How to choose windows?

How to choose windows for yourself?

If you are planning on choosing windows, or window frames for the first time, you probably don’t even know where to start. Windows are not something we buy every now and then, rather they are meant to serve us for years, often they are not a cheap purchase, so it is worth thinking about it in advance.

Preparation for an interview with a window manufacturer or supplier

The simplest and at the same time the most powerful tool in our hands is now the internet, so finding someone to help you choose the woodwork is easier than ever just to find the nearest company and make an appointment, or go and get to know the sellers and their products directly. As a customer, you should first learn about modern windows, their parameters, properties and possibilities. Then the conversation with the seller will be more constructive and as a result you will buy windows that will pass exam for years and with which you will be satisfied.

Choice of window supplier

It is best to use products of renowned companies. Remember that quality of the window is influenced by profiles, glazing, fittings and installation. Therefore, it is important for us to know whose profiles are used in the product we choose. If it is VEKA, we can be sure of the highest quality. Make an overview in the construcion forums of the options of individual manufactures, the advantages and disadvantages of their windows. It is also important how the issue of warranty looks like – about this below.

It can be said that the choice of a window supplier is a bit like choosing a life partner when you make a decision based on your own hierarchy of values. In the case of windows, these values include technical parameters of profiles, glazing, fittings and installation quality good customer service by the person serving you, but also economic factors such as: prepayments, settlements, instalments, prices, etc.

Guarantee on windows

Only a written warranty is a valid document. When buying windows, let’s read the conditions carefully, because the warranty may apply to the hardware, glazing or profiles themselves. A seperate matter is the warranty for installation. Often the condition of receiving the warranty for the window is to use the services of the installation team indicated by the manufacturer. The installers should also give us a guarantee for their work.

Attributes of the window

Energy saving

Energy-efficient windows are those that have a low Uw – heat transfer coefficient/thermal insulation. It is important to know that from 2014 investors are obliged to purchase woodwork with a thermal insulation coefficient Uw not higher than 1.3 W/m²K. In the following years this value will be reduced: from this year, i.e. 2017, it will be minimized to Uw=1.1W/m²K, while in 2021 windows in newly built and modernized residential buildings will be able to have a Uw coefficient not exceeding 0.9W/m²K. Therefore, this parameter is one of the most important when deciding on the choice of windows. If the windows are with the window system VEKA Softline 82, then already today their heat transfer coefficient Uw reaches even 0.9W/m²K(with the use of triple glazing or thermal insulation wedge and with appropriate installation in the building).

Sounproofing

If you live in a rather noisy place, it is necessary to pay attention to the Rw indicator which shows how the window isolates the room from outside sounds. The Rw indicator is expressed in decibels [dB] – the higher the Rw indicator is, the better window will dampen the noise. What indicator is supposed to have a window in a building on a busy street? Typical VEKA windows have an Rw index of about 35 dB. This is a bit too little for noise attenuation in a noisy place. In this case the windows should havea a ratio of about 40 dB.

Safety

If you are thinking about burglarproof windows, or more precisely about increased resistance to burglary attempts, you have to decide about it already at the stage of ordering windows. You can have windows with anti-burglary hardware, anti-burglary glazing with layers of special film, with handles witha key or button, which make burglary difficult. The fittings and panes must be selected at the time of purchase of the window, while handles with a key can be mounted in any window already in use.

Color

The most popular PVC window profiles are white. First of all, they are cheaper than colored ones, and secondly, owners of single-family houses can afford colored windows. In multi-family buildings, the color of windows is imposed by the developer of housing cooperative. VEKA offers profiles in 38 colors to choose from. The profile can also have a finish with a structure reflecting the wood, on both sides of the window or only one. Because each window in the system VEKA can be made in two different colors – different from the outside and different from the inside.

Decorations

Crossbars, i.e. thin slats dividing the glass optically into several parts, can be in many colors, widths, mounted on the window or inserted between the panes. The first one simply sticks to the glass outside and inside. They can decoratethe window at any time. But the muntin bars between the glazing units must be ordered together with the pane or the whole window. There is no possibility of “topping up” or changing to another color without buying a new pane.