Help with alu-clad windows (Gorey)

CarPark2

Bought a house last year. It was timber frame house built in 2004. The windows are alu-clad, i.e., timber frame windows with an aluminium front on the outside. It's a nice concept, having the timber frame on the inside, but for windows that are only 14 years old, they are performing really badly. We can feel a draught through the windows, especially at the joins, where the windows open. The insulation strip is still in place and seems to be in OK condition.
We are based in Gorey and asked a local guy who advertise as improving old windows to do something with them. He said that he didn't think that he could make an improvement on them (I think that he normally adds an insulating strip), but didn't give any suggestions for what we might do.

We really feel it in the winter, we had to use a lot of heat and it feels cold quite soon after turning the heat off. We have been told that it was the timber frame company that also made the windows, but they have since closed down.


Does anybody have any experience with these kind of windows. Are they working OK for you or did you have to get them fixed? Any recommendations for people who will fix these for us?

I attach a few pics. It seems that for some of them, the sash is not fitted very well, with a large gap between it and the frame.

It is a big house with a lot of windows, so it would be incredibly expensive to get them replaced. Considering they are only 14 years old, I would be very eager to try to get them fixed rather than replacing them.

Any advice eagerly received.

whizbang

Any chance its the hinges ?
http://www.windowrepairs.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/hinge.jpg

CarPark2

whizbang wrote: »

Any chance its the hinges ?
http://www.windowrepairs.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/hinge.jpg

Thanks for responding.

It’s possible alright. Problem is that it could be any of a few things and I don’t know enough about windows to know which. Nobody seems to want to tackle these (even people whose business is based around fixing windows).

It would be great to hear from somebody with alu-clad who successfully dealt with a similar problem, either by themselves or by hiring somebody.

mad m

Open the window and check hinges, are they loose? Take a pic of them. Is the riser missing at frame near weep holes?

CarPark2

mad m wrote: »

Open the window and check hinges, are they loose? Take a pic of them. Is the riser missing at frame near weep holes?

Thanks for your response. Sorry to be slow, but what’s the riser and what are the weep holes?

mad m

If you open window look at frame, is there a pvc block that when the window is shutting it hits this pvc block to raise the window up slightly. Search pvc riser block. Weep holes are to let any build up of water out etc

k123456

CarPark2 wrote: »

Thanks for your response. Sorry to be slow, but what’s the riser and what are the weep holes?

Maybe take a video of the hinges opening / closing etc , upload it to Youtube , and post the link here

Cantona's Collars

http://www.leinsterwindowrepair.com/contact-us.html

CarPark2

Thanks for all of the replies and sorry for not responding to the last ones. I got snowed under with work coming up to Christmas and couldn't make progress on anything in the house.
Anyway, we had Jim Allen (from Leinster Window Repair as advised by Cantona's collars) out today. He seemed very knowledgeable and he is going to fix them over the next few weeks. Some hinges need replacing, but mainly relatively small adjustments.
Just in case anybody else ends up in this position, i'll post again after the work is complete and let you know if it has made an impact.