Replacing windows on period properties

[Flyfisher]

Interesting article here: http://www.countrylife.co.uk/blogs/article/493057/Replacing-windows-on-period-properties.html

It is always worth checking with an expert such as a local surveyor or estate agent before making your investment as it has been found that, in some instances, plastic replacement windows, rather than wooden, can actually reduce the value of your home when it comes to resale.

 

[EricD]

Interesting article here: http://www.countrylife.co.uk/blogs/article/493057/Replacing-windows-on-period-properties.html

It is always worth checking with an expert such as a local surveyor or estate agent before making your investment as it has been found that, in some instances, plastic replacement windows, rather than wooden, can actually reduce the value of your home when it comes to resale.

thats is crazy but not far from the truth if there are substancial changes of a period property

 

[christianb]

There is simply no way that uPVC windows increase the value of a period property. None. None whatsoever. Never in a million years. And I wish those who peddle them to people owning old houses would b****r off.

In fact, you won't even recoup the outlay on replacement plastic windows in increased sale price on a modern property. They're a net loser, and they look bloody hideous.

End of story.

 

[robgil]

i have one in the side of my cottage , the surveyor described it as an ''inappropriate upvc window'' . i cant wait to get shot of it.

 

[Penners]

Interesting article here: http://www.countrylife.co.uk/blogs/article/493057/Replacing-windows-on-period-properties.html

It is always worth checking with an expert such as a local surveyor or estate agent before making your investment as it has been found that, in some instances, plastic replacement windows, rather than wooden, can actually reduce the value of your home when it comes to resale.

thats is crazy but not far from the truth if there are substancial changes of a period property

Crazy? Do I understand correctly, EricD, that you're in favour of uPVC replacement windows in period properties?

Think very carefully before you answer...

 

[christianb]

Driving down a a road the other week I looked along a row of old miners' cottages. All bar one (original sashes) had white uPVC windows. Can you guess which house looked the most beautiful (and thus the one you'd most likely want to buy)?

And, while I'm at it, I wish that this "ooh, they're low maintenance" balls that keeps getting trotted out by plastic-window sympathisers would stop. In truth, they have a 35 year lifespan (pushing it) and look bilge.

Real wood.

Single glazed.

Lovely.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I made this point about 4 years ago when we were house hunting big time, every set of house details proudly proclaimed UPVC windows, no matter whther the property was old, listed or new (ish). recently however, I have noticed less of this in house details,.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Did you know that PVCu windows are also made from crushed white rhino horns (just the tip), Carrara marble dust (made from the bits chipped off Roman statues by the Victorians - the V and A has skipsful round the back), a pinch of 1000 year old oak sawdust (taken only from the pencil-sized centre of the tree - the rest goes for woodchip wallpaper) and mediaeval stained glass (you have to smash it really finely and then melt it down to get that lovely glossy finish)?
After ten or fifteen years, they break and go straight to landfill, thus filling our traditional disused natural stone quarries.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

In truth, they have a 35 year lifespan (pushing it)

You'll be very very luck to get 35 years out of them - the frames perhaps, but the sealed units seem to have an average lifespan of around a decade. :twisted:

Anyone know the relative energy payback time on them against nice wooden windows - given all that plasticky oily stuff must have a ton of embodied energy. (Is embodied the correct term - you know what I mean!)

 

[Flyfisher]

I suspect that PPUK readers are not very representative of the general population when it comes to uPVC windows. I can only assume that the same sorts of people that install uPVC in the first place are also the same sorts of people who would be impressed when a newly-marketed property proudly proclaims its uPVC windows.

The replacement window industry has, of course, been rather successful in promoting the 'benefits' of uPVC, i.e. long-life and no maintenance, and many people are clearly, and understandably perhaps, swayed by such arguments, especially when they are replacing rotten windows in the first place. After all, eveyone 'knows' that plastic lasts forever - the green lobby use that factor as one of their arguments against using the stuff for packaging etc. So it all 'makes sense' to the man on the Clapham omnibus.

I made this point about 4 years ago when we were house hunting big time, every set of house details proudly proclaimed UPVC windows, no matter whther the property was old, listed or new (ish). recently however, I have noticed less of this in house details,.

That's very encouraging and perhaps the reality of uPVC windows is finally starting to filter through to the general populace. If they can be 'positioned' as cheap-and-nasty-plasticky things then hopefully the public mood will swing against them. The ironic thing, of course, is that the replacement window industy itself will probably lead the re-invention of wooden windows; what could be a better market-opportunity than to replace all those end-of-life uPVC windows with nice new wooden ones. :roll:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Did you know that PVCu windows are also made from crushed white rhino horns (just the tip), Carrara marble dust (made from the bits chipped off Roman statues by the Victorians - the V and A has skipsful round the back), a pinch of 1000 year old oak sawdust (taken only from the pencil-sized centre of the tree - the rest goes for woodchip wallpaper) and mediaeval stained glass (you have to smash it really finely and then melt it down to get that lovely glossy finish)?
After ten or fifteen years, they break and go straight to landfill, thus filling our traditional disused natural stone quarries.

:lol: I knew that. They're made by deprived children in developing countries too.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I recently visited the former home of the founder of a well-known (and indeed pioneering) manufacturer of plastic windows (it is coming onto the market following his decease, and he wasn't the type to bother asking about listed building building consent before adding helicopter hangars, swimming pools, conservatories, etc etc etc.)

Despite all the dreaful things he's done, the house has wooden windows.

 

[JoceAndChris]

How very revealing! If the founder won't even put up with them, well.