(The 2nd question is always forgotten)
Getting your windows replaced with uPVC in your existing home or getting uPVC windows put into a new home build, is an expensive financial commitment to make. Before you make any commitments to a uPVC company, here are the 5 questions you should ask before committing yourself to one, to ensure you get the uPVC installation and manufacturing done right for you.
The 1st critical question to ask:
“Does your company have any building experience?”
Asking a uPVC company if their company or installers have any building experience is crucial to ask, for a variety of reasons, such as:
Building experience gives the installer the ability to read and understand a set of plans.
Building experience helps installers with the understanding of the old window contains any dangerous materials like asbestos for the worker or the home occupants to avoid.
Asbestos removal.
3 mm plate glass
Working at heights
Making windows level, plumb and square
So, by and large you really should know that the person coming into your home to install your windows, has building experience to ensure that you, your family, and the installer are taking safe precautions through the process of the install, and leaving you with aesthetically pleasing windows that operate correctly.
The 2nd critical question to ask:
“What are internal architraves and external trims going to look like?”
This question usually bypasses uPVC clients and the uPVC company because everyone is so focused on the window, they tend to forget the details of what the architrave and trim will look like, which can leave you with unforeseen bills, and architrave details they never really had a chance to think about before committing to the installation.
Knowing what details your window will have in terms of architraves and trims is a MUST to ensure that you are most happy with how the window finish looks once the job is done.
uPVC windows and doors have a very certain style, and your existing architraves in your home are unique themselves. There are some things to take into consideration when looking at what type of architrave you are going to replace. Always remember, that uPVC is a very thick designed window in comparison to aluminium and timber windows which usually have a slimmer looking profile.
The uPVC profile is usually 70 mm thick, due to its insulating and reinforcing qualities. Knowing this, it can have an impact on how you would like your windows and doors to look with particular architrave thickness and design.
92 mm x 18 mm MDF architraves are normally what suit uPVC windows and doors, as the proportions on the window to the architrave match, it makes 92mm arch look more aesthetically pleasing to people who are looking.
Other sizes you can get to suit your homes existing skirting, if you have floor to ceiling windows, are:
- 67 mm x 18 mm architraves
- 42 mm x 18 mm architraves
- 92 mm x 12 mm architraves
- 67 mm x 12 mm architraves
- 42 mm x 12 mm architraves
Here’s a list of styles to look at, which would be complimentary to your existing homes architraves:
Bowens – Single bevelled architrave: https://www.bowens.com.au/p/12mm-mdf-architrave-single-bevel-mr-primed/?q=22190a192d867cf1a34164d0e747bd2a
Bowens – Bullnose architrave: https://www.bowens.com.au/p/18mm-mdf-architrave-bullnose-mr-primed/?q=d4ca824c14f76d185512bb54fd6417ad
Bowens – Colonial architrave: https://www.bowens.com.au/p/18mm-mdf-architrave-colonial-mr-primed-2/?q=ec30aef8547e74070fb81920237d3432
Bowens – pencil round architrave: https://www.bowens.com.au/p/12mm-mdf-architrave-pencil-round-mr-primed-2/?q=851b7f0ba945af2c8ac63dfab554e9c0&length-meters=5.4m&size=67x12mm
Bowens – Lambs Tongue architrave: https://www.bowens.com.au/p/18mm-mdf-architrave-lambs-tongue-mr-primed/?q=e361714df57884528d5aadd3849a368d
Bowens – Half Splayed architrave: https://www.bowens.com.au/p/18mm-mdf-architrave-half-splayed-mr-primed/?q=f5eba422ccb83bb4e74ead894269800f
Bonus question: When should we use MDF architraves and Pine architraves?
It’s incredibly important to understand that pine timber architraves are not always needed. They are only really a necessity in water exposed areas, like your bathroom, laundry, kitchen and toilet area. This is because pine timber architraves won’t warp like MDF if exposed to water or condensation over a long period of time.
MDF is a fantastic material, as it is cheap, easy to work with, and can sustain itself when pre-primed and installed in areas of the home where there is no serious water threat. The best places for MDF to be applied, is places like the living room, bedrooms, hallways, and other living areas that are not impacted by water, mist, or condensation.
The 3rd critical question to ask:
“Will my blinds work with these windows?”
What a lot of uPVC clients forget to ask, is how their new uPVC windows are going to work with their existing curtain and blinds, or new curtain and blinds. There are various elements to be mindful of when it comes to your blinds and uPVC windows.
Tilt and turn windows:
Tilt and turn windows operate exactly how they are named, they tilt from the top of the casement for airflow, and turn like a door, creating a multi-function window. Tilt and Turns are fantastic, because they provide you with premium air flow combined with incredible security features. Although, the biggest problem uPVC clients can face with their new Tilt and Turn windows, is that they don’t work with blinds normally, as tilt and turns are incredibly unique to the Australian marketplace.
When a Tilt and Turn window is in its tilt function, it comes down far enough to interrupt the motion of regular hanging blinds coming down. For obvious reasons this is painful, although, the alternative to Tilt and Turn windows for blinds, is finding blinds made for Tilt and Turn windows, and for uPVC windows and doors in general. These blinds are called, ‘Honeycomb blinds’.
What makes Honeycomb blinds so great for uPVC windows and doors, is not only that it works with the special features of uPVC windows and doors, but it also improves the energy efficiency of uPVC windows and doors too. As Honeycomb blinds come with features like air pockets made with an asymmetrical honeycomb design, purposed for insulation, and sometimes made with aluminium inside the blinds too, can help ad to your energy efficiency by reducing up to 12% loss of heating energy. (Not including uPVC Windows and doors.)
To learn more about honeycomb blinds, check out Nordic blinds, based in Canberra. We help support them with clients in Victoria too.
Nordic blinds website: https://nordicblinds.com.au
The 4th critical question to ask:
“Do you have your own installation team?”
Understand who your uPVC company is using to install your windows and doors is VITAL to know. Here’s why:
When a company is using a sole trader contractor:
Using a sole trading contractor can create issues for your install process, due to the lack of commercial understand in how to provide customer service and care in quality. Organisation between a uPVC company and a sole trading contractor can be lost in miscommunication, and lost in communication once the job is done, to make sure the job is completed with quality and the windows being installed correctly. There is no direct responsibility to the brand held by most sole trading contractors, which can ultimately create a variety issue that are hard to resurrect.
On the other hand, sole trading contractors can be positive, as they must complete a good job for the client, to ensure they can consistently receive more work in the future with the uPVC company they do contracting work for.
Contractor recommendations:
An incredible contractor that has been used within the industry by some of the best uPVC companies in Victoria, is HSR. HSR is a commercial uPVC installation company that we have found recently, where their company’s purpose is to fulfill uPVC installation projects at a 5-star rate, leaving clients with no questions and a high-quality finish with all details adhered to. If you are going with any uPVC company that is using a contracting company, we highly recommend suggesting HSR, as we and some of our clients have used them before, only having a fantastic experience with them.
Using a uPVC’s internal trade team:
When a uPVC company is using their own internal team for the install of your uPVC windows and doors, it is significantly better. Reasons being, that you know the uPVC companies employed team have a direct responsibility to the company they work for, to ensure all windows and doors have been installed correctly and have a quality finish on detail.
Internal teams also have a lot more flexibility, as they have the equipment and time made to come back and fix any issues there may have been with the install or come back years after the install has taken place for any warranty issues.
The 5th critical question to ask:
“Are the installers trade certified? If so, what trade?”
There are usually common trades found within the uPVC installation industry, and it is good to understand what types of trades you are getting for the install, and understanding their strengths and weaknesses to gauge a better understanding to how your installation process and finish is going to look.
Here are some of the trades and installer within the industry with their pros and cons so you know what to expect from an install.
Carpenters:
A carpenter is a trade based around building homes and using materials like timber and steel. Types of carpenters vary in their skills, as carpentry is a vast trade in knowledge and understanding to learn and incredibly difficult to be good at. It usually takes years for a carpenter to fully understand how a house comes together and have a quality set of skills to complete a house from start to finish.
Pros:
Tool repetition:
Carpenters spend most of their working life with a nail bag on in harsh weather and with their brain switched on throughout the whole day.
It’s a tough gig. Although, the repetition of making a lot of heavy and big frames for a house level, square and plumb, makes a window incredibly easy to manage. Carpenters are so used to the repetition of making things plumb, level, and square, that they are very good at understanding why something isn’t working or know how to make something that can’t work to the untrained eye, work, and work for the rest of its time.
Building experience:
Experience in carpentry goes a long way in the trade world of knowledge. Carpenters are like builders, as they need to understand a lot of smaller details about other trades, to understand how to put a home together. This allows a carpenter to enter the installation of uPVC with ease, as their experience leads them to learn how to install uPVC windows and doors quickly, whilst simultaneously being able to apprehend how the external and internal features around the windows are going to impact the install or the windows placement.
Cons:
Finishing quality (depending on the carpenter):
There can be a variety of specialty carpenters that have a range of different experiences, even though they are technically in the same trade. The types of carpenters range from framing carpenters, to fix carpenters.
As framing carpenters are great for the construction of a home’s bones, their attention to detail is not required as much, as the structure of the home isn’t seen by the untrained eye, and it is more important for them to ensure that the house is stable, rather than pretty.
A fit-out carpenter, on the other hand, is a carpenter which mainly specialises in the lock up stage of a home. This is where most of the homes detailed timber comes into play, like skirting board, architraves, and doors. Millimetre detail becomes crucially important, making a fit-out a great installer of uPVC windows and doors, as uPVC requires a perfect millimetre install for the windows to work, and the architraves, trims and corner windows to work.
Ex uPVC manufacturers:
Ex manufacturers are not always a qualified trade, although, most of them understand how to put uPVC windows and doors together so well, that when it comes to installing them, it makes it a lot easier for the to install uPVC Windows and doors.
Pros:
Troubleshooting:
Any problems with the installation of a uPVC by someone’s else, can easily be managed and rectified by someone who has manufactured before. This is because they are working with uPVC windows and doors from when the window is just a length of uPVC extrusion. Another benefit of trouble shooting, is being able to fix anyone else’s uPVC windows who haven’t had the work done directly from the company the uPVC manufacture works for.
Eye for detail:
It is incredibly important for a uPVC manufacturer to have an eye for detail, as there is a vast number of components that come together to ensure a window or door can function correctly. If a window or door hasn’t been put together correctly, it can lead to a horrible finish to the end of an install job or make it impossible for the window or door to operate the way it is intended to.
Cons:
Working pace:
A working pace in comparison from a carpenter to a uPVC manufacturer, although both hard working occupations, they definitely don’t share the same pace.
A carpenter will be used to working at a fast past, as their jobs are queit large in time blocks (12-18 months to build a house), and require fast and hard work to meet deadlines of other trades coming in for management reasons.
uPVC manufacturers, on the other hand, don’t necessarily have deadlines to the same extent. uPVC manufacturers normally share processes in teams, to build the same or similar building materials, making it easier to implement daily systems that don’t put too much strain on manufacturers.
Coming into an installation team is a very different environment, as every home is different in its style and material, requiring installer to think on their feet and move fast to meet new installation dates set for new clients. This is where the pace of a uPVC manufacturer may extend the predicted time of the job.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day, anyone interested in uPVC windows being installed in their new build or existing home, they know that it is an expensive commitment to make. It’s incredibly important that you are detailed in what you ask uPVC companies, to ensure that the process doesn’t interrupt your life, become more expensive than the original quote, or have danger hazards within the area.
If you are interested in a uPVC company to undertake the install for your home, feel free to get in touch with us at e3 Healthy Homes and we would be happy to cater to your needs and questions regarding the whole process.
Click on the button below to organise a time with us when you are free.
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