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we're having an extension done and the back of the house is going to have a ~6m sliding door (one fixed pane, two moving). The rest of the house has white UPVC windows.
any thoughts on alu vs plastic for the big slidey doors? I imagine upvc will be cheaper and match better, but is alu "better" for some reason? Maybe narrower frames/better heat or something?
I have alloy one because they look better (imo), are narrower/sleeker and match the rest of the house windows which are alloy.
Didn't bother looking at plastic ones as I wanted narrow frames.
Got them from bifold express, 9 windows and a 7m slider was 12k cheaper than the nearest quotes.
Impervious to UV would be one advantage I imagine, though corrosion/oxidisation possible depending upon quality of treatment. My experience of uPVC and it's application would push me towards ally if the uplift in price wasn't too onerous. Better looking, less plastics in the world. YMMV
Cheers for the tips. Its hard to find any uPVC sliders that have narrow sight lines at all (or even specs on how wide they are). I've heard alu can have condensation issues?
Iirc grey coloured uPVC extrusions are not guaranteed for very long for colour fastness - the longest is veka at 5years.
Fortunately we'd be after white to match our other windows, but it's good to know about colours.
A quick Google can't find any uPVC sliders that are 2m wide per pane (anyone know if that's possible?) So it might be we have answered our own question
Looking at 2m slides at the moment and aluminum is about twice the price of uPVC.
@binman 2m per panel or overall? If the former, where have you got quotes from?
Hi, overall 😁. Would prefer aluminum (currently aluminum) but just can't quite justify it to myself.
I'm shopping for aluminium windows for our former industrial building house.
I was going to go with Rayneaurs (Belgium) profile as they do a very thin profile - however covid paused our works and costs in the meantime went from £13k +vat to £23k +vat fitted
Have found a local company - they use Senior (UK) extrusions and look like they have some decent equipment at their facilities. Their quote is £10k +vat supply only.
They also do sliding / bi-folds etc.
I don't have any connections to them other than so far they seem very competitive and appear to have good reviews.
A quick Google can’t find any uPVC sliders that are 2m wide per pane (anyone know if that’s possible?)
On the whole apparently uPVC can't support as much weight as Alu and it deforms/sags/whatever over time. I don't know whether this is an issue with sliders but overall alu is going to be more stable and look way better than uPVC.
Hi, overall 😁. Would prefer aluminum (currently aluminum) but just can’t quite justify it to myself.
Depends on the house - sometimes you just have to suck it up. Nobody every lost a house sale because they used better quality materials.
I’ve heard alu can have condensation issues?
Not all frames are equal - depends on the manufacturer. We have 3 sets of alu bi-folds and a large alu front door and I've only noticed a tiny bit of condensation on the bottom of the front door frame two or three times in 4 years. Not an issue in my experience.
I regret not getting ally.
When we redid ours I wanted Aluminium but struggled to get anyone that could actually come and put one in for us so went with plastic - should have waited & searched harder.
We’re coastal and the prevailing winds hits the back of the house, in storms the whole thing flexes in which is very unnerving! I don’t expect it to last as long as the original aluminium one we replaced, which may well have been about 40 years old, the frame was still sound but the rollers & track etc were shot. It’s 2 panes about 2.5m overall.
Here’s a video of a January storm and me wondering if I was going to have to board it up by the end of the night… https://photos.app.goo.gl/vAfGN9hbvPLds43V9
A contrasting colour to white might look good. We have white PVC windows but I thought a huge white framed sliding door might be too much. Instead went for grey metal sliders. Nice contrast IMO.
I’ve heard alu can have condensation issues?
Need Aluminium with a thermal break in (basically a bit of plastic in between)
phil5556
Here’s a video of a January storm and me wondering if I was going to have to board it up by the end of the night… https://photos.app.goo.gl/vAfGN9hbvPLds43V9/blockquote >Blimey that's impressive
when we had a previous extension done, we had a alu bifold, when i asked the question re ALu or Plastic, the response from the builder was the UPVC ones are sh**e, they're bendy and don't last 5 mins, the Alu also looks better due to the thinner profiles.
sounds like its going towards alu then.. how are people who are mixing upvc windows with alu big doors feeling about the looks? Do they match ok?