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Glossary of terms
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Over the years we have seen so many homes disfigured and properties devalued, either because the homeowner choose the cheapest option, (not understanding how their windows would affect the appearance of their home), or the window company failed to design a sympathetic solution to suit the property.
The objective of this section is to provide details of the components that can be included on your windows, to enable you to make an informed decision.
We have no desire to overcharge you, we would much prefer you to purchase a basic product and be happy with your choice, than purchase windows with lots of costly extras that you may not require, and are unnecessary.
Every Bygone sash window we manufacture is bespoke, its tailored to meet your requirements exactly, so it is vital that we explain the choices available to you.
In this way, you can decide in your own time, those important items that will benefit you, and remove those unnecessary items so that costs are kept to a minimum.
Above all you understand that you do have choices, and therefore be confident that those choices are right for your budget and will suit your home.
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The majority of "Double-glazing" companies have found the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to simulate Georgian bars on to windows is using "canes" inside the two sheets of glass.
Cheap to produce, the brilliant white bars "may" look similar to the rest of your new windows, but in time they will shout out "DOUBLE GLAZING" as these units fail to recreate the original look, lacking any depth and often unequal "squares".
That’s one way that cheap double-glazing will devalue your property!
All Bygone Collection sash windows have surface mounted, bonded astragal bars, which add a three dimensional feel to your windows
Interlocked, clipped into position using Georgi-clips (see 6. below) and bonded to the surface of the glass, our bars create depth, character and shadow lines, perfectly recreating the original look.
Your property value depends upon getting these details right, as attention to these small details will pay dividends.....neighbours will find it difficult to believe these are not timber!
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Goods in transit are liable to move about a bit. It’s natural and impossible to prevent, be it movement in the factory, delivery vehicle or just the fitters installing the window in your home.
Not surprisingly then, sometimes the balance springs would slip off the "shoe" slide, the connector between the balance and sash requiring a service call.
This will never happen with Bygone Collection windows.
Our exclusive retaining clips, once snapped into position, firmly hold the balance in place for life, so you will never need a service engineer to make any adjustments.
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Originally, on timber windows, the weight of the glass and sash was counterbalanced by lead weights, hung on cords either side of the window. This meant that wooden windows would open easily (when not painted shut) and remain in the open position because the sash weight was equal to the lead weight, counter balanced.
Select the wrong ones and you will be disappointed with the performance, get this right and you are guaranteed your new windows will open and close for many years to come......... just as the lead weights did in the original windows.
Balances can be grouped into 5 basic types, each designed for a specific market, and the operating forces required to raise or lower the sash vary immensely
- Clock springs or constant force balances
- Block and tackle or cord and pulley
- Wind up (Alumatilt)
- Pretensioned Spirals (Ultralift)
- Double springs and spirals, (TORSO)
Whilst some manufacturers import goods from the USA direct, we source all our balances from a company that specialises in making balances. Indeed they make each of the 5 types of balance listed above. This is a summary of their experiences.
Should you need detailed information, check them out at www.caldwell.co.uk
Clock springs are exactly that, a little like a metal tape measure on its side, which unfolds when the windows are operated. Coupled with larger weights when required, they are used extensively in America for secondary or ultra lightweight windows. Tested to AMA (American Manufactures Association) standards they are not expected to exceed more than 3,000 opening cycles. Probably the cheapest type but Caldwell refuse to import them as they are simply not sturdy enough for the UK market.
Block and Tackle. Again, extensively used in the USA on small lightweight windows. A nylon cord approx 2mm in diameter, wrapped around a pulley system and encased in a three sided channel. These balances are not expected to exceed 3,000 cycles and, again, not imported to the UK by Caldwell.
Wind-ups or Alumatilt. This is a lightweight continuous tube, encasing a twisted metal rod. These balances are sturdy and competitive. However, because they need to be "wound up" they retain a twisted force throughout their life expectancy of 5,000 cycles. This can lead to frequent adjustments normally demonstrated when a sash is opened and it drops a couple of inches by itself! A 2 year warranty is average for a product that is highly likely to require some adjustment through its life.
Pre-tensioned Spirals or Ultralift. A smooth operating balance with the tension "factory set" or pre-tensioned. No twisting force for these sturdy balances, which are designed for weights up to 28kgs. We have had these independently tested at the BBA to exceed 20,000 cycles (that’s over 25 years if opened twice a day). A 10 year warranty for this reliable, factory set balance is entirely justified.
Double springs and spirals or TORSO. The Rolls Royce of balances!
The Rolls Royce of balances!
Designed by a Dutchman in 1946, they epitomise great engineering.
Individually manufactured in 0.5kg increments (1lb), and tailored for perfect lengths, these balances have a pair of springs. One is wound clockwise, the other anti-clockwise, so as a sash is opened one spring is getting longer and the other compressing, getting shorter... counterbalancing each other for their entire life.
This means they are immensely reliable.
When being tested for a Post Office Counters project they exceeded 50,000 cycles (simulated 68 years life expectancy if opened twice a day). The test was actually switched off after it had registered 180,000 cycles!
Uniquely, Caldwell provides a 12 year warranty exclusive to Bygone Preferred Installers, independently of our company. However our company guarantees to replace, FREE of charge, any TORSO balance that fails (we have only had 3 in 15 years and over 100,000 sets of balances).
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Brush Pile with Central Fin
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Again, nothing standard about the brush piles being used.
Bygone Collection sash windows even have a brush pile with a special central plastic strip designed to retain its shape far longer than less costly piles, and increase the resistance to draughts by 30% extra.
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This is perhaps the weakest part on old sash windows, as burglars could flick the latch with a butter knife! These are the locks which secure the two sashes firmly together.
Unable to find the security, style and design from standard products, Bygone have commissioned an exclusive bespoke cam catch to match the limit stops, guaranteeing a colour match (as the same materials are being used).
Critically these cams do not fail in sheer, as the third retaining screw increases the security by 150% Uniquely Bygone Collection windows have a pair of cams on larger sashes. These are handed for extra security.
Two handed cams also help centralise the sash in the frame unlike other systems who use two cams of the same hand as this forces sashes to one side of the window, increasing the risk of draughts!
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Firstly, our chambered sashes are multi-chambered, this means there are three individual pockets inside the sections. This enables the steel reinforcement to be sealed in its own department, well away from the separate drainage channel, allowing concealed drainage, eliminating the need for unsightly face drainage caps.
Secondly, the chamfer sash and astragal bar neatly recreates the original "putty line".
Thirdly, three chambers are better at insulating than two. This has enabled the Bygone window to achieve the very first, eco friendly, energy efficient, "green" rating. The Bygone Collection is the only PVC sash window to be approved with green credentials, helping reduce carbon emissions and global warming.
Most importantly however, when extruding companies compete for market position, introducing new products (to tempt manufacturers and homeowners alike), they often do so at the cost of authenticity... not with the Bygone Collection.
You see we have our own sash profiles designed to recreate the "putty line" on sashes, (and staff bead on frames) that virtually all sash windows had originally.
Internally most beading and bars were Ovolo in shape...that’s exactly what you get with the Bygone Collection, authenticity inside and out.
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To prevent moisture ingress, all your Bygone Collection sash windows will have foam pads fitted as standard. Specially designed to match the shape of the frame sections, these pads will compress when the frame and cill sections are screwed together, which means a compact and effective barrier to moisture ingress, once and for all.
Although there is a cost to applying these pads since inventing them in 1994 our box sash windows have never failed our customers.
In addition, the brush piles are cut back to prevent them acting as wicks and drawing water into your home ... and then, as a final preventative measure for your complete peace of mind, we add a short silicone seal as well.
We don’t take any chances with your home, nor should you.
By spending a little extra on the manufacturing process, we are protecting you from the inconvenience and disappointment you would feel if your walls became damp soon after new windows being installed!
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With most companies supplying sash windows, little attention is given to sightlines ... how a window is framed in an opening.
Traditionally, the lower sash rail was often made from 4" or 5" timbers, planed to about 100mm, as this rail had to carry the most weight .
Obviously it would be far easier to weld four profiles of equal size, but this would not simulate the detail of the existing windows.
By combining three different profile sizes you can be certain that the proportions are as close as is possible and comes as standard on every Bygone Collection window.
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Old sash windows do not have any seals, they relied on the wood being manufactured to a snug fit.
Unfortunately over the years they warp or swell, or get painted shut or have bits planed off, so they end up rattling and draughty.
Modern materials are expected to retain their shape forever, not needing to be planed or painted and the window sections are extruded with small retaining channels for brush piles to be inserted around the edges of the sashes.
That’s why when we test our windows in extreme conditions (Bygone windows are installed in the Lands End Hotel and Outer Hebrides) and find a soft spot, we go on to invent a solution ... in this case foam baffles.
Every Bygone window is fitted with these as standard.
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The cam catch, limit stops, tilt knobs, pole eye and scroll handles are available in gold/brass, chrome and white.
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Whilst astragal bars recreate the original appearance the companies that copy this concept mostly use a double sided sticky tape to keep them in place. Cut into short lengths approx 6" long, they tend to be "gappy" but consider this...
How do you move the sash windows with the bars or handles?
Most use the bars & that’s a big problem with many modern windows, the bars come off in your hand!
Your Bygone window is unique again.
Firstly we use a high tack adhesive tape, Secondly we interlock every joint where the bars meet, Thirdly we clamp the bars around the sealed units with our unique Georgi-clips (again patented to our company).
None else does step 2 or 3, those are unique to masterframe
In other words, they are taped, interlocked and clipped on to the glass surface, belt, bracers and a piece of string.....that’s how seriously we take the subject.
So confident are we with this technology that we’re happy for you to open and close the largest of our sashes using the bars, ... they wont come off.
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Originally their purpose was to prevent the sash being pulled down too far and loosening the lead weights inside the original box sashes...
Today, however the cheapest option is to have artificial, slide on or stuck on imitations to simulate the horned appearance. All too often these are less than convincing as they reveal a horizontal line that simply did not exist on original box sash windows.
Not with the Bygone Collection as again, exclusive to our company, is the "continuous horn detail".
Carefully machining the contours using our CNC Schirmer machining centres, the side jamb sections now extend below the top sash producing an authentic continuous horn, butt jointed and totally realistic.
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Without the need to comply with today's laws on safe cleaning of windows, original box sash windows were designed to slide behind a rebated section of frame ... a pocket, which covered the internal workings of the cords.
This appearance has been recreated using a specially designed internal staff bead trim.
Again unique, patented and exclusive to the Bygone Collection, it conceals the unsightly internal workings, brush pile and joint between sash and frame.
Even the butt jointed at the top, recreates the "boxed feel" of original sash windows whilst still allowing the tilt facility for easy cleaning
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Laminated Woodgrain or PVC-u
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Bygone Collection windows come in two finish options - white PVC-u or a woodwhite woodgrain finish. Introduced in 2004 following extensive research with home owners, conservation officers and planning departments, it soon became THE option to have.
It removes the shiny white plastic look of "double glazing" and creates a truly authentic, grained, wood like surface.
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To make the job of installation easier (and handy if you need to move furniture through a window), are the two part pivot bars. These metal brackets are designed to facilitate sashes to be quickly, safely removed and easily reinstalled.
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These are metal stops which are designed to prevent a window from opening beyond 100mm (4" approx) - particularly useful for a child’s bedroom.
Based upon the traditional limit stop, these gravity stops are the simplest stops to operate. You will be able to lock and unlock them, quickly and easily without the need for a special key, allowing you a quick escape should ever an emergency exist.
Some manufacturers use a nylon version that cannot be locked and protrudes from the surface of the sash. This is far from perfect as sashes can sometime snag on protruding components, that’s exactly why the Bygone limit stop is specially recessed into the surface of the sash.
Again, unable to find the ideal solution to this safety issue, we designed our own bespoke product and by incorporating the "Bygone Scroll" so it is possible for you to identify your windows as authentic Bygone Collection products.
By fitting two limit stops on your windows (1 each side) you can be certain your windows will not twist, become distorted or trapezoidal in shape, often the results of having just one fitted.
If fitted to one side only, the setting blocks and glass packers become dislodged, leading to the glass becoming loose in the sash.
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Pole Eye and Scroll Handles
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The pole eye is fitted to the centre of the top sash (hook and pole can be supplied if required).
Alternatively a D-Handle can be fitted to the outside of the underside of the top sash.
Scroll handles are fitted to the bottom of the bottom sash (please check with the installation team they are positioned as you require them, both for operational use and to suit the Georgian Bar pattern).
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Most companies who design and produce the extrusions will recommend that your sashes be fully reinforced.
This is to prevent deflection in windy weather and to strengthen the sashes so they are capable of carrying the weight of the glass, and providing a strong secure fixing for the handles, latches and other components.
Sadly, not everyone complies with these rules. Some companies will reduce costs by removing this unseen reinforcement, or only using it very sparingly, which could leave you with a bill for repair ... or even an injury.
EVERY length of sash on your windows has a length of reinforcement that is a full 1.5mm thick ... not the 1/1.2mm that is usually offered by others. This gives you much improved strength, greater safety and is the reason why our windows are substantially heavier than most others ... they are simply built to last.
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Particularly large sashes cannot be allowed to tilt for cleaning, as the sash is simply too heavy, exceeding the maximum permissible weight to be tilted safely.
Unbelievably, in these circumstances, many companies fit nothing at all!
If lighter sashes can be dangerous, then those which exceed the limits could cause very serious problems.
That’s why uniquely, on every Bygone window that exceeds the safe size for the standard easy clean, tilt restrictors, a short pair of safety stays are fitted. So if large windows are accidentally opened they remain vertical, unable to damage anyone or anything.
You’ll find we are the only manufacturer to fit safety stays, which are a shorter version of the tilt restrictor and although they do not allow for cleaning, they WILL prevent accidents.
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The Sashes usually comprise two sliding squares, each retaining a double-glazed, sealed unit.
In most cases, the "split" in the height will give you equal sashes. Aesthetically however, it’s important the upper and lower sashes line through.....please let me explain further.
Most PVC sash window frames incorporate a recess, which means the lower sashes are in fact 20mm wider than the top ones.
If the same profile is used on the top sash as the lower, it creates a step, that unbalances the window which is then magnified when Georgian or Victorian patterns are used.
By lining through the edge of the sealed units, all vertical lines are perfectly aligned. Then splitting the sash heights, the "squares" in the upper sash match those in the lower ones.
Just ask the installer to show you on their scaled diagram within your proposal.
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The frame is the 3 sided edge of the window, normally welded at the top corners and featuring a unique feature again designed to capture authentic details. We have extruded a staff bead detail, to recreate the look of traditional windows.
Where the two sidebars join the cill, most window manufacturers will apply a wet silicone seal to help prevent leaks or moisture ingress through your frames.
This can be risky as sometimes the windows are moved before the silicone sets ... or even worse; it is forgotten to be applied.
You won’t know this has happened until you see damp patches on the internal walls around your window frames!
This cannot happen with our windows.
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All modern sash windows are designed to tilt inwards to ease cleaning. Short spring loaded "bolts" engage the sash behind the frame section.
Most are just plastic, not very strong and sometimes half moon shaped, difficult and cumbersome to operate.
Not with Bygone!
Again these latches were specially designed for us, being steel reinforced! Angled to ensure they close automatically, and easily operated with the rounded release knobs, that matches the cam catches.
Our careful attention to detail ensures every component will enhance the beauty of your installed sash window.
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Tilt restrictors are metal side arms, made from stainless steel, that allow sliding sashes to be tilted for cleaning safely. With sashes often weighing over 40lbs in weight, it’s vital that two pairs of stays are fitted to each window, one pair to the upper sash and one pair to the lower sash.
Some companies will cut corner by fitting tilt restrictors to the lower sash only ... or by fitting just a single tilt restrictor to each sash.
Besides being dangerous, this is a false economy, as a pair of tilt restrictors on each sash provides double the safety for you, as without them there is a risk that sashes could crash into the room.
Some tilt restrictors are extremely sharp, acting like scissors shaving the brush pile and reducing its effectiveness, increasing the risk of draughts!
Fear not, on your Bygone Collection sash windows, the edges have been especially rounded ensuring the bar rolls past the brush pile, leaving the pile to do its job ......... preventing draughts.
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In today’s homes, it is vital to get good ventilation.
We live in sealed boxes. This can lead to breathing difficulties, stuffy poor air quality and above all a lack of oxygen. Original box sashes provided “natural background ventilation”, these were known as draughts!
Architects and Local Authorities suggest that vents should be added to ensure the air is freshened regularly, however they recognise and approve two stage keeps in lieu of trickle vents.
This is great news, as these keeps are far less unsightly than vents and don’t detract from the authentic appearance we strive to achieve.
Remember sash windows are the most efficient at changing air than ANY other style of window.
Why? - because of convection.
As warm air rises, it draws cooled (heavier) air into the room from outside which pushes the warmer, lighter air higher. This circulation is very efficient and is only provided by sash windows.
By fully opening top and bottom sashes, this style of window will replace the average room of air every 20 minutes ... keeping the room fresher, cooler and improving breathing whilst you’re asleep!
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We want you to be safe, that’s why we add a warning label to every window.
Windows have tilt restrictors or safety stays, but a newcomer may be surprised to find they tilt inwards, its far better to be safe than sorry!
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Whilst brush pile is effective, it can be unsightly.
Uniquely every Bygone Collection sash window has removed unnecessary pile and replaced it with white infill strips fitted as standard.
This means you don’t see the pile, instead a filler which goes unnoticed is inserted into the outer frame. As a bonus because there is less pile, there less effort needed to make them slide.
Again, unique, patented and exclusive to the Bygone Collection.
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