Through excellent design, advanced coatings and a robotic climate controlled paint facility, the windows and doors are optimised for long life performance, as well as provide an excellent finish which allows the characteristics of the wood to show through.

George Barnsdale’s managing director, Stephen Wright says, “Over recent years the long life performance of timber windows has increased dramatically due to the advancements in coatings. However, there are still many weaknesses in products being sold in the UK because the designs are not optimised for the coating and the coating is applied in poor conditions.”

He continues, “We have spent the last 20 years optimising every part of our designs and production system to ensure that we maximise the quality of our coatings. Our goal is to provide a coating that gives the highest quality of finish and to ensure a long life with minimal maintenance.”

The coating system was developed in partnership with Remmers UK Ltd to ensure the maximum performance from the coatings. As a result Remmers UK Ltd offer their industry leading 10 year paint guarantee across the George Barnsdale range of products.

Download our Coating System Guarantee Brochure for more information.

Architect in the House matches homeowners with a local RIBA / RIAS / RSUA chartered architect who has donated an hour of their time for a design consultation. In exchange for this consultation, the homeowner can make a suggested donation of £40 to Shelter. The donated money goes towards Shelter’s work with families in housing need.

Architect in the House 2011 was a huge success and raised more than £113,000 for Shelter. 1338 RIBA, RIAS and RSUA chartered architects took part in last year’s scheme, giving up their time to hold free consultations in support of Shelter. More than 3221 homeowners signed up for the opportunity to get their dream home with help from the experts.

For homeowners

Registration is now open and will close at 6pm on 11^th July 2012. Architects can advise on design ideas as well as planning, fittings and lighting, energy efficiency and environmental advice as well as managing builders. After the consultation, you can decide if you would like to continue to work with your architect on a commission basis.

The suggested donation to Shelter is £40, however this is not a fee and it is up to you how much you give.

More information on Architect in the House.

About Shelter

Shelter is a national charity that works to improve the lives of homeless and badly houses people. They do this by giving free advice, information and advocacy to people in housing need and by campaigning for lasting political change to end the housing crisis for good.

About the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

RIBA is the UK body for architecture and the architectural profession, with over 40,000 members from across the world. They champion architectural design quality and also provide services to help homeowners find suitable architects for their projects.

We manufacture our windows and doors from a range of timber and we have used Red Grandis on a number of projects due to the aesthetics of the wood and its performance, stability and natural durability.

Red Grandis was used for the manufacture of the doors that were installed into The Lancasters, the multi-million pound development in London.

Technical Director Steve Dixon explains, “We used Timbmet’s unique plantation grown engineered Red Grandis on a previous project, so we knew it would be the perfect fit for The Lancasters. Not only is it pure FSC certified, but it has also received third party testing by TRADA Technology Ltd and achieved great results for natural durability and resistance to fungi, which is very positive for long term performance.”

He continued, “From an aesthetics point of view, we needed something that would look sympathetic to The Lancasters’ heritage. Red Grandis is a high quality, flawless, uniform timber that lends itself well to a variety of styles and shades and its consistent colour means wood stain can be applied to achieve the desired effect. It is easy to machine and shape and allows a much sharper cut, all of which saves us valuable production time and provides a much better finish overall – great for us and great for the customer.”

Click timber for more information on the materials we use to manufacture our windows and doors.

Click FSC for information on our certified timber.

*Featured video supplied by Timbmet.

ISO 14001 addresses environmental management and requires each company to minimise any activities that have a harmful effect on the environment and to continuously improve their environmental performance overall.

In particular, organisations need to:

• Identify and control the environmental impact of their activities, products or services.
• Continuously improve environmental performance.
• Implement a systematic approach to setting environmental objectives and targets, which they will achieve and demonstrate that they have achieved.

Managing director, Stephen Wright, commented, “The achievement of ISO 14001 is a very positive step for George Barnsdale in ensuring that we conform to the law and our own policy as well as continuously improving our performance.”

As a company, George Barnsdale are committed to reducing energy consumption and environmental impact across the whole of our business. We only use certified timber in the manufacture of our windows and doors and we have full FSC and PEFC certification.

Stephen Wright continued, “Whilst lower than many other materials, the energy inputs in timber window and door manufacturing are still significant and as such we have made factory efficiency a fundamental goal of our business.”

Activities we carry out to reduce our impact on the environment include:

• Reducing waste by selling our premium wood shavings for animal bedding.
• Use our other shavings to power a boiler for providing hot water for our paint drying line.
• Recycle our plastic and cardboard waste.
• Monitor our energy consumption and implement improvements to reduce it including auto shut off systems on our extraction and building management systems for lighting and heating.

Our primary objective is to reduce the use of energy with some programmes already in progress including the installation of solar panels and the replacement of lighting and IT equipment to use more efficient units.

View the ISO 14001 Certificate.

As timber is a natural product, when it is used with micro-porous coatings it will absorb and release moisture which will alter the overall dimensions. During manufacture we carefully control the humidity of the factory to stop the timber drying out too much and to ensure that the coatings are applied to achieve their optimum performance.

When installed the windows and doors are designed to absorb and release moisture through different seasons for decades. However, if wet works, such as plastering and floor topping are carried out post-installation, great care must be taken to avoid the windows and doors becoming saturated from the inside.

Many people are not aware of the relationship between humidity, the carbon dioxide content of air and the energy usage, for the ventilation of inhabited rooms, or indeed the consequences and damage that result from a failure to observe this relationship.

During the drying phase of new buildings, a large amount of water vapour is set free from the inside plaster and cement based floors. The connection between the quantity of water produced and the time interval taken for the water vapour to diffuse through walls and windows can be seen by the following example:

From a room size of 30m³ (with a height of 2.5m), the water vapour from a concrete floor (4cm thick) and inside plaster (1.5cm thick) from a 4 week drying period amounts to approximately 500 litres. This corresponds to a vapour volume of approximately 620.000 l (18g water = 22.4 l vapour) travelling through a coated window frame of the standard size 1.25m x 1.25m. However, a closed window defuses 1g of water and/or approximately 1 gr. of vapour per hour. Accepting that the window frame constitutes 4% of the wall face, and of course only 4% of the resultant amount of water diffuses through the window frame, this will take over 2 years. It is clear therefore that without sufficient ventilation, the water vapour arising from the drying of the concrete floor and interior plaster will not escape from a new building in the required time.

As the consequence of the lack of ventilation so-called “winter building damages” occur. Water vapour gains access at weak points in the timber, for example, glazing rebates or poorly coated frame areas in contact with the masonry. This condenses and the moistures content of the timber increases to in excess of 30%, resulting in difficulties in opening the windows and damage to the glue bond and / or the danger of infestation by wood destroying fungi increases. In extreme cases bubbles, which may be filled with water, will form on the exterior faces.

During the plastering and the following drying period, damages can be avoided if sufficient ventilation is used, such as a tilted window.

For active window ventilation, the following points are to be considered. The necessary ventilation duration for the complete change of air of a room with intermittent ventilation (completely opened window) is dependent on the outside temperature and the time of year (winter 4 to 6, spring and autumn 10 to 20 and summer 25 to 30 minutes).

Even a light wind (approximately 5 k.p.h) can double the rate of air exchange. The strongest driving force for ventilation is the thermal current. The bigger the temperature different is between inside and outside the more the warm air tries to go through the opened window. Therefore the necessary opening period for a complete air exchange in the winter is on average 5 minutes, which is significantly shorter than in the transitional seasons when it takes approximately 15 minutes.

Download our Correct Ventilation Technical Guide.

The new range consists of casement windows, sash windows, Yorkshire sash windows, entrance doors and French patio doors, which all meet the aesthetics, materials and manufacturing requirements to gain approval within listed buildings and conservation areas.

George Barnsdale’s managing director Stephen Wright said, “By working closely with conservation officers and architects, we have developed a range of products that accurately match the original features of historic windows and doors. The range has been designed specifically to meet the stringent planning requirements common for listed buildings and conservation areas, with a focus on achieving high performance.”

The new products are accompanied by the new historic range brochure which includes a range of information on the product options as well as a specifying guide.

The historic designs have already proved successful with installations recently completed on a 16^th century, grade II listed medieval hall house property in Kent and the more famous, multi-million pound development in London – The Lancasters.

Request or download the historic brochure.

Our historic range of windows and doors has been designed to provide a wide range of options to allow existing designs to be closely matched and allow a compromise to be reached with planning officers regarding cost and performance.

Choosing the best glazing unit

This is usually based initially on your performance between maintaining the exact aesthetic detail of the existing windows, what level of thermal performance you want to achieve and how much you want to spend. Once you are clear with your own preferences, it is then time to approach your planning officer, to understand their views on the property and hopefully an agreement can be made at that point.

Choosing the right glazing bar

Glazing bars are another balance between performance / cost versus original aesthetics. Our astragal bar options allow you to achieve the visual appearance of a structural bar but allow a single piece of glass to be used and have significantly less glass edge seal, which is a thermal shortcut leading to reduced performance. However, when matching original windows that have a structural bar, this change is sometimes too much and the structural option is deemed to be a better fit with the original. It is important to consider that on a double glazing window the minimum bar width is 24mm (we sometimes go below this, this results in the spacer being visible), whereas an astragal bar can be 21mm.

Choosing the right layout and design

On a sash window we have a cord and weights option and a spiral balance option. The cord and weights option is an accurate match for the original as it uses the same balance method but the spiral balance looks very similar and costs less. As originally sliding sash windows were fitted in reveal (meaning the brick overlapped the frame), a cord and weights window can be easily installed, but on the occasion where this doesn’t apply, the narrow profiles of the spiral balance can result in a more traditional looking fit.

How to approach the planning officer

Planning officers need to protect the appearance and heritage of buildings and as a result have to be very cautious about material changes to the design of windows and doors within them. The best way to get such changes approved is to provide detailed information regarding the proposed replacements. To aid this we are able to provide detailed drawings of all products and options and we also have a wide selection of samples that can be provided to support a meeting. Our approved installers and members of our technical team are happy to support these meetings if required.

Our historic range brochure is the result of extensive research and product development to provide a range of windows and doors that are suitable for listed buildings and conservation areas.

Having worked alongside architects, planning authorities and conservation officers for many years, our historic range is made up of customisable timber windows and doors that meet the aesthetics, materials and manufacturing requirements to gain approval within listed buildings and conservation areas.

Due to the wide variation in window styles, listed building requirements and planning authority interpretation, we have created a very wide range of options to ensure that we can meet the optimal requirements for any project that requires historic windows and doors.

Our historic range brochure includes a specification guide flowchart to enable you to specify the optimum design whilst taking into consideration the performance and cost of the window. Information on our historic glass options including single glazing, historic double glazing, Pilkington Spacia (vacuum glass) and Histoglass, also feature in the brochure.

Request or download the historic brochure.

The new coating system guarantee guide provides information on why our windows and doors last for so long with very little maintenance as well as our unique paint system, maintenance information and what is covered by our guarantees.

Our unique coating system has been developed with Remmers UK Ltd to ensure we get the maximum performance from their coatings. As a result they offer their industry leading guarantees across our range of windows and doors meaning we can now offer a 10 YEAR PAINT GUARANTEE WITH NO REDECORATION REQUIRED. Whilst this is restricted in a few places, the majority of our products will be supplied with the maximum guarantee.

Request or download the coating system guarantee guide.

By working closely with conservation officers and architects, we have developed a range of products that accurately match the features of the original windows including a wide range of profiles, single glazing options (there are also narrow double glazed options), narrow frame and sash profiles and traditional glazing methods. There products maintain most of the performance features of our high performance traditional range including double draught seals for exceptional weather performance.

Our historic range has been designed specifically to meet the stringent planning requirements common for listed buildings and conservation areas. With a focus on achieving high performance, many of the compromises have been overcome, whilst accurately matching the original design details.

Due to the variation in window styles, listed building requirements and planning authority interpretation, we have created a very wide range of options to ensure that we can meet the optimal requirements for any project.

Historic Glazing Options

Due to the narrow sashes and sightlines commonly found on historic windows, the specification of a double glazed unit becomes more complicated and requires special gases to provide thermal insulation and advanced edge seals to space and seal the glass. We have chosen to offer the following glazing systems, based on our suppliers providing proven test data and being established glazing suppliers, to ensure that they meet our performance requirements and will achieve our guarantees (we advise you to be very cautious in considering glazing systems from unproven companies).

Single Glazing:

Available in a range of thicknesses, with toughening, security and acoustic laminates and solar control options available.

Historic Double Glazing:

Our standard narrow double glazed unit, using warm edge spacer bar and Krypton gas to provide good thermal insulation. Toughening, security and acoustic laminates and solar control options are also available on this product.

Pilkington Spacia (Vacuum Glass):

By creating a vacuum between the two panes of glass, this glass is the best performing and also the narrowest. The use of this glass allows most products to meet the thermal performance criteria outlined in the Building Regulations. In order to achieve a vacuum the glass uses micro spacers within the unit and has a plug in the corner (the point where the air is extracted). This has an aesthetic impact, but there are not visible from more than a few meters.

Histoglass:

This is a very well regarded narrow glazing solution that has been accepted by many planning departments and will often be accepted without the need to submit a sample, making the process quicker and simpler. The glass is similar to our Historic Double Glazing option, but uses an aluminium spacer with a wide range of colour options available. This glass is also available with different glass manufacturing processes including Hand Drawn, Machine Drawn and Cylinder glass allowing it to very accurately replicate the optics created from older glass.

Contact us for more information on our glazing systems.

The biggest misconception about wooden windows and doors is that they require continuous and expensive maintenance. This mainly relates to the paint coating. However, if timber doesn’t get wet it will never rot, therefore a timber window with its paint coating intact will last indefinitely.

A tree draws its moisture from the roots to the leaves, meaning moisture penetrates from the ends rather than the face. This moisture movement is through the outer rings known as sapwood. The inner rings, known as heartwood, provide the tree with its strength.

Traditionally windows were made from redwood heartwood with hardwood cills and painted with lead based paint. Particular attention was paid to the joints which were liberally coated with lead based primer prior to assembly. The paint had a tendency to crack, flake and peal which led to regular proper maintenance.

Our standard specification for windows is Redwood WoodHeart® with hardwood cills which gives a very good substrate for our paint coatings system.

Why will George Barnsdale wooden windows last for so long with such low maintenance?

We design all of our products to get the best performance from the coatings including the use of internal beading, bevels and rounded edges. We use the correct timber, usually Redwood WoodHeart® but we do have a choice of other very high performance timbers.

We control the humidity throughout the production process to stop the timber getting too dry and we seal all the concealed end grains during assembly using resorcinol formaldehyde.

We deluge apply a preservative and a pre-treatment and then a primer coat. This deluging process penetrates the timber allowing us to give a 30 year guarantee against decay and provide protection against moisture penetration and UV radiation. Before the spray coats are applied we seal all the exposed joints and end grains with special flexible sealers.

We then apply a spray mid-coat and a spray top-coat with a high film build. This is carried out by the country’s first fully robotic spray painting machine and gives a very accurate and consistent film build.

Due to the formulation of the paint and the attention we pay to its application it will not crack, flake or peal.

How long will the coating last before it requires attention?

There is no simple answer to this as it is dependent on many factors. However, from our experience, our windows will last for considerably more than ten years when painted with a light opaque coating with virtually no maintenance.

Factors that will affect this include:

• Where the window is situated in the building. If it is set back (as the Victorians did), if there is a big overhang above and if there are no extended cills (stone cilles as the Victorians did) it will last much longer.
• If the building is very exposed, e.g. by the sea, it will not last as long.
• If a dark colour has been used on the windows it will not last as long due to there being a much bigger variation in temperature.

What maintenance is required?

The coatings are designed not to crack, flake or peal but they will in time erode, particularly on the exposed surfaces such as extended cills. On opaque coatings, we apply a different colour mid coat to the top coat so that if this shows it will highlight the need for re-coating.

Re-coating is a very simple operation which requires no sanding or under-coating. Just simply wash the windows down and brush apply a single new coat of paint.

How can I extend the time between re-coating?

Our windows and doors come complete with a simple maintenance kit which consists of Mildew Stop Cleaner, a care set for windows or doors and a small tin of touch-up paint.

The following operations are simple to carry out and can be completed by a competent window cleaner:

• An annual thorough clean applying the liquid balm with a cloth (both supplied on delivery) to exposed areas will add extra protection and considerably extend the re-coating time.
• Check damp areas, particularly North facing elevations for mould growth and then use the Mildew Stop Cleaner spray to destroy any. All our coatings contain fungicides but mould can still occur in damp areas.
• Check that there has been no movement in the timber every year to identify any problems before they cause long term damage. This movement, which is very rare, would normally manifest itself on a joint, which is why we are so careful to seal the end grains in each joint and seal the external sections of the joints.

Our windows and doors last for years because we build them that way. We choose stable timber, use advanced coatings and develop designs that maximise the potential of these materials. The result is a highly engineered product that requires minimal maintenance to continue looking good, year after year.

Click paint system for more information on our unique 4 coat paint system.