Veka or Eurocell UPVC Windows

Mikey

Mikey

Mikey

Soldato
Joined
28 Dec 2002
Posts
6,645
Location
South Coast
Looking to get the house done, rough quotes are about £10k ish for a 4 bed detached house.

Have people had experience of Veka or Eurocell?

I had one of the "big" national companies and after the sudden price drop not once, but three times. I basically called them a fraud who make their money off the elderly who say yes at the first price. Unpleasant comments exchanged and salesman told to **** off.

The local company who deal with Veka windows, did exactly as I asked, provide a written quotation for me to review and compare with others. Happy to order with them, but I don't know enough about Veka Vs Eurocell and other brands. "Independent Network powered by VEKA"
 
Both Veka and Eurocell are quite large manufacturers of uPVC windows. Quite often the people you actually deal with take these manufacturers windows and slap their own brand name on them. E.g one of the folk i deal with up here are Stevenswood or Stevenswood Veka. Funnily enough I had a contractor on the phone today with some Veka windows which appeared to be a bad batch where the manufacture was quite bad on a set of Sash and Case windows. Depending on where you've looked so far there may be a clue on the dealers website to what brand of windows they're using. More than likely it'll be mentioned somewhere in a brochure if ones available. Generally though I've found both brands to be fine in terms of quality outwith the call i got today about them.
 
Source the windows and a fitter yourself.

I used a local company in an industrial estate near me, 7 windows and a back door for £2060.

A local fitter took £1250 to fit them.

The big boys charge a fortune, most have finance available so people see £80 and month rather than 10 grand
 
I don't think there is such a thing as a 'best' manufacturer for the windows or doors. They all have to meet the regulations in terms of safety and quality but occassional quality issues may arise and even some fitting isn't carried out properly so the window may be fine but the way its been fitted has compromised the quality. Do you know anyone locally thats had work done recently that you could maybe pop in and have a look at?
 
Mikey said:
Which is the best uPVC manufacturer?
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As far as I can tell they're much of a much; it's plastic and sealed glazing units after all. If the glazing unit is faulty you're not going to know for a while.

Where they vary is the quality of the install. Do they fill the gaps at the edges properly? Do they use the flexible foam or normal expanding foam that 5 years later cracks as an older building moves? If you ever see the German guidelines for window installation you'll see the difference to what some installers I've seen here do.
 
hotdog said:
What is flexible window foam ? Do you have a link or recommendation, cheers
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www.toolstation.com

Soudal Flexible Expanding Foam

This premium expanding foam from Soudal is highly flexible and ideal for applications where there's repetitive movement, such as filling joints. The flexible expanding foam also has superior thermal and acoustic insulation values. You can use this CFC-free filler for both indoor and outdoor...
www.toolstation.com www.toolstation.com
 
With windows the biggest issue I've found over many houses and replacements is the fitting - slightly distorted/twisted frames, not sealing gaps around edges/cavities etc. After that if you're using a manufacturer that just provides profiles that another company then makes into the actual windows then the quality can vary a lot.

I had over 20 windows and doors replaced in my home and told them to not trim the inside so I can plaster/fill etc to avoid the need for trim. This highlighted that although the windows look great outside all trimmed up, the reality is lots of gaps and only a very few filled with a cheap non flexible foam. None of the windows had expanding foam between the lintel and the window meaning cold air and noise leaked in especially from the soffit/cavity upstairs. I removed plaster around every door and window, filled large gaps between frame and wall with exterior filler/strengthened mortar as applicable leaving an good gap size for the Soudal flexible foam and to allow for some uPVC expansion. After that I made good/re-plastered the reveals leaving a 3 - 4mm gap for a smart tooled bead of paintable flexible filler which due to the gap will stay put.

The difference in noise level after doing this was more surprising as was the improvement to thermal efficiency. I verified this with my sound meter and thermal camera because I didn't believe it could make such a difference, but it did!
 
Simon42 said:
The difference in noise level after doing this was more surprising as was the improvement to thermal efficiency. I verified this with my sound meter and thermal camera because I didn't believe it could make such a difference, but it did!
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I've started wondering this about my windows, usually sat in the daughters room reading bedtime stories and i can feel a draught from the window behind. Also noise isn't as reduced as i thought going from single glazed to double.

Might try chasing a thermal camera down for a shot, put the heating on and get pictures from inside/outside. Then go from there. Is it easy enough removing the upvc strips/facia/surround etc and re-attaching?
 
sja360 said:
I've started wondering this about my windows, usually sat in the daughters room reading bedtime stories and i can feel a draught from the window behind. Also noise isn't as reduced as i thought going from single glazed to double.

Might try chasing a thermal camera down for a shot, put the heating on and get pictures from inside/outside. Then go from there. Is it easy enough removing the upvc strips/facia/surround etc and re-attaching?
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Yes and they're pretty dirt cheap to replace worst case. I had a high pitch whistle in my mums bedroom when I had the windows replaced. The fitters are just aweful and don't even bother to fill the gap left behind. Worst case whack it full of gripfill.
 
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