We have a pair of fairly narrow windows in a victorian house, that have
been replaced with double glazing, but a lot of the original glass area
has been lost. The house next door still has its original sash windows
which are have a bigger area. The windows are arched at the top, which
has also been filled in and rectangular windows fitted. We are thinking
of having some windows made that fill the arch, and with a minimum width
of plastic at the edge. The windows open which also adds to the
thickness of plastic.

Is it possible to have windows where the two parts overlap, so the
opening part fills the gap, and is not surrounded by another width of
plastic? I have tried a couple of local suppliers but they cant improve
much on what is there apart from adding an arch.

The width of the opening is 53cm and the current width of visible glass
is 33cm, we would like to reduce that 10cm either side down to about 5cm
if possible and still have the windows opening, with a fixed arch on
top.

Has anyone come across this problem, and could suggest a suitable supplier?

Thanks
--

apax63 'at' dsl 'dot' pipex 'dot' com

Tom wrote:
We have a pair of fairly narrow windows in a victorian house, that have
been replaced with double glazing, but a lot of the original glass area
has been lost. The house next door still has its original sash windows
which are have a bigger area.

Does it look nicer?


Is it possible to have windows where the two parts overlap, so the
opening part fills the gap, and is not surrounded by another width of
plastic? I have tried a couple of local suppliers but they cant improve
much on what is there apart from adding an arch.

Why don't you have replacements made, to the same style as the
originals, but double-glazed and draught-proofed? The cost is
not dissimilar to that for plastics, and if you get the right
man, cheaper.

Chris Bacon wrote:

Tom wrote:
We have a pair of fairly narrow windows in a victorian house, that have
been replaced with double glazing, but a lot of the original glass area
has been lost. The house next door still has its original sash windows
which are have a bigger area.

Does it look nicer?

It might if they painted them! It's the only house in the row that
hasn't been done up so really it is the odd one out, it's interesting to
see what they would have been like though.

Why don't you have replacements made, to the same style as the
originals, but double-glazed and draught-proofed? The cost is
not dissimilar to that for plastics, and if you get the right
man, cheaper.

I agree that would be the best thing to do in the right circumstances,
but all the other windows in the house are already plastic, so it would
be impractical to have just those two wooden ones. We just want to
change them for some plastic ones that look better and let in more light.

--

apax63 'at' dsl 'dot' pipex 'dot' com

Tom wrote:

Chris Bacon wrote:

Tom wrote:

We have a pair of fairly narrow windows in a victorian house, that have
been replaced with double glazing, but a lot of the original glass area
has been lost. The house next door still has its original sash windows
which are have a bigger area.

Does it look nicer?


It might if they painted them! It's the only house in the row that
hasn't been done up so really it is the odd one out, it's interesting to
see what they would have been like though.


Why don't you have replacements made, to the same style as the
originals, but double-glazed and draught-proofed? The cost is
not dissimilar to that for plastics, and if you get the right
man, cheaper.


I agree that would be the best thing to do in the right circumstances,
but all the other windows in the house are already plastic, so it would
be impractical to have just those two wooden ones. We just want to
change them for some plastic ones that look better and let in more light.

Look around for some sash(?)units which are externally glazed(ie glass
fitted from outside) these have thinner frames. Get the glazing bars
fitted between the panes, these will be thinner.

Regards
Capitol

On Mon, 06 Mar 2006 20:38:27 +0000, Tom wrote:

We have a pair of fairly narrow windows in a victorian house, that have
been replaced with double glazing, but a lot of the original glass area
has been lost. The house next door still has its original sash windows
which are have a bigger area. The windows are arched at the top, which
has also been filled in and rectangular windows fitted. We are thinking
of having some windows made that fill the arch, and with a minimum width
of plastic at the edge. The windows open which also adds to the
thickness of plastic.

Is it possible to have windows where the two parts overlap, so the
opening part fills the gap, and is not surrounded by another width of
plastic? I have tried a couple of local suppliers but they cant improve
much on what is there apart from adding an arch.

The width of the opening is 53cm and the current width of visible glass
is 33cm, we would like to reduce that 10cm either side down to about 5cm
if possible and still have the windows opening, with a fixed arch on
top.

Has anyone come across this problem, and could suggest a suitable supplier?

I think you will find the main problem is that you have plastic windows.

In general, plastic windows have a much larger surround than wooden ones.

You can easily get double glazed wooden windows which are just like the
good old wooden windows but with thicker glass.

You can have double glazed sash windows made, which would be closer to the
original windows and perhaps suit the house better. AFAIK you have to use
this kind of window in conservation areas.

This is likely to be a little more expensive, especially if you have
hardwood frames, but you get what you pay for.

HTH

Dave R

I think the only way to reduce the bulk of plastic is to go with fixed
non opening glazing, but that may not be what you want. The problem
with UPVC windows is that in order for the sections to be strong enough
they have to have aluminium proflies inside and so by necessity are
bulky. Personally I think that most UPVC windows look "chunky" even
large windows. I have never come across slender UPVC windows.


--
Nick H