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Comment by poooogles | Hacker News Reader

>crappy wooden

I'm not sure where you got the gripe against wood from. It lasts longer than uPVC given maintenance every 5 years, looks better, is more environmentally friendly and has similar thermal properties. Oh and it doesn't go yellow.

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Nothing against wood, really. But if you've been to the UK, you should agree that the unmaintained, not-properly-fitted, wooden frames that they use in most old windows are just crap. They let in huge amounts of wind, cold, etc, through the unsealed seams. Anything that improved that would be 10 times better, regardless of the yellowing, etc.

Most wooden sash (I assume you're talking about wooden sash) were properly fitted at the time, but are victorian or edwardian and therefore over 100 years old. They've done pretty well considering their heritage. New wooden sash with double glazing are better IMO than plastic windows - as the parent noted, plastic doesn't do well long term when exposed to light.

>New wooden sash with double glazing are better IMO than plastic windows

Hugely, I think it's a testament to the design that they still look great today. Double glazed wooden sash windows are however much pricier than a uPVC alternative which puts them out of reach of many.

So then, we all agree that the old (ancient) and unmaintained wood frames in the UK are crap. Cool! :)

Really, I couldn't care less if they replaced the frames with wood or whatever, as long as they made sure that they were thermally good and avoid wasting all of the heat...

No.

I had my sash windows refurbished a few years back, adding double glazing and draft proofing. They said the frames were the original wood from around 150 years ago, although they said the glass was from the post-war period (in common with most windows in London, given most were shattered at some point during the war). There's no way uPVC frames will last anything remotely approaching that amount of time.

>you should agree that the unmaintained

Agreed, but wasn't this also an issue with steel windows in the 60s? uPVC put in in the early 90s already looks crap (IMO).

So then, we all agree that the old (ancient) and unmaintained wood frames in the UK are crap. Cool! :) Really, I couldn't care less if they replaced the frames with wood or whatever, as long as they made sure that they were thermally good and avoid wasting all of the heat...

The amount of glue used to produce the wooden windows is so huge, that PVC windows are a much better choice both environmentally and for your health. There are different colored tapes that can be applied to make it look like wood. But they are still uglier.

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