Choosing Windows for Your Home: The Key Considerations

With so many glazing companies, window styles, glass types and frame materials available for your home, it’s essential that you do your research to make the right decision for your project.

Here are the key considerations to think about before buying your windows:

Style of Window

When choosing a window design, the architecture of your property, the functionality of the glazing, how they operate, the use of the room and how bright it is, should all be considered.

An experienced supplier, such as Kloeber, will look at your plans and determine what will work best based on the style of house and your personal taste. They should also be able to offer various styles to suit any house, so ensure you explore all the options. The case studies and photos on the company’s website and social media channels should give you a good idea if they are right for you.

Aluminium windows from Kloeber make a striking statement for this modern home

Frame Materials

Have an open mind to all material types, as they all have their pros and cons. Choose a company that offers more than one frame type to ensure you receive a balanced opinion from an experienced sales advisor. Here is a rundown on what’s available:

• PVCU

We don’t offer this type at Kloeber, but it’s difficult to ignore plastic windows due to their low cost. However, the material does not always stand up particularly well to climatic change and can expand and warp.

• Timber

Engineered timber is strong, stable and a fantastic natural insulator. It will require maintenance, but choose a product with a multi-coat microporous paint finish and it won’t need repainting for around 10 years, depending on the environment. This material is also very eco-friendly (providing it’s ethically sourced) so look out for FSC-certified timber.

• Aluminium

This metal finish is very strong and offers slim and sleek looking frames. It’s long lasting and recyclable. Aluminium is also extremely low maintenance.

• Alu-Clad

This composite option gives you the best of both worlds. You’ll benefit from the wonderful insulating properties of timber design alongside the low maintenance finish of aluminium cladding externally. Thermally, this style performs the best out of all the materials options.

more from Kloeber

Glass Types

The type of glass you choose, whether double or triple glazing, could be driven by requirements such as thermal performance, security, acoustic control and privacy. As a standard, glazing should be toughened or laminated, but there are different properties available depending on your requirements.

Timber flush casement windows from Kloeber incorporate modern mechanisms and high performance weather seals

If your home is south facing, solar control glass would be an option to reduce UV light and heat from entering your home. Alternatively, low-iron glass would work to increase solar gain and to let in more of the sun’s heat into your home, perfect for north-facing rooms. And for those hard-to-reach areas, self-cleaning glass is a great option. A coating on the outer pane of the glass reacts with the ultraviolet rays, reducing dirt’s ability to stick to the glass and accelerating its decomposition.

Windows & Energy Efficiency

Ask your supplier about U-values. This is the measurement of heat loss through the materials that make up your windows. The lower the number, the better. A good starting point for a new home is a U-value of 1.6 W/m2K for a window, but more energy-efficient products will achieve 1.2 W/m2K or less, 0.8 W/m2K is the lowest most windows will achieve. Other considerations are the company’s environmental policy, how they treat their waste and whether they do anything to offset carbon emissions.

Security

Multi-point locks are the most secure option for most windows. PAS24 is a robust method of security testing, so if the units have passed this, you know they offer a reasonable level of protection which meets Part Q of the Building Regulations, a requirement for all new homes in the UK.