uPVC tilt and turn windows

How well does a uPVC tilt and turn window insulate?

The three uPVC tilt and turn profiles above all sit at Uf 1.10 W/m²K. Within uPVC, then, the insulation value is not a choice. If you want lower, you end up with aluminium: the MB-86N sits at 0.57 and is the best-insulating profile we carry.

Sightline and maximum sizes

The sightline is 119 mm on every uPVC tilt and turn profile we carry. On this window type that counts twice: a tilt and turn already adds a sash frame, so every millimetre the profile is narrower is glass you get back.

Base, Haax or Slim?

The limit is size. Gealan uPVC tilt and turn windows go up to 3,200 × 3,200 mm, and the widest opening sash is 1,400 mm. Go wider than that and you end up with aluminium, which goes to 6,000 × 3,000 mm. Bear in mind too that a wide, tall sash with triple glazing gets heavy; two narrow sashes are then better than one wide one.

What you need to measure

Which one, then? Look at the row above; that selection is derived by us and not confirmed by the manufacturer. Gealan S 9000 Base, Haax and Slim are technically the same and differ only in profile shape and frame depth: the Slim is 82.5 mm deep where the other two are 120 mm. So there are more cards than there are decisions. What's left: the sightline (119 mm on all three), the frame depth (82.5 mm on the Slim against 120 mm on the other two), or simply the profile shape you like.

Building Regulations and security

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. Think about one thing that isn't a measurement: which side the hinges go. A tilt and turn sash turns open to one side, into the room, and that decides whether it clears a cupboard, a curtain or a door that opens next to it.

Hardware and insect screen in the configurator

Two things that belong to the window and not to the profile. 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, and it can't be worse than the window it replaces. That U-value is for the whole window, not the Uf of the profile quoted above. 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 to arrange. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.

uPVC tilt windows

On a tilt and turn window seven of the nine choices in step 6 do something, and on uPVC two of them stand out. The first is the locking window handle: the same hardware, but lockable, and the cheapest step you can take towards better security without touching the profile. The second is the insect screen. How much rebate there is for it to sit on depends on the sightline: uPVC runs from 99 to 140 mm, aluminium from 89 to 128 mm. On the narrowest aluminium profile it's therefore tighter than here, which makes the screen a choice here rather than a puzzle. Glazing bars are possible too, but bear in mind that a tilt and turn light already has a sash frame in view — the two lines together soon become too much.

uPVC frames with tilt and turn windows

A uPVC tilt window is either a tilt and turn window or a bottom-hung window with us. The tilt and turn has both positions, the bottom-hung only the tilt.

A tilt and turn window always comes with its own frame, as one unit. We don't supply a sash on its own for an existing frame.