When it comes to aluminium windows for residential properties, the fenestration sector has somewhat settled on the well designed and made, popular aluminium systems providing homeowners with aluminium windows for their homes.
Visit any good local window company and you will typically see a range of quality windows and doors in aluminium. Some choose to sell only one system; others offer more than one brand of windows.
What are the best aluminium windows for the home?
When it comes to aluminium windows for the home, what is the best aluminium window?
All good aluminium systems offer a window solution to homeowners. Some systems are well known and others less well known. Examples of the traditional aluminium windows for the home include SAPA Building Systems with their Dualframe and Crown suite of Windows. Smart systems offer the superb Alitherm suite that provides an excellent solution for aluminium windows in the home. Smarts are very popular with homeowners. The same can be said for AluK. AluK windows for the home are available in the 58BW and 72BW suite that also comprises Crittall Replacement type windows as well. These are stable aluminium systems that sell.
There is nothing wrong with these attractive aluminium window and door systems at all. They all offer good security and weather performance as well as impressive U Values. With products such as AluK, Smarts or SAPA windows, you also get a choice of frame profiles, extensive colour choice, flexible design options and a modern aluminium window.
However, as homeowners research windows and doors in detail before even contacting a window company for prices or visiting a showroom, are they aware of other aluminium window systems that could also provide them with a more individual window? Do they know what makes a good or a bad aluminium window?
What is the worst aluminium window?
Quality in aluminium, design, colour coating and the companies behind the brands mean there is no bad aluminium window.
We are frequently contacted by consumers asking our advice on what aluminium windows to avoid. Our answer to this is always the same.
There is no bad aluminium window on the market. It is who makes and installs a product that compromises an otherwise good brand and leaves a negative experience with the customer. This is often what prompts a homeowner to leave comments on our website telling other readers to avoid a particular brand of window.
The reality is all modern aluminium windows are good windows, but they will differ in several key areas and be the same in others. Let us examine these in more detail.
Similarities between many aluminium windows.
For consumers researching aluminium windows, there are six key areas where all windows are the same, and we say, it makes no difference to the customer.
Some window companies will extol the virtues of their particular window stating that it is somehow ‘the best’. However if we examine the key areas where aluminim windows are largely the same, it becomes harder to separate a good from a bad window.
The ‘systems company’ behind the aluminium window.
There are many Systems companies in the UK with many being global companies.
Often consumers are unaware of exactly who is behind their new aluminium windows. For many consumers, the buck stops with their window company when those of us in the trade know the reality is somewhat different.
With few exceptions the systems companies that design and extrude residential aluminium windows are substantial corporations. Often they will be part of European or global companies or part of a wider group of businesses with many years history and experience in aluminium, construction and windows.
In designing their aluminium windows, they will put them through extensive testing, produce detailed fabrication and installation manuals and they will update these regularly as well.
With the exception of companies such as Origin and a few others, most aluminium windows are then made by a network of approved manufacturers. These will then directly install the windows (if they are in the installation business) or they will supply ready-made windows to the local window companies.
Quality of Aluminium Extrusions
All aluminium extrusions, even this wood effect aluminium window, meet established standards for quality and type.
The quality of the aluminium extrusion used to make a window will largely be the same. Aluminim extrusions are required to meet specific industry standards such as BS1474 HE9TF/TE. We know of no aluminium system from a major systems company that is of low quality or does not comply with this standard.
The same applies to the polyamide thermal break used to insulate the profile. Some thermal breaks are flat; others have a shape. The quality of them and their source is largely the same.
Therefore, when it comes to the quality of the aluminium itself, all windows can be regarded as generally the same.
The Quality of the polyester powder coating.
The Powder Coated finish on aluminium windows is carried out by professional finishers and is of excellent quality.
Irrespective of whether your aluminium windows are white, silver, grey, black or different colours inside and out, the quality of the powder coating process will be the same. Two suppliers will normally paint aluminium windows. These are:
- The systems company itself. Many have their own in-house powder coating plants that are highly sophisticated and powder coat aluminium extrusions to the latest industry standards and procedures.
- An external powder coating company. Some systems companies or window manufacturers will use the services of an external powder coating company.Examples include Superior Paint and Powder Coating, Barley Chalu and Vertik-Al. All these are long established powder coating companies that paint with the utmost professionalism and provide a valuable service to the wider fenestration sector.
So when it comes to the colour of residential aluminium windows, all are coated to the best quality, British Standards such as BS6496, Qualicoat, The Aluminium Finishing Association and other established good working practices.
The locks, handles and hardware found in aluminium windows.
Handle and lock quality may differ with some windows offering designer handles such as these latest Reynaers Purity handles.
The multi-point locks, window handles and components used to make your aluminium windows come from global or British companies that specialise in designing and producing hardware for windows and doors. The same applies for the seals, gaskets and rubbers.
Some aluminium systems use standard locks and handles. Other systems companies may work with companies such as Yale, Roto, ASSA, CarlF Groupco, Hoppe, DeBar and many others to create something more unique to their window.
Therefore the quality of window locks and handles may vary but will usually be of good quality and fit for purpose. Some, of course, will offer better security than others or different locking features.
The glass in aluminium windows.
Often glass is purchased separately from the aluminium windows. Glass is manufactured under BS6262 for thickness and type and produced by expert large and small sealed unit manufacturers.
The specifications of aluminium windows.
The specifications found in an aluminium can sometimes give a perception of a good and bad, high or low-quality product.
The reality is that all windows are tested to meet minimum industry standards for U-Values, thermal efficiency, security and weather resistance. Some windows are designed to exceed these others only meet them.
Consumers may be looking for an aluminium window tested to the highest levels of wind and water resistance or offering the lowest possible PassivHaus U values. Each customer requirement will be different, however just because a window has a lower ‘rating’ does not make it a bad window.
So are all aluminium windows the same?
Some windows are perceived by architects and window professionals as better than others such as these Kawneer tilt and turn windows in a dwelling.
No. Where aluminium windows can differ is how they are engineered, designed, assembled and installed. Some are easy to make, others more complex. Some have very simple corner joints, others have more sophisticated ones.
Design in aluminium windows varies from system to system. Some windows have a good design, others have a more modern design. Others offer more choices in frame sizes and styles, more integration with sliding, folding or French doors. Other windows can be made larger and far taller than others.
This is where differences in aluminium windows will be found. Some design and engineering will be visible to the customer, other facets of great window engineering in a window will be hidden.
Brand perception is also important with aluminium windows. In the same way as cars can be perceived as cheap, middle of the road, executive or luxury, the same can be said for aluminium windows.
Some of this is attributed to what is an excellent aluminium window, and some is attributed to smart marketing. This is why many consumers and the trade contact our website to separate the fact from the fiction.
How can a homeowner choose the best aluminium window?
In their research, consumers will usually be led by what they find and read. They will also be influenced in some way by their local window company. While they may do some research, the reality is very few homeowners know what a good and bad window is. Again using cars as the example, in researching a new car, consumers can read different car magazines that road test and review models. Windows are never reviewed by anyone other than this website.
Local and professional double glazing firms rely strongly on testimonials and local recommendation, often a new customer will be led by endorsement and prefer to focus on the company rather than the brand of the window they sell.
How can the discerning homeowner can choose a ‘better’ aluminium window?
Windows such as the excellent GT70 Steel Replacement from Kawneer make for great residential windows.
One thing a homeowner can do when looking for something better than the usual windows seen in window showrooms is to talk to an architect. Even if you do not need an architect for your window replacements, architects by the nature of the work they do delve very deeply into window designs. The other thing you can do is contact us. As you can see from this website, there are a vast number of aluminium systems written about and explained. If you have a particular type or style of window in mind, if you are looking for something a little different from the mainstream windows, we can offer free help.
While companies such as SAPA or AluK do sterling work in the specification sector with architects, there are other systems that many architects do consider superior. Kawneer, Schuco, Senior Architectural, Metal Technlogy and Reynaers are just five examples of aluminium window systems that consumers may never have heard of, yet their windows are regularly chosen by architects for housing developments large and small.
Taking Kawneer as an example, Kawneer is a global aluminium systems company, with an international reputation with developers and architects in providing some of the finest and best windows and doors in the world. Despite their reputation, it is quite rare for the typical customer to find Kawneer windows in a double glazing showroom.
Kawneer windows, sliding and bifolding doors are frequently asked for, chosen and fitted in new homes, flats and apartments. The average homeowner looking in a local window showroom will not immediately benefit from the latest cutting edge aluminium windows such as Kawneer. However, the purchaser of a new build home may well do.
Looking for the latest in aluminium windows? Contact us.
As an impartial and independent website, we can help homeowners and window installers navigate through the choice of aluminium windows in the marketplace and provide some advice. Contact us if you would like our help.
Images courtesy of Taylor Wimpey, Kawneer, Leo De Carlo.
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