Steel windows offer a wide variety of aesthetic and performance benefits over comparable alternatives. Here, market leader Crittall answers some common questions relating to the specification of the product.
Steel is inherently the strongest frame material for windows and doors. It is three times stronger than aluminium for example. But this strength is combined with elegance. The profile (sightline) of a steel window is much less than that of its aluminium or uPVC counterparts. The slender appearance allows, frame for frame, a greater surface area for the glazing and, indeed, larger expanses of glass can be achieved while retaining an aesthetic appearance. The steel frames are almost virtually maintenance free. They are hot dip galvanised and finished with a factory applied Duralife polyester powder coating in accordance with BS EN13438. Products thus protected have a life expectancy in excess of 60 years. The strength of the material, and multi-point locking also greatly enhance the security of the buildings in which they are installed.
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Tell me more about thermal performance. Isn’t steel cold?
Window frames made from traditional rolled steel are energy efficient incorporating high performance weatherseals, insulating double or triple glazing and narrow sightlines that enhance U values and reduce energy consumption.
A T60 thermally broken window features an advanced high-density polyurethane isolator as a thermal barrier. This, together with housing high performance double or triple glazing up to 45mm wide, ensures the system surpasses the requirements of current regulations offering overall U values as low as 0.8 W/m²/K. Market-leading weather-tightness performance has been tested to European and ASTM standards.
Alternatively, Ultra insulating glass units use suspended film technology in a double-glazed unit to convert it to provide triple-glazed performance. Ultra IG’s innovative design results in a thinner and lighter construction compared to traditional triple glazing, as well as being superior in performance, offering U-values as low as 0.4 W/m²/K in a double glass unit, without increasing glazing thickness or weight.
What about noise reduction?
Measures taken to improve thermal performance also effectively insulate against noise. And where steel framed glazed screens and doors are specified for building interiors it is sound attenuation, rather than weathertightness, that is key. According to the usage – in a home, an office, a school – appropriate sound reduction is achieved by acoustic glazing that leaves unaltered the width of the slim steel frames so they can admit the maximum amount of daylight throughout the building.
Protection against fire for internal glass screens?
The Innervision FR steel-framed system is compliant with BS476 Part 22 providing 30 minutes (FD30) integrity fire resistance whilst preserving its unique slender steel profile setting it apart from other bulkier fire-rated systems.
How do steel’s environmental credentials match up?
Increasingly, this is becoming a key issue for buyers. They want to be sure that the product purchased is produced from sustainable materials and uses eco-friendly, energy efficient processes. Also, that the end product is energy efficient with exceptional life expectancy.
Steel is, put simply, one of the most recyclable materials on the planet. It can be recycled and re-used continuously. Means of manufacture and standard business practices are also designed to reduce energy consumption. Crittall has fitted solar panels to the factory roof, installed energy efficient LED lighting that reduces energy consumption by 50% while simultaneously improving light levels, and introduced electric hybrid vehicles to the company fleet.
The firm operates an ISO 14001 accredited Environmental Management System, part of which involves setting targets for reducing energy consumption, eliminating waste and recycling materials with the ultimate objective of creating a closed loop manufacturing process. The company’s products are made from 100% recycled steel.
Are steel windows suited to new build or refurbishment?
They are equally suited to both. Crittall’s business spans three centuries, from the middle of the 1800s. There are many heritage buildings that were built with original Crittall windows and when refurbishment work is undertaken local planners demand a like-for-like replacement for historic and aesthetic reasons. This can be achieved while installing windows that now meet modern thermal and acoustic requirements while remaining faithful to the original appearance.
Architects designing modern buildings also value the clean lines and simple elegance of steel windows that, with large expanses of glazing, augment elevations, whether on commercial, business, educational or residential premises. Steel frames can also be supplied in the full range of BS and RAL colours.
What does steel offer the homeowner, especially in the post-Covid world of work?
The pandemic has caused many working professionals to re-assess whether they need to continue to travel into urban centres or whether they should work from home and adjust their living space accordingly. The use of internal glazed screens, as detailed above, can help provide suitable workspace in the home, with maximum daylight but minimal noise disturbance. Crittall has established an online community where customers can exchange these and other ideas and solutions to improve their homes and businesses using the company’s products.
Summing up, why choose steel?
An initial higher investment in steel-framed windows and doors will be offset by its longevity and reduced maintenance, leading to lower, long-term costs compared with other materials; and steel is beautiful.
www.crittall-windows.co.uk