Reply To: Irish say no to PVC windows

WINDOW REPLACEMENT – SOMETIMES THINGS JUST GO FROM BAD TO WORSE:

Nos. 46 and 47 Harrington Street in 2003, both with ’70s-type aluminium windows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both of these buildings are Protected Structures. A planning application was lodged in ’03 for No. 46 (Ref. 2867/03) for various changes including reinstatement of sash windows. Good. Except the new windows are clumsy double-glazed copies of Georgian sashes (see below). Bad quality copies of sash windows really annoy me, because, at least if there are clearly innapropriate windows in a building, there is a impetus to replace them, but bad sashes are not likely to be with replaced with ‘historically correct’ ones easily, are they?

Then, in summer of last year, a load of work was carried out on No. 47 without planning permission, including the replacement of the aluminium windows with PVC Georgian windows. They must have known it was a good time to do unauthorised work, because I made a complaint at the time, but the enforcement officer who normally deals with the area was away and there was nobody else available to make an inspection! And a year later, the PVC is still there…

The unauthorised work also included a quite well-executed rusticated blockwork effect in render on the ground floor, to match the building next door. But why would you go and do that and then put plastic Georgian windows in the building? :confused:

Nos. 46 and 47 Harrington Street in 2005, with bad quality sash windows to 46, and PVC Georgian windows to 47.

General view (the two buildings are semi-obscured behind the tree on the left).

Look at these awful glazing bars – they bear no resemblance to a Georgian glazing bar – putty on the outside; slender moulding on the inside (Cobalt, although your windows are Victorian, this in the kind of thing to watch out for if you are having new windows made – be sure whoever is making them makes an accurate copy of the existing ones, if they are too far gone). And the common mistake of using an ogee (Victorian) sash horn on a Georgian window.