Plastic windows and doors 

Liz Hodgkinson on illegal upgrading

 

It is a criminal offence to alter a listed building without listed building consent, but there are those – myself included – who believe it should be a criminal offence to replace ANY wooden windows or doors with hideous plastic equivalents.

All over the country, quaint little cottages and long rows of Victorian terraces have been desecrated with modern plastic doors and windows. Yet unless the building in question is listed, or in a conservation area, there is nothing anybody can do about it.

Manufacturers of plastic windows and doors maintain that they are cheaper, more secure, cleaner, more modern and also easier to look after than old-fashioned timber ones, which tend to rot and in any case, need repainting every few years. Also, wooden windows rattle and let in the cold, they say, whereas uPVC fits tightly and accurately.

Around 85 % of UK housing stock has now had its original wooden windows and doors replaced by uPVC. And just about all new developments, however upmarket, have uPVC windows, if not doors.

All over the country, the double-glazing salesmen have been phenomenally successful in persuading people to go for easy-care, low-maintenance plastic but now, at long last, timber is fighting back – hard.

Adam Frankling, of the British Woodworking Federation, founded in 1996 to combat the creeping pestilence of uPVC throughout the land, says: “Timber lost practically all of its market share because the plastic people were vastly better at marketing, and they were selling a much cheaper product.

“The main problem we faced was that you can get cheap plastic windows, whereas there is no such thing as a cheap timber window. Also, the plastic people had nationwide networks of installers, whereas we didn’t have anything like such a good supply scheme. Qualified carpenters were also becoming increasingly rare, whereas you need very little skill to fit uPVC.

“For the public, plastic windows, and later, doors, seemed cheap, easy and convenient compared to timber.” But now, says Frankling, the timber industry is catching up. “Our windows now come ready painted or stained, whereas they used to be sold untreated. We use engineered timber, which means the frames have no knots. Plastic windows, at least when new, look clean and smooth and this is the look customers now expect.

“We also now give guarantees, and the timber itself is guaranteed for 30 years. Timber, unlike plastic, is also environmentally sound, and one of our greatest supporters is Greenpeace.”

But what about security and the problem of rattling? “We have now addressed both these problems, and all our windows have to undergo stringent weather tests. Double-glazing is now standard, and we can fit new sashes into old frames.”

Timber window supplier Duncan Wright describes his firm as a ‘plastic replacement window company, except that we deal in wood’ and says: “About 10 years ago, we realised that if the wooden window market was to have a future, it had to supply high performing products with a long life and low maintenance. It was clear that if we didn’t get our act together, there would soon be no wooden window or door industry at all.

“For a long time, we failed to market a viable alternative to plastic, and so we had to concentrate on bringing wooden windows up to modern standards.”

Both Duncan Wright and Adam Frankling believe that the public – the discerning public at least – are now turning away from plastic, and going back to wood. “Every few months, timber manufacturers are seeing increased sales, while plastic window sales are falling,” Frankling says.

The move back to wooden doors and windows has also been given a massive shove by TV makeover experts such as Colin and Justin, who shudder in theatrically camp fashion at uPVC which, they say, devalues a period property by at least £12,000.

“And it is a fallacy to believe uPVC lasts for ever,” says Duncan Wright. “The oldest plastic windows, installed about 20 years ago, have now had it. Plastic degrades after a time and goes mottled. uPVC windows and doors have to be replaced; they cannot be repaired.”

Adam Frankling disagrees that plastic front doors are easier to open than wooden ones. “They have to contain metal, so are actually more unwieldy and difficult to open than wooden doors. And plastic doors on old properties are beyond hideous.”

The main issue continues to be the price. “It is true that plastic is cheaper initially,” says Frankling, “but in the long run, timber is cheaper because it lasts for ever.
“And it adds value to your property rather than taking it away.”


For timber window and door suppliers, contact The British Woodworking Federation at www.bwf.org.uk  tel 0870 458 6939.
Timber Windows, Ltd: 01775 720 900
 

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