Inward-opening side-hung casement, made to measure

A tilt and turn window has two positions: tilt (a gap at the top, secure enough to leave open overnight) and turn (fully open, also for cleaning). An inward-opening side-hung casement has only the second. That means less hardware and so a lower price, and the window stays just as easy to clean from inside. What you give up is the tilt position: there is no way to set the window to a small gap without it also being able to swing fully open.

The standard size is 1,000 × 1,400 mm, hinged on the left; in the configurator you set the size yourself, and you tell us the hinge side with your quote request. Choose a side-hung casement for a room where you rarely tilt and do value the full airflow when it's open — a store room, a garage, or a window nobody leaves on a night-time gap.

A second reason to choose a side-hung casement is maintenance: less hardware means fewer hinge points that can drop or squeak after years of use, and one position instead of two that never needs adjusting. In a store room or shed where nobody comes to the window every day, that counts for more than the convenience of tilting — maintenance you don't do is maintenance that shouldn't be needed.

Compared with the rest of the group, a side-hung casement is the only pane that does open fully but has no tilt position — the single tilt and turn window has both, in the same kind of size. Tilt and turn vs casement: if you're torn between the two, look at how you ventilate. If you leave a window on a gap when you go out, the tilt position is exactly what it is there for and a tilt and turn window is the better choice. If it's always full airflow or nothing, the extra hardware of a tilt and turn window is a cost you won't use.

As with every other pane in our layouts, you order a side-hung casement to the overall size of the frame, not to the opening of a subframe. What counts extra with a side-hung casement is the swing of the sash: don't just measure the opening itself but also the space in front of it, up to the full width of the sash plus a margin. A window that fits the frame but can't open without hitting a wall or a piece of furniture is a window you leave shut in practice.

Maintenance on a side-hung casement is limited to one set of hinges and one lock, instead of the two moving positions of a tilt and turn window: less mechanism means fewer places that can drop, squeak or stiffen after years of use. In a store room, garage or shed where you rarely walk past to check the hardware, that counts. Colour and finish follow the same route as any other window: any RAL colour on aluminium, a foil or through-colour from the chart on uPVC, and a different colour inside and out if you want. For a window in a room you rarely go into, such as a store room or garage, many people deliberately choose a quiet through-colour — not because the window gets less sun, but because a striking colour gives you less there than in a room where you see it every day.

In a renovation where the existing hardware is worn out, a side-hung casement often replaces an old window that had no tilt position anyway — you're not taking away a function, only the age of the hardware. In a new build, people sometimes choose one deliberately for a room where a window needs to be able to open but day-to-day ventilation already happens another way, such as mechanical ventilation: then you're not paying for a tilt position you'd never use.

For break-in resistance, the missing tilt position makes no difference: the hardware sets the level of resistance, not the number of positions the window has. If in doubt, ask about a version with a stronger locking cylinder, just as with a tilt and turn window.

Weight does play a part in the choice of glass: the heavier the glass, the more the sash weighs on its hinges, and that limits how far you can combine triple glazing with a large size. If you're torn between wide and heavy glass, the configurator shows what the chosen profile allows.

Still not sure? Use the comparison with the other layouts in this group above to see which arrangement suits your situation best.