By way of contrast when I renewed the last of my 4 windows and balcony door I sent the supplier (recommended to me) the dimensions by email and got a quote for supply and fit in a few days, after I accepted the quote I had a visit from the rep - who was the owner of the family business - who inspected the house and measured up for the windows and door and they were fitted some weeks later. Hassle and worry free. Perhaps an advantage of using a small family firm. And the price was competitive with the rest of the market place.

Posted By: MarkyPBased on my experience there's no way I'd put a large window order in the hands of a builder/main contractor. Maybe architect/designer who had experience of windows

I found it was useful having an architect, since he knew what to prepare in the first place but mainly because he checked each draft of the quote. But there's no way I'd leave it all to him. I had to check the quotes as well and we each found some of the mistakes.

Quote details include window model, size, opening type and hinge position, glazing type (i.e. glass and coatings etc). Here's a sample:

Unit Ref: GW07
Type: Thermax 2 Ultra: 3k Alu-clad Tilt & Turn Window
Pieces: 1

Configuration: LH Hung Tilt &Turn Window
Unit Dimension:1444x1003mm
Glass:SWS G1
Finish:Two Colour RAL8019 Externally & RAL9010 Internally
Handles:Hoppe Key Locking
Trickle Vent:None
External Sills:Aluminium RAL8019 with 160mm Projection
Window Boards:NO

Clear opening at 90°:
Frame Material:Redwood
Aluminium Drips:N/A
Hinge Colour:White Hinge caps
Unit U-Value:0.76 W/m2K

Plus a drawing showing sash arrangement.

@djh Assume the "Dimension" is the entire unit, i.e. the opening minus-a-bit?

Sounds like it's the unknown unknowns that might catch you out! White tape on dark grey frames sounds strange as a default?

Posted By: gravelld@djh Assume the "Dimension" is the entire unit, i.e. the opening minus-a-bit?

Yes, that is clear in the drawing. The quote has it stated in bold which side the windows are viewed from.

Posted By: MarkyPanother detail to look out for is the colour of the glazing tape (the edge bit that is visible between the panes all around the permiter of the window). This wasnt menioned anywhere in my spec and I only asked becuase I read a post on here which discussed it. It would have been white by default and I had it changed to black to blend better with my dark grey frames. You also need to keep an eye on egress windows (non-key locking from the inside) and also any below the height where toughened glass is required.

The bit between the panes is the spacer and the exact type of spacer to be used was part of the glazing specification in my quote. Glazing tape or gasket is used to adhere the window to the frame on the inside and outside and is generally not visible, or hardly so. All our windows have locks and most of those upstairs are egress windows. We are careful to keep a window key near the egress window in our bedroom for example. Whether or not the glazing is toughened in any particular unit is part of the glazing specification and as you say, it needs to be checked carefully. SWS G1 in my example and in the context of Thermax 2 Ultra: 3k means triple-glazed float inside / float middle / float outside with Swiss spacer, for example. G2 was toughened inside and G3 toughened all three panes. There was also G4, G5 and G3/G5.

there is a lot to consider but you just need to go over it all exhaustively again and again until it's right. Then check it again! Watch out for mistakes creeping back in as the supplier sends back ammendments, I had a few issues with the supplier changing the bit I asked them to change but they must have edited an older copy of the sheet and so re-introduced a load of previously corrected errors.

Exactly, you can never do too much checking! We had twelve versions of our quote before we approved it. A lot of it is quite tedious but essential - we have three external doors of the same basic design, for example, with left-and-right handedness, square or tall inset windows and red or white exteriors, but no two of the doors are the same.

It's the same with anything, though. Checking the kitchen cabinet details took a similar amount of work. It's just a lot more expensive to change a window if the spec is wrong than a kitchen cabinet

we drifted a bit off topic with windows so here's another pic from last weekend's efforts. This shows the adhesive pattern which seems to be the standard method when using a mortar type adhesive. The aim is both to provide sufficient bond to the wall, but also prevent formation of continuous air spaces behind the boards. One issue I've seen dicussed is that of adhesive being pushed into the joints between the boards. This hasn't been too much of a problem, with care you can fit the board such that you slide it tight to the board below and one to the side if present, as long as you dont push the board home with a gappy joint between other boards, the adhesive seems to stay where you want it. One thing we did find was that abutting windows and door frames it helped to lay the adhesive 50mm in from the edge of the board, reason is that angled cuts around reveals often werent 100% tight fit (foamed later) with adhesive on the edge of the board it did get squeezed back around the frame until we change method.

renderer comes next week, just in time for the cold weather!

As in the other thread, worth just putting the water tight base coat on and then finish next year?

well, things have been slow going on my EWI. The insulation was all fixed but then the weather turned much colder. The basecoat has proven to be fairly slow curing. The renderer doesn't like it much, and says the Weber cementitous base he normally uses sets pretty well even in the cold. The Baumit stuff is lime and cement, I think the lime is making for a slower cure. The problem has been timing - two passess of base coat is still too wet to float up before the end of the day, and a bit too far gone to float the next morning. After talking to Baumit they advised doing one pass with mesh embedded and then scratch comb to key and let it dry, then a second pass and float. This has worked as the dry 1st pass has enough suction to stiffen the second pass sufficiently to float at the end of the day. It's been a bit of trial and error but luckily the renderer has been patient and keen to work it out. I've had some fun evenings out in the dark hanging tarps and sheets of ply to protect faces from frost and driven rain - I'd advise anyone doing EWI to not render in winter!. I now finally have all the base coat on. It's a question of ensuring it's dry and then looking for a weather window for the primer and thin coat finish. I have to say, the baumit base comes up really nicely - is an off white colour with a nice mix of aggregates. It wouldnt look at all bad with a lime wash or mineral paint finish. But I'm going for a final mineral silicate thin coat finish if I can get the weather window. I think the render basecoat will hold up for a while without a finish coat.

the rendering has come up beautifully flat. The renderer said the boards were perfect, really flat and therefore a doodle to render over to a nice flat finish, he's very happy with that aspect (I think he was half expecting to find a bit of a bodge job when he realised it was me DIY fitting the boards)

I'll post a few more pics soon.

Sounds like tough going but you're making good progress!

Posted By: MarkyPMakes such a difference when you have a really good tradesman to work with.

+1