UPVC windows and pebbledash should be banned!

[Flyfisher]

Seems like Everest have started their 2009 campaign to convert the nation's remaining windows to uPVC.

One interesting claim in their latest piece of junk mail is that their windows will provide an "infinite" increase in warmth . . . so I guess we can soon look forward to news reports of people being baked to death in their new Everest-windowed homes.

 

[Penners]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[fjpdesigns]

Back in the early eighties when we lived in a red brick terraced house in Loughborough, a neighbour collared me one day and dragged me down the street to view his new covering of artificial Derbyshire stone.
It was absolutely dreadful of course, but the look on his face was a picture to behold when I pointed out that he had sadly forgotten to do his chimney as well. He went off muttering and looking up at his omission. I can't remember if he ever did anything about it.

 

[Feltwell]

No doubt there's a "Pimp-My-House" website

Your powers of prediction are quite scarey...

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pimp-my-house/

Just think, your house could be the equivalent of this "pimped" beauty......

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Now that is a nice skip - shame about the heap of a car obsuring it.

 

[DaveBrigg]

There's a real heart-breaker on that site -
Click on New Projects (at the top of the page) and have a look at the sixth one down.

I saw that one too, and at first glance it looks like it's been cement rendered or pebble-dashed. But is also appears on their brick-cleaning page as an example of their work - which makes me wonder if it's just a cr*p photograph of an over-cleaned house.

There is something dodgy about the pictures. The after shot appears to show that the conservatory has been stolen, and the front garden rearranged. Perhaps they will paint your house in plastic, and then charge a second time to remove it.

My parents live in a 1930's house (I think) which was pebble dashed above the ground floor at the time it was built, with a row of slightly protruding bricks providing a clear border, so it was a 'traditional' building method before being used to wreck the appearance of many terraces.

 

[Feltwell]

I used to live in a 1920's house that had been pebble dashed with a lime based mix from new, from a line about 3' up from the ground. Something to do with the availability of brick I was told - the bricks behind the render were very soft, all the houses in that road were the same. The rest of the estate was built some 10 years later - same house design but no pebble dash and a harder better quality brick used throughout.

 

[biffvernon]

The silver lining to the credit crunch:
http://www.go-dove.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionid=12520

 

[Penners]

Heartless brute!

:wink:

 

[Flyfisher]

Surely you're not thinking about investing in uPVC production tooling Biff? :wink:

 

[Penners]

If you can't beat 'em....

 

[bigdoozer]

Yes Yes and Nooooooo. Wooden windows in my place lasted 112 years as far as I know. PVC next door, looking v-bad after just 11. Soffits and gutters... woods good. Public don't know that PVCu deteriorates in UV light, bcomes brittle and eventually splits on the surface. Just wait until that wood look pvc starts to peel.

Pebbledash, I know of a process that re-bricks/stones pebbledash or render to look original. Just watched a company change a white rendered mid-terrace , back to yorkshire sandstone blocks in 3 days without re-fronting the whole house...... still can't believe it, brill and whats daft is that they sprayed this stuff on about 1" thick and carved out the joints by hand.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Yes Yes and Nooooooo. Wooden windows in my place lasted 112 years as far as I know. PVC next door, looking v-bad after just 11. Soffits and gutters... woods good. Public don't know that PVCu deteriorates in UV light, bcomes brittle and eventually splits on the surface. Just wait until that wood look pvc starts to peel.

Pebbledash, I know of a process that re-bricks/stones pebbledash or render to look original. Just watched a company change a white rendered mid-terrace , back to yorkshire sandstone blocks in 3 days without re-fronting the whole house...... still can't believe it, brill and whats daft is that they sprayed this stuff on about 1" thick and carved out the joints by hand.

Ooops, you forgot to use the product name in that post. It's still spam though. And the product is rubbish

 

[Cloudscape]

Trying not to be rude, Bigdoozer, but I was just looking at the D*c*p**rr* photos - your provided a link in another of your posts where you advocate the use of D*c*p**rr*.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35286279@N05/3271662973/in/set-72157613630947567

Yuck. :shock: This is a forum about conserving period buildings. Run... before you get burned at the stake. :lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Gareth and Cloudscape, you rock.

Why would anyone buy it though? And such a dumb advert, given the title of this thread.

 

[DaveBrigg]

This system of putting on a thick coating and shaping the stonework by hand can be used successfully. The buildings below are perfectly in keeping with their setting.

 

[DaveBrigg]

For another UPVC horror story, see what happened to a local semi when the owners of the left-hand side wanted replacement windows.

 

[Feltwell]

For another UPVC horror story, see what happened to a local semi when the owners of the left-hand side wanted replacement windows.

That is truly criminal. Is that proper leaded glass on the "original" side or the ghastly stick on stuff? The last house I lived in had the self-adhesive leading on the windows in a diamond pattern, which was gone within the first week of my moving in. It seems to etch the glass though - no matter how much I cleaned the glass and what I cleaned it with (all kinds of solvents) every time the window had condensation on it the diamond pattern could be clearly seen.

I potentially face a similar problem to your picture - my house is a semi, mine having all it's original windows on the front, which are (very !) slowly being restored. The neighbours house was previously owned by a joiner who restored or replaced all the original windows about 15 years ago - there is absolutely nothing wrong with them - but my neighbour would still like to see them replaced with UPVC. It's the cost that's stopped her so far. I think she's slowly coming round to the idea that her current windows are fine.

Of course she bought the house because "old places have so much character" - then why rip that character out to put in plastic tat? :roll:

 

[DaveBrigg]

I suspect that the diamond lead pattern is stick-on, but I guess that at least it can be removed. I hope your neighbour sees the light.

 

[Matt101]

Here's a few more:


Only one of these houses retains original mullions and brickwork.


A 1060's "improvement"

Here's how it looked before.
http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/bexley/bexleyheath/martins-villas.html