People tend to change more and more often their old wood windows with modern ones, mostly made from PVC. Why? Well, according to manufacturers, PVC does not rot like wood, it is cheaper and, of course, does not require regular maintenance to prevent degradation. All these sound great for sure, but before you hurry up replacing your wood windows, you should read this article.
Choosing new window replacement Denver company for windows for your house is an important decision, a long-term investment that requires some financial effort. Through the windows, over 40% of the heat in a home can be lost, so replacing them with high quality products will bring you better thermal and sound comfort and help you lowering your energy consumption.
Depending on your budget, you can choose among PVC, aluminum or wood windows. A quality window does not only provide good thermal and acoustic insulation, but also adequate warranty and safe use throughout its life.
Thanks to the price-performance ratio, PVC is nowadays the most popular material in window manufacturing. PVC has a number of features that recommend it as a great material. This is why PVC products offer significant economic benefits as well as environmental and physical wear resistance and easy maintenance.
However, wood are still taken into consideration by many people and that`s because they have proven their efficiency for centuries. Natural by nature, wood combines traditional and modern looks with its wide range of available colors and the possibility of being combined with other materials to create even stronger profiles. Wood is a beautiful material, but requires special care. It has the following attributes:
- Thermal protection – Wood windows are less efficient than PVC windows, but they can still help you make significant savings when it comes to your heating/ cooling costs
- Sound protection – Wood windows are great acoustic insulators
- Durability – The average lifespan of a wood window is 30 years
- Price- Wood windows are more expensive than PVC windows.
- Maintenance – Compared to PVC and aluminum, wood needs to be treated regularly against moisture and repainted after 3-7 years, to preserve its aspect
- Appearance – Wood is a unique material that provides a distinct, warm aspect to any home.
Other considerations
Contrary to popular belief, PVC window frames can be maintained very easily, but not repaired just as easily.
It takes about eight times more energy to create a PVC frame than a wooden frame. Environmentalists are concerned that PVC waste will grow to 6.4 million tons by 2020. 43% of the waste is generated by PVC windows. About 82% are transferred to landfills and 15% are incinerated. Only 3% of the waste resulting from PVC windows is recycled.
High performance wooden windows are indeed more expensive than PVC, but their price depends on the type of wood used in their fabrication. While maple is the cheapest option, mahogany is the most expensive. Either way, when you opt for classic wood frames for your windows, you can be sure that they will last longer than PVC.
Wood windows seem to regain popularity along with the eco-friendly trend, without being associated anymore only to classical, massive and expensive homes.
