Staffordshire Traditional Stone Country Cottage: Airtight and Sound Proof

This mid Staffordshire cottage has had its UK-made windows extracted and recycled. All the seals had failed and a lot of the casements were warped, meaning it was rather draughty. Our Danish windows have helped to make the home both airtight and soundproof.

Subtle personalisation is underrated. And the best way of going about putting your own spin on your project is to choose a non-standard colour. RAL9002 Grey White is rarely used, but the result is always a soft off-white that avoids the more commonly used spectrum of cream.

For timber windows, it’s especially useful to keep costs lower because choosing a colour suitable for both inside and outside will avoid a fairly hefty dual colour surcharge. In the event where you find you definitely want to have a different colour inside and outside, it’s more considering upgrading from timber-only to alu-clad timber – the uplift to that low-maintenance product isn’t far off a timber dual colour charge (which you get for free when using the two different materials).

The classic Cotswolds decorative bar has migrated up North for this project – it’s still the best solution to make a window look traditional whilst avoiding the surprisingly large cost attached to splitting a casement into much smaller panes… Unless you have a strong preference towards small glass panes, we’ll always recommend saving money here: fewer bars means smaller manufacturing cost, more natural light, less hassle when cleaning and better insulation values (because there are fewer direct bridges).

An exception to that rule: the glazing bar arrangement in the entrance door is a great style choice. Something of that size would clearly look rather strange with just a single thin decorative bar so, in this context, the multi-pane approach makes perfect sense.

Instinctively, non-locking window handles might sound strange to some people. But the opposite is the case for Denmark. A modern window is technically just as secure, regardless of whether the handle is locked or not – the lock doesn’t secure the window any further, it just secures the handle. Add the ideas that most people either don’t lock their locking windows most of the time anyway; if they do, the key is often sat on the window cill directly underneath; and, if the key isn’t nearby, that produces a significant fire escape risk.

A lot of the time, non-locking handles are a perfectly sensible choice. The only area to double check is whether your home insurance provider takes the same view – we’ve found the responses vary wildly.