New Windows for Your House: A Buying Guide

Replacing the windows in a house is one of the bigger home improvement spends, and most people only do it once or twice. That makes it easy to be sold a specification you do not need, or to miss something that matters.

This guide takes the decisions in order: whether to replace at all, then material, style, glass, price and installer.

Do you actually need new windows?

Replace if frames are rotten or warped, units are widely misted, or the windows no longer lock and seal. If the only issue is colour, spraying the existing frames is cheaper. If one or two units have misted, replacing just those units is cheaper still.

Choose a material

• uPVC: best value and lowest upkeep, from around £550 to £900 per opening fitted
• Aluminium: slimmest frames, from around £950 to £1,600
• Engineered hardwood: character and repairability, from around £1,200 to £2,000

Choose a style

Casements suit most houses built from the nineteen thirties onward. Flush casements give a traditional joinery look. Sliding sashes belong on Georgian and Victorian houses. Tilt and turn windows are useful for upper floors and cleaning from inside.

Choose the glass

A rated argon filled double glazing with warm edge spacers is the sensible baseline. Consider acoustic glass for road facing rooms, obscure glass for bathrooms and toughened glass where building regulations need it, such as low panes and doors.

Compare quotes properly

• Price per opening, not just a house total
• Glass specification and U value
• Who registers the building regulations certificate
• Guarantee length and what it covers
• Making good, waste removal and deposit terms

Plan the timing

From survey to fitting typically takes four to eight weeks, and a whole house is usually installed in two to four days. Listed properties need consent first and take considerably longer.

Mistakes we see most often

Buying on a house total without comparing the price per opening. Choosing the thickest frame on a period house and losing light. Forgetting fire escape openings on upstairs bedrooms. Taking the cheapest glass in a road facing bedroom. Replacing sound frames only because the colour is dated, when spraying would do. Signing on the day of the first visit rather than comparing written quotes calmly at home.

Questions people ask