Apart from the one that trapped my fingers when the sash cord broke, our timber windows have given us no trouble. And, once the swelling had gone down, I decided even this incident was forgiveable given that the windows are 110 years old. We’ve since had them all refurbed and they look and work as good as new. We only needed a couple of new sills and just one new sash, and the latter was only necessary because a previous resident had screwed a window box to it!
Inevitably some of our neighbours have opted for plastic or aluminium. But it does seem that a growing number of consumers are sharing our realisation that well-made timber windows (both old and new) not only beat their rivals hands down in looks, they can also match them in performance and durability. And giving the market added impetus is the increasing specification of timber by local authorities and social housing developers to satisfy their environmental procurement criteria.
Latest evidence of the level of demand is the fact that some producers are having to stretch delivery times up to 16 weeks.
According to the British Woodworking Federation the wood window revival is down to a number of factors, including increased factory finishing and glazing, plus improved treatment and coating systems. Wood lost a lot of window market share from the 60s because some producers cut quality to compete with cheap plastic. New manufacturing technologies and strategies (of which you can read more in our upcoming Timber Windows supplement) help them compete without lowering standards. Moreover, plastic and aluminium windows have been around long enough now for us to see they’re not the maintenance-free products once claimed.
The BWF itself has underpinned the market with its timber window quality assurance scheme and has now laid down a further marker for joinery firms’ standards of production and service with its Code of Conduct, officially launched last week.
Another encouraging trend we report this week is growing interest in timber cladding, shakes and shingles, the UK market for which is now reportedly worth £45m plus. And, of course, these two developments could be complementary – after all, what goes better with timber cladding than a wood window?
