New windows to the house

[dagling]

I want to replace my 6 year old wood windows when they are twisted.

Need help choosing, want double glazed, and most soundproof.

Which should I go for aluminum or PVC frames? Where and what do they cost?

[meatboy]

we replaced ours over 30 windows and doors last yr.after 4yrs.rather than take a chance of having the frames knocked out and besides making one big mess and hopeing the concrete doesn't collapse aswell if no lintels have been put in we went to look at a couple of houses that had all but the frames knocked out and then they covered them with powdered aluminum,then all slideing windows and doors with 5mm.tinted glass.it was a very professional job done by a very good team.the price we paid

which included 3double sets of patio doors,a lot of the windows 200cm.x140cm. and also included mosquito nets.

total we paid was 138,000bht. and are very pleased with the appearance.we are in korat.if I can I will get my mate to take some photo's and post them

[KittenKong]

"Which should I go for aluminum or PVC frames? Where and what do they cost?"

PVC means thicker frames/profiles and I dont think they look very elegant. Local aluminium frames I have seen are very poor quality and they tend to use just one sheet of thin glass. I did find a Thai aluminium glass shop that would remove the old glass and insert double-glazed units into the existing frames but this wasnt what I wanted.

I spent several days trying to get a quote for aluminium patio door replacement using good quality imported profiles but found the suppliers (farang and Thai) in and around Pattaya to be hopelessly unwilling to sell anything, with some incapable of even saying where their shop/factory is so that I could deliver my measurements and check their product out. I found two Thai places that did do imported profiles but they never supplied a quote. I did get one quote from one farang company which came to around 15,000B/sqm for double glazed tinted glass and imported aluminium profiles and hardware, and a some mosquito screens for the sliding panels.

[KittenKong]

we replaced ours over 30 windows and doors last yr.after 4yrs.rather than take a chance of having the frames knocked out and besides making one big mess and hopeing the concrete doesn't collapse aswell if no lintels have been put in we went to look at a couple of houses that had all but the frames knocked out and then they covered them with powdered aluminum,then all slideing windows and doors with 5mm.tinted glass.it was a very professional job done by a very good team.the price we paid

which included 3double sets of patio doors,a lot of the windows 200cm.x140cm. and also included mosquito nets.

total we paid was 138,000bht.

For that price it must have been local profiles and single pane glass. How many sqm total?

[beachproperty]

I did a retrofit (to try and sound proof) and new home.....again soundproofing in mind.

In the retrofit I had 12 mm thick glass added on the existing wood frame with standard 6 mm glass from before (if I remember correctly the sheet of glass 6ft by 8 ft? was 15,000 baht and had them cut the sizes I needed from the sheet). Helped with the noise but the moisture build up between the panes looked like crap.

So in the new house my specs were for 12 mm glass alone.(mass is what is important for soundproofing. I have found that the PVC frames are crap. My opinion only. So the new house has a combination of Wood doors (the #1 wood for hardness...they have varying qualities of wood) and aluminum windows with 12 mm glass. Works pretty good so far.

[meatboy]

we replaced ours over 30 windows and doors last yr.after 4yrs.rather than take a chance of having the frames knocked out and besides making one big mess and hopeing the concrete doesn't collapse aswell if no lintels have been put in we went to look at a couple of houses that had all but the frames knocked out and then they covered them with powdered aluminum,then all slideing windows and doors with 5mm.tinted glass.it was a very professional job done by a very good team.the price we paid

which included 3double sets of patio doors,a lot of the windows 200cm.x140cm. and also included mosquito nets.

total we paid was 138,000bht.

For that price it must have been local profiles and single pane glass. How many sqm total?

before we changed them all you could hear almost every sound,but since the change its much more quiet.i havnt got a clue the total sqm.but the house we had built in a moo-ban was a 5 bed/3 bath.with patio doors on the left and right of the house opening on to the garden so it has quite a lot of windows/doors with glass about 2mm.thick.but what worried me was if they knocked out the frames what would happen and the mess,and with double glazing I would expect you would get a lot of condensation exspecially air-con on inside and bloody hot outside.

[KittenKong]

before we changed them all you could hear almost every sound,but since the change its much more quiet.i havnt got a clue the total sqm.but the house we had built in a moo-ban was a 5 bed/3 bath.with patio doors on the left and right of the house opening on to the garden so it has quite a lot of windows/doors with glass about 2mm.thick.but what worried me was if they knocked out the frames what would happen and the mess,and with double glazing I would expect you would get a lot of condensation exspecially air-con on inside and bloody hot outside.

Yes to the mess. For the weight normally there should never be an issue when replacing aluminium with aluminium as these frames could never support much weight and could not really have been installed without a proper lintel/concrete beam in the first place. My windows are fitted immediately under the main floor beam anyway. Certainly wood frames with little weight on top of them could have been badly installed without a lintel and so you are wise to give this some consideration.

Proper new double-glazing here seems to come as sealed units, so condensation should not be an issue. The temperature difference isnt so high in my condo anyway (only about 10-12 degrees max and often less).

[topt]

before we changed them all you could hear almost every sound,but since the change its much more quiet.i havnt got a clue the total sqm.but the house we had built in a moo-ban was a 5 bed/3 bath.with patio doors on the left and right of the house opening on to the garden so it has quite a lot of windows/doors with glass about 2mm.thick.but what worried me was if they knocked out the frames what would happen and the mess,and with double glazing I would expect you would get a lot of condensation exspecially air-con on inside and bloody hot outside.

Yes to the mess. For the weight normally there should never be an issue when replacing aluminium with aluminium as these frames could never support much weight and could not really have been installed without a proper lintel/concrete beam in the first place. My windows are fitted immediately under the main floor beam anyway. Certainly wood frames with little weight on top of them could have been badly installed without a lintel and so you are wise to give this some consideration.

Proper new double-glazing here seems to come as sealed units, so condensation should not be an issue. The temperature difference isnt so high in my condo anyway (only about 10-12 degrees max and often less).

Unless it is just a secondary fixing of glass to make it double glazed and new units would be sealed?

We have a UPVC frame double glazed window and casement doors - never seen any condensation.

There have been a number of threads on double glazing/upvc - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/204156-pvc-windows-in-pattaya/page-3?hl=%2Bupvc#entry7455979 is only one with recent posts from last year.