Residence R9 Windows

Mason- · 3 Apr 2024 at 20:34

Hi there,

Just looking to see if anyone else has had these installed. Looking to get some new windows installed, was pretty put off by the first Which? Trusted Trader I had around, they were a local-ish firm. I mentioned I wanted triple glazing and he said it's not really worth it and that it puts more strain on the hinges (so design the bloody frames + hinges to take the weight then!?, if you're not happy with the product, don't sell it?), when asked about u values couldn't really say much. He said he'd put a quote for triple and double. It was £9200 for double, £9700 for triple, so c5% difference, how can it not be worth it? Unless the frames are crap thermally...

Anyway did some research, seems like most double glazing firms are quite old school. And the triple glazing they typically offer will be in the same depth of window pain as a double glazing unit, you get better u values but not much. So I did a bit of digging, found a local independent one man band who was highly recommended on Nextdoor and our local area FB group. I said I'm after high end stuff with good u values. He came back to me and recommended Residence Collection R9.

I did some digging on their site, they look pucker, the frames are 100mm deep (as opposed to standard 70mm, my 1996 upvc DG I have now is 65mm deep frames) so actually make proper use of the space for triple glazing. Found a showroom nearby saw them in the flesh and I'm impressed, so is the missus. Further research online and there is some negative reviews although the vast majority of the issues seem to be around the actual fitting and installation rather than the product itself.

So I'm putting this out there really hoping for some conversation on the below:

Has anyone had these windows? Are they happy with them?
Going for a local shop-front firm over a 'one-man-band':
1. The one man band guy was really helpful, haven't had him round to quote yet but I will. He's well recommended, but he did admit to me most of the stuff he installs is your bog standard double glazing upvc, but he has 35yrs experience and has installed 'everything'. I'm also worried from a warranty point of view, what if I have issues? Seems more difficult to approach one person than a company.
2. The local firm seems really professional, the showroom was great had Residence and Liniar windows, the assistant wasn't pushy and was really knowledgable. They have a really good reputation, on the Residence Collection website it says they've done 50+ installs of R9 windows. I'll get quotes from both.
Anyone else recommend any alternatives? R9 is 1.2U for double glazing and 0.7U for triple, I wouldn't want much worse.

Jagi · 21 Apr 2025 at 13:51

Mason- said:
Hi there,

Just looking to see if anyone else has had these installed. Looking to get some new windows installed, was pretty put off by the first Which? Trusted Trader I had around, they were a local-ish firm. I mentioned I wanted triple glazing and he said it's not really worth it and that it puts more strain on the hinges (so design the bloody frames + hinges to take the weight then!?, if you're not happy with the product, don't sell it?), when asked about u values couldn't really say much. He said he'd put a quote for triple and double. It was £9200 for double, £9700 for triple, so c5% difference, how can it not be worth it? Unless the frames are crap thermally...

Anyway did some research, seems like most double glazing firms are quite old school. And the triple glazing they typically offer will be in the same depth of window pain as a double glazing unit, you get better u values but not much. So I did a bit of digging, found a local independent one man band who was highly recommended on Nextdoor and our local area FB group. I said I'm after high end stuff with good u values. He came back to me and recommended Residence Collection R9.

I did some digging on their site, they look pucker, the frames are 100mm deep (as opposed to standard 70mm, my 1996 upvc DG I have now is 65mm deep frames) so actually make proper use of the space for triple glazing. Found a showroom nearby saw them in the flesh and I'm impressed, so is the missus. Further research online and there is some negative reviews although the vast majority of the issues seem to be around the actual fitting and installation rather than the product itself.

So I'm putting this out there really hoping for some conversation on the below:

Has anyone had these windows? Are they happy with them?

Going for a local shop-front firm over a 'one-man-band':

The one man band guy was really helpful, haven't had him round to quote yet but I will. He's well recommended, but he did admit to me most of the stuff he installs is your bog standard double glazing upvc, but he has 35yrs experience and has installed 'everything'. I'm also worried from a warranty point of view, what if I have issues? Seems more difficult to approach one person than a company.

The local firm seems really professional, the showroom was great had Residence and Liniar windows, the assistant wasn't pushy and was really knowledgable. They have a really good reputation, on the Residence Collection website it says they've done 50+ installs of R9 windows. I'll get quotes from both.

Anyone else recommend any alternatives? R9 is 1.2U for double glazing and 0.7U for triple, I wouldn't want much worse.

Out of interest did you end up pursuing this?

I’m in a similar situation and I’m wondering if the residence windows are worth the cost.

Nikumba · 21 Apr 2025 at 14:08

I am not sure if you need it for doors or windows but you want to make sure they are FENSA registered.

sovietspybob · 21 Apr 2025 at 17:15

I looked into R9 windows 10 years ago when we built our house, i loved the look of them but in the ended went with something else due to all the horror stories i heard about them.

While they look really nice as you've not got overlapping sealing surfaces like traditional uPVC windows you're totally reliant on how good the seals are in all the gaps and a lot of people seem to have endless issues with them leaking. I just wanted something i'd never need to worry about so went for profile 22 instead, they had the same U values of 1.2 for double glazed from what i remember and they were half the price..

Can't comment on fitting as we bought the windows direct and my builder fitted them themselves as part of our build.

Only thing i regret is not getting triple glazed, like yourself every salesman said they're not worth it, but i still can't figure out why and do regret not spending the very small amount of difference and getting them fitted.

Mason- · 22 Apr 2025 at 09:17

Jagi said:
Out of interest did you end up pursuing this?

I’m in a similar situation and I’m wondering if the residence windows are worth the cost.

Hi, yes I did. We have them installed. I went with the business rather than the one man band.

It wasn’t plain sailing. There were hiccups with the fit. I complained. And to be fair they rectified all the issues.

I’ve had no issues with any leaking. Still love the way they look.

Mason- · 22 Apr 2025 at 10:32

Was in a rush this morning, will do a proper write up now.
So my house originally would have had crittall style windows with creasing tile external sills (when I bought the house they had 1996 installed double pvc double glazing). See below:

When the surveyor turned up, he suggested to me to get stub sills, to sit on top of the creasing tiles. As well some of my upstairs windows have insulated plasterboard in the window reveal, meaning the internal aperture and external aperture are slightly different due to the insulated plasterboard. I explained this to him, and showed him photos of how I'd installed it.

Anyway, come fitting day, after it was finished there were some issues. Such as missing astragal bars, and missing external vent covers. No quibbles there they will get them sorted.

The bigger issue was the huge gaps underneath the stub sills of the windows, see below:

I wrote a really lengthy e-mail complaining saying this look awful. They sent their director round, he tried to fob me off and say loads of customers are happy with gaps like that. I said you're having a laugh. Most of my house is solid brick, however there is a timber frame extension at the front. The gap under that window I could see the studwork, meaning insects etc could get into the fabric of my house.

The solution I suggested was to add another creasing tile on top of the existing ones to fill up the gap. Which is what was done.

So a before:

After with the extra tile:

I still want to go around with some mortar and bridge the gap between the sill and the creasing tiles.

Internally they look beautiful. Some of the trickle vents don't line up, not really bothered about that. They are much better thermally. I wanted triple glazing but with the design we wanted with the astragal bars, it was only possible to have double. They are still really good and some mornings I get condensation on the outside pane... you usually only see that with triple glazing.

Yeah there were issues, but it was rectified and I am happy now.

Jagi · 24 Apr 2025 at 15:54

Mason- said:
Was in a rush this morning, will do a proper write up now.
So my house originally would have had crittall style windows with creasing tile external sills (when I bought the house they had 1996 installed double pvc double glazing). See below:

When the surveyor turned up, he suggested to me to get stub sills, to sit on top of the creasing tiles. As well some of my upstairs windows have insulated plasterboard in the window reveal, meaning the internal aperture and external aperture are slightly different due to the insulated plasterboard. I explained this to him, and showed him photos of how I'd installed it.

Anyway, come fitting day, after it was finished there were some issues. Such as missing astragal bars, and missing external vent covers. No quibbles there they will get them sorted.

The bigger issue was the huge gaps underneath the stub sills of the windows, see below:

I wrote a really lengthy e-mail complaining saying this look awful. They sent their director round, he tried to fob me off and say loads of customers are happy with gaps like that. I said you're having a laugh. Most of my house is solid brick, however there is a timber frame extension at the front. The gap under that window I could see the studwork, meaning insects etc could get into the fabric of my house.

The solution I suggested was to add another creasing tile on top of the existing ones to fill up the gap. Which is what was done.

So a before:

After with the extra tile:

I still want to go around with some mortar and bridge the gap between the sill and the creasing tiles.

Internally they look beautiful. Some of the trickle vents don't line up, not really bothered about that. They are much better thermally. I wanted triple glazing but with the design we wanted with the astragal bars, it was only possible to have double. They are still really good and some mornings I get condensation on the outside pane... you usually only see that with triple glazing.

Yeah there were issues, but it was rectified and I am happy now.

That's amazing, thanks for the comprehensive write up!! Glad you got the issues sorted and are happy with them, they look amazing, so much better than what you had before!