Ordering some 3G timber sash windows that will be painted white. Some will be 6 over 6 Georgian, some with a single vertical glazing bar and some plain. The profile is 4/10/4/10/4 with Low E, argon filled, toughened glass. Profile attached.

Never spec'd such windows before and would appreciate some guidance on what colour to have the warm edge spacers to make them inconspicuous. White or maybe reflective?

I always use white with white frames, although the standard silver tends to disappear, probasbly because it's what everyone expects to see.

Never considered black. Must be a personal thing.

All of the units I've used recently come with black as standard. Looks better than silver. Not see white

Jim.

Would never have given black a thought, but now it's been mentioned I can see how it would work. Too late to do anything about it here, though.

not sure why , just seems/feels less obvious . White reflects and stands out.
Perhaps it like when you outline a drawing in black then colour in , you now the lines are there but mainly you see the colour.

Probably just easier to manifacturer material in black or dark colour and once it's supplied and fitted as the norm. you no longer look or noitce.
Had some supplied in grey which was ok but prefer black.

Posted By: PuglieseCould someone please explain why black would work?

I think with the black you just sort of lose that inner section. All white might make the frames look much chunkier, which may of may not be to your taste. I expect black or white would look fine, as long as you're always going to keep the frames white.

I don't like the silver at all - adds a modern/mechanical look that doesn't say Georgian. I know because that what we got. A bit awkward to PhotoShop the different options but maybe worth it, or make a small test piece. And also perhaps worth looking at it with spacers only at the edge - less thermal bridging.

"I guess (with an eye on my wife's wardrobe) that black has that slimming effect!"

Now that's a dead man walking!

And the black spacer? Robin probably has it about right. Although I haven't seen it, I can imagine why that would happen, plus the possibility of it not reflecting the light.

A bit like using gold spacer in an oak frame. When you suggest it to a customer there's a cringe and a look of disbelief. But I've seen the effect fitting bronze spacer in oak has - it is SO obvious when in place. Yet given the choice people will usually go for bronze. I've had a few customers accept my opinion on the gold, and I had one who insisted they'd only go for it if I agreed to change all the units (luckily the risk was only for three windows = 6 units) if they didn't like them, but once fitted they were very pleased with the choice. For some reason the gold spacer blends in.

Bronze is fine on meranti or sapele, but there are still people who will insist on silver spacer bar even on those because it's what they're used to seeing on everyone else's!

RobinB wrote:
"...A bit awkward to PhotoShop the different options but maybe worth it..."

If you fancy virtual visual trials you could do worse than Sketchup ...
Apart from the range of fills on offer you can edit them, so, say you make up your model with a white frame and black spacers, you can then edit the black to greys, or other colours, on a sliding scale, on the fly.

I suspect you're better off with a "neutral" mid range tone than with either black or white.
The "message" would then be of shadow rather than chunky white wood or deepest darkest recess black.
Would also leave more room for chaniging frame colour down the line?

Wonder what black does in the way of causing relatively more expansion and contraction than silver or white. Not exactly what you want all the way round your nice new seals!?

Thanks for all the advice. After telling me I had a choice of colours, the manufacturers have now said there is only one colour - matt light grey. So light grey it is. Actually should work OK for the reasons outlined by MikeRumney above and the colour scheme for the house is all the woodwork in white and the weatherboard light grey, with dark grey pygmy wall & roof!

+1

Hear bloody hear! It REALLY pisses me off.

But then I expect it's down to what BC expect to see.

HOWEVER, having said that, all BC have with regard to gas-filling is the etched mark on the window, the label and the paperwork. Still no guarantee that it means what it's supposed to.

Cue 'gusty' and his thread a while back.