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I was very happy with ours for the three years we had them, same again for the new place, I’ll let you know in five years time.
They feel nice and solid to me. The main thing though was that the sashes sit on the face of frame and are the same size, so visually they’re much slimmer than anything else.
I’m sure you’re right about the German and Austrian windows, but I’ll bet all the best ones are inward opening, which is not my jam.
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Yes yes - forrin ones tilt and swing in which takes some getting your head round as we’re so used to the opposite. No doubt eurofolk can’t understand how we exist without tilting and exterior shutters. Though I think Velfac are Danish…
I slightly regret being so grumpy about them now, but do stand by the view that from an engineering perspective they’re a worse product for more money than so many others.
But if it’s slim frames you’re after they’re your boys and they do have lovely warm wood inside.
I also think Victorian houses are an equal low point in British town planning and architecture, alongside 1990s Wilson Connelly stuff. The older I get the more Mary Mary I seem to be.
Luckily I live in a Stirling prize winning house* so can lob such stones about willy nilly.
. * do I fuck.
Kinda anything that’s made in Germany or Austria for the European market. Go there, use any window of any age in any building, then try a 1 year old Velfac and tell me I’m wrong.
Velfac are all crunchy, graunching and squealing in operation with bendy handles, weedy seals and daft fragile locks. And that’s before you try one of their horrifically clunky, wobbly sliding door systems. You need two hands to open them. It’s madness.
I guess with thin frames there’s just not enough space to fit nice hinges, catches and seals in, for me that’s not worth a lifetime of sadness every time I open a window or door.
Velfac are the Foffa of windows. They look cool to an average shopper from a distance and that’s where it ends.