uPVC picture windows

What is a picture window?

A picture window — a fixed light — has no sash and no hardware, so the profile only has to hold glass. That's why it fits almost any uPVC profile, from a shallow window profile to a deep sliding door, and why it's the cheapest way to put glass into a wall.

Sightline and picture window sizes

The gain is in the sightline. Without a sash frame you see 40 to 60 mm less profile than with a tilt and turn window in the same place. On a uPVC profile, which already sits at 119 to 150 mm, that's a noticeable difference in how much glass is left.

Which profile should you choose?

Up to 6,500 × 2,700 mm, but with large fixed panes the limit isn't the frame but the weight of the glass — and with triple glazing that rises quickly. So combine: a wide fixed light with a narrow tilt and turn window next to it, so you can air the room and clean the glass. The narrowest light is 200 mm.

What you need to measure

Because a fixed light has no hardware and no sash, the question here is rarely which profile but whether it matches the rest. If there's a tilt and turn window next to it, take the same profile: then the sightline carries through and you see no jump in frame width. If the light stands on its own, the Gealan S 9000 at 119 mm is the slimmest and leaves the most glass.

Building Regulations for a fixed window

You're already two steps further than where the configurator starts. It first asks what the window is made of and then which profile, and that's exactly what you decide on this page. What it then asks of you is the size and the layout, the glass and the colour. For the size, measure the structural opening at three heights and three widths; the smallest figure is your size. A fixed window adds one question that doesn't come up with an opening one: how you'll reach the outside. Nothing opens, so cleaning happens from outside, and on an upper floor that's a recurring cost.

Glazing bars and ventilation in the configurator

One more thing that counts and doesn't depend on the profile: Building Regulations. A fixed window is almost entirely glass, so of all the element types we carry, this is the one where the glass decides the most. In England, Approved Document L asks a replacement window in an existing home for a U-value of 1.4 W/m²K or WER band B — for the whole window — and it can't be worse than the one it replaces. Replacing windows is also notifiable building work: an installer registered with a competent person scheme, such as FENSA or Certass, notifies it, or you notify building control before the work starts. We supply, we don't install, so this is for your installer. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.

Of the nine choices in step 6, only two mean anything on a fixed light. Glazing bars are the first, and on uPVC they work out differently: the sightline is already 119 mm here, so adding a bar makes the look busier rather than finer. If you want glazing bars on a large pane, look at fewer and thicker rather than many and thin. The second is the trickle vent, and that choice is practical: no air comes through a fixed light, so if it's the only window in the room, you arrange the air supply here or elsewhere. The other seven belong to a sash that moves. They're in the list anyway — it isn't filtered by element type — so you have to go past them yourself.