Apertures Materials

Fabrizio Gerada

One of the essential aspects of a building is windows and doors since they separate the tenants from the outside world, whether it is thermal characteristics or sound issues. Nowadays, windows and doors are considered part of a building, and while they are individually tested, in the end, they are regarded as an integral part of the building. They should perform in line with the other building elements in tests, such as the door blower.

A window is composed of three primary materials, which are the frame, fittings and glass. In all three categories, there are an array of products from different brands, but what's critical is the characteristics of each. In this article, we will focus on the framing material and the characteristics of each.

Materials vary from Wood, Aluminium, uPVC, Steel and Stainless Steel.

Which material to select ranges according to your needs, but wood, for example, is considered to be more elegant and gives a sense of warmth and comfort; however, it requires much maintenance, which is typically required every five years, especially in climates with high levels of ultraviolet rays exposure. On the other hand, Aluminium offers strength and attracts the attention of architects and designers because of its narrower profiles and variety of colours. Like other ferrous materials, Aluminium is available in cold and thermal break versions. The latter tend to have deeper frames as they are separated by a polyamide resin material, separating the external and internal parts and reducing the structure's conductivity.

On the other hand, uPVC materials were designed to compete with wood to eliminate the maintenance issue. Such windows are composed of an internal steel part inserted in the uPVC profile to offer stability. The future of this material is towards having a narrow profile and eliminating the internal steel parts. The reason is that since the material has a very low conductivity, many are opting for this material as a material of choice to reach higher insulation levels. On the high end of the spectrum are steel and stainless steel, including other precious such as corten and brass. Apart from offering strength and the most minimal profiles available, they are a status symbol, giving that extra edge to your property in comfort and value.

Eventually, your choice will boil down to six choices:

Sound Insulation

Thermal Insulation

Security Level

Aesthetics

Availability

Price

As in any other industry, many brands design and extrude raw materials, and then there are the window manufacturers who assemble your windows. The majority of window fabricators are tied with one or two profile brands. The difficulty comes in the cheaper products, like cold profiled aluminium, where although everyone fabricates the same design, for example, Trialco, the extrusion can be done by different companies with different thicknesses and paint characteristics. By asking your window manufacturer of trust specific questions about your technical requirements or identifying your needs, one can decide which material to choose according to the six choices.