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Timber alternative
windows without
cutting corners
» » DEAR EDITOR,
Perhaps you may be interested in the
following reply to the recent letter written by
Kurt Gretrex of Dekko Systems.
BEWARE UNGLAZED R9 WINDOWS
Thank you for an interesting letter which I
support, but perhaps not as he intended.
Like Kurt I too remember the early days of
uPVC (as it then was), sadly for me mine date
back to the mid 1960s, when household names
like Crittall Hope, first took tentative steps
towards plastic. At that time, Trocal and Miplam
sections had un-galvanised steel reinforcement,
because it was thought that no rain would ever
touch the steel; however the steel reinforcement
created its own moisture by sweating inside the
sealed chambers. The result; rusty steel.
So he is right to be cautious, the industry
has fought hard to shed its poor image from
the 1980s however there are several issues
here; glass bonding, steel reinforcement and
construction methods.
Like Kurt, I have ensured Masterframe
leads by example. A-rated, SBD and fully steel
reinforced sashes as standard shows that it is
possible to achieve security and great thermal
properties, it just means we must incur
significant other costs like Krypton to balance
the heat lost through steel reinforcement.
The danger with these arguments is that it
suggests one cost-saving measure (no steel) is
better than a perceived loss of weld strength
using a new concept offered by competitors.
Let’s keep this simple, I fully accept that any
‘on-site operation’ can never be controlled
better than factory conditions, I also accept
that glass bonding seems to be the way
forward for those seeking to reduce material
costs (no steel), but products would be even
stronger (and expensive) were reinforcement
retained and sashes, glass bonded.
Whilst windows from fabricators not using
steel reinforcement and not glass bonding will
look identical, it’s obvious that they’ll perform
far worse, expect service issues and further
reputational damage, both company and
industry.
42 » M AY 2018 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
Selling to high end consumers in the
heritage market, installers have found products
lacking. Homeowners in this sector own
expensive houses, they don’t wan t a repeat of
the same mistakes early UPVC created. Today’s
buyer is better educated, they know about
foils, plant on bars and monkey tailed handles.
What’s more however, they are much more
willing to purchase top end products; providing
they like what they see trust the company and
believe new windows will be an investment
What they dislike immensely is the
diagonal weld line right across the corner,
or mechanical joints that are open to the
elements. What they do want is a wooden
window, with authentic wooden joints, without
the hassle of wooden windows. In other words
they want a foiled PVC window, which looks
the same as wood, with old fashioned handles,
a wood grained surface, and most importantly,
butt joints, inside and out.
Therefore fabricators have a few choices
corner joints.
• Stay with 45° Welded, strong, easy to
manufacture but a dead give-away its
plastic!
• Mechanical
joined profiles, glued and
screwed corners, strong, but usually
open ended.
• External Timber Look, (ETL) a welded
solution with a butt joint on one side, no
license fees.
• Timberweld® a welded solution with
the same timber look appearance, but on
both sides.
Most people who’ve seen Timberweld®
acknowledge it’s the prettiest jointing method
on the market (that’s why we patented it back
in 2005), however those unhappy with paying a
license fee tend to suggest the reason is weld
strength.
Obviously removing two faces of profile
has to reduce the weld strength, however, as
interest develops and this method is adopted
by profile companies, so profiles change and
additional components inserted to add back
the missing strength.
The all-important advantage of a product
that incorporates Timberweld® technology
is that it is beautiful and authentic, looking
every bit like an original timber window and
giving the impression that it has been lovingly
produced by a master craftsman.
So perhaps the ideal world is one where
fabricators insert steel reinforcement, bond
the glass into place and weld the corners with
Timberweld® resulting in strong, durable and
beautiful, timber alternative windows, anything
less is cutting corners.
Kindest regards,
Alan Burgess,
Managing Director
For and on behalf of Masterframe
Windows Ltd