Redbrick Extension with Glass Corner Windows and Bifold Doors

Tags:

• Aluminium-clad Timber Windows
• Bifold Door
• Double Glazing
• Lacuna Bi-fold
• Modern Style
• RAL 7040 - Window Grey
• Thermally Modified Timber
• Viking

We can thank Lacuna in Denmark for introducing us to this – the first time we’ve worked with this particular architect and builder has resulted in something incredibly well thought-out and successfully brought together.

Just like every Lacuna project, there’s a strong emphasis on airtightness, followed by the ability to open up the house to the garden in the best possible way. We chose to work with Viking on the other windows: one of the few companies who offer a glass-to-glass corner and, conveniently, use the same frame depth as the Lacuna bifold.

If you’ve wandered around our website before, you probably know lots about Lacuna already! These are Class 4 airtight bifolding doors: super slim sightlines, durable and well-insulating thanks to thermally-modified beech timber. This type of wood has all of the natural sugars burnt out, so it can’t expand or contract like a “normal” timber species would. Also, this helps with Lacuna’s recommendation of only needing to repaint after a good 25-35 years (most timber window companies will suggest around 5 years…)

So it’s definitely the best possible timber bifold, but what about aluminium? Well, if you search for long enough, you will find an aluminium bifold with slimmer frames. But, by the time you’ve done that, you’ll realise that Lacuna achieve better insulation using double glazing than a slimline aluminium system could with triple. And that 25 year maintenance cycle really doesn’t feel like it’s worth “upgrading” to something completely maintenance free.

We think it’s the best and only bifold anyone needs to consider.

On the other hand, even if you’ve carefully read every other page on our website, you may not have realised we work with Viking… They’re a relatively quiet company all the way over in Estonia – not a huge amount of marketing is focussed on the UK, yet they’ve gone through the massive effort of making sure they have UK-specific certification for a number of areas (normally, most European factories stick to Europe-wide certificates and rely on companies like us to explain these to UK building control departments).

As you can see in the photos, they offer a neat solution for a glass corner – this is what initially attracted our attention. Unlike most glass corners, Viking’s black corner cover looks the same from all angles. It’s a small detail, but the more common way of joining glass results in one side looking thicker than that other. Once you see that, you cannot un-see it! This definitely avoids the potential issue.

The window around the corner is a little more conventional, but the photos don’t do its size justice: it’s absolutely huge. Nearly 3m wide and 1.5m tall overall, providing a massive amount of uninterrupted glass via the 2m wide fixed section. For context: this one window is actually heavier than both halves of the corner unit combined.

Products used:

Lacuna Bifold

Viking 21

Click the images below to enlarge