Passive House Windows

Choosing windows for a Passive House

When choosing windows for a Passive house there are a number of items to consider including; Cost, Performance, Appearance, Availability. I had decided that I wanted to use aluminium clad windows that were triple glazed to that narrowed down my search considerably. I wanted windows that had a modern simple profile that could both tilt and turn and also wanted large format lift and slide doors that matched the windows. This reduced my choices considerably.

Which windows to choose?

I decided to go with Internorm as the product seemed to be really good and they also sold an integrated external blind from a third party, that they could colour match to the windows. Top spec windows tend to come at a high cost. I could have acheived most of my wants with a cheaper manufacturer, but I didn’t want to compromise as the quality and design of windows has a large impact on the appearance of a building.

Delivery of glazing

Window Installers

I had been assured by the company who supplied the Internorm windows that installation would be undertaken in house by their own installers and not sub-contracted out. From experience managing other jobs I was well aware that if windows aren’t installed properly the first time it can be very hard to get issues rectified.

Problems with window Installation

It was about 15 minutes in to the delivery of the windows that I realised something wasn’t quite right.

Only three installers turned up and between them they were armed with 2 suction lifters, 1 spirit level and an impact driver. No method of transporting the 200kg+ units in to place and no crane or lift for getting large panels up to the first floor.

Needless to say they were thrown off site, but not before they caused quite a bit of damage including to a 2.4×2.4m lift and slide door that had to be re-made at Internorms expense.

Problems with the window supplier and their installers continued on and off for 6 months. The bottom line is that the Internorm product is very good but the largest supplier of their products in the UK is not.