

The area of Carlisle which was flooded out last winter has now about all the windows and doors replaced with plastic. I wonder if this was customer choice or insurance company insistence?

We noticed also in Carlisle at the weekend a new placcy door fitted (not the flood area) - the old one, which looked very similar, propped up against the house waiting presumably to be tipped in landfill.

I've also noticed a number of placcy windows being replaced by sash type placcy ones recently.

So much for the arguments that thse windows and doors will last forever without requiring maintenence.

It's a mad world we live in, isn't it?

 

[Anonymous]

it sure is.

NT

 

[Anonymous]

Cool! My windows survived modernisation over the last 25 years mainly, it must be admitted, through neglect ie I had no money to do anything till now when the roof is the priority. I wasn't really aware till about 5+ years ago of the horrors of Plastic - and I think that's pretty general as it is with much "new" technology.
If I could have afforded it in the now dim and distant past I probably would have gone for the plastic sash-look-alike (and then hated it) through ignorance and the desire to be warm and not scared whenever it's windy.
The sash chords are done but I need someone sympathetic to a tired old lady (the house! NOT me!!) (oh, well .... perhaps me as well!!!) but I have had bad experiences of building trade workers - they don't treat a female seriously and think you don't know anything.
There is a firm in Harrogate [m h joinery services] but they never came back to me with a price which would have been beyond my budget anyway but it woould have been nice to know by how much! North of Harrogate? Nowt.
With more firms capable and willing to do this sort of work, there would be less demand for plastic , but if you can't get anyone from Yellow Pages who says they do window restoration and Everest is there with cheap replacements - who you gonna call ?
(sorry watched Ghostbusters again the other night! Yo marshmallow Man!!!)

[[Our Stella and Our Freda are on holiday with Our Rita.]]

 

[Anonymous]

Do you think that there is a business venture oop north here going begging we could make a bomb out of?

The SAVE fax/printer (Brother) broke down this afternoon. Grrr. These things are not built to last. Two years and that's it, couple of days out of warranty, it eats the paper - seventy quid call out fee plus the parts, easier and cheaper to buy another and add to the landfill site...

 

[Anonymous]

*** I wonder if this was customer choice or insurance company insistence? ***

Insurance companies can't insist that you replace your timber windows with plastic ones - they are obliged to reinstate your property or put you back in the same financial position as you were prior to the loss.

I suspect people have the perception that plastic windows are a lot less hassle than timber (no painting or maintenance allegedly) and that is what drives sales.

 

[Anonymous]

A used laser printer costs half that

This is the downside to wealth: the value of human labour vs material goods makes the goods often uneconomic to repair. A lot of the time though its just people being silly, throwing away something thats fine then buying another of no better quality. For reasons only fools could explain.

Advertising seems to have them well trained... does that make me a fool now?

NT

 

[Anonymous]

It's being fixed not junked - it's just the whole economics is wrong, isn't it?

 

[Anonymous]

It does seem so. Its a complex issue though, and I dont think one with any real solution. Other than learning how to fix things yourself, which we do.

NT

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a good idea - we need some well trained men up here.
Seriously there is a huge gap in the restoration firm field - if you're in the more heavily poulated and (dare I say it, more affluent?) areas then they seem to be around - but not up here. Yet we have a wealth of old property in the North - even stuff Pathfinder hasn't found yet.
And I have found a good roofer to redo my roof - scaffolding should have gone up toorrow except for the bad weather warnings ..... After 25 years of waiting I eventually saved up enough and got round to organising it, have had to wait since May cos they are good and also cheap and now, when they come to do it, the weather turns on me. Humph!

 

[Anonymous]

You can send them to us after you then... once we have the central heating fixed, I think roof is next on the agenda.

We have been offered a second hand boiler at a tenth of the price of a new, I hope it's OK... as they say on Grand Designs, the weather is closing in...