What can unite a luxurious country cottage made of logs and a small cozy wooden house somewhere in the countryside, except for walls made of natural materials? - Right! – Availability of plastic windows!
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Read also: Installation of plastic (PVC) windows in a house or apartment: step-by-step instructions for do-it-yourself installation | Photo & Video
Introduction
Man is arranged in such a way that without the presence of light flowing freely through the window opening, and without the first star near the moon, timidly looking into the luminous window, “the crown of nature - man” goes out like a candle flame, fluctuating in a cold wind. Windows in the house are the eyes through which a person looks at this world! And this means that these eyes should be bright enough, transparent and as reliable as possible in order to preserve not only the beauty of the world, but also the warmth and comfort inside the house where a person lives.
Metal-plastic windows produced using modern technologies, or, more simply, plastic windows, will be ideal for these purposes.
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Nowadays, more and more people are striving to create a small island of soul outside the city, preferring traditional materials in country buildings - stone (not concrete!) And wood. However, this does not mean at all that construction is carried out according to the technologies of the century before last. New techniques and materials are used that exactly copy the appearance of natural raw materials.
The same applies to plastic window frames, which by lamination (decoration type) can be given absolutely any option from freshly planed or painted wood to a block hewn from granite. In total, 43 color structures are used, but, believe me, this is more than enough so that the chosen lamination option does not violate the overall external and internal appearance of a wooden house, but, on the contrary, gives it a more organic and attractive look.
Country house - the dream of many
It is important that House can be decorated both from the outside and from the inside: lamination allows you to make the outer frame of one color, suitable for the facade of the building, and the inner frame of another, in harmony with the interior. And this is the first advantage.
The second is service life. Wooden frames, even after being treated with various antiseptics from fungus and bugs, are still subject to these diseases and deformation by time, even if the manufacturer has not stinted on good wood. Yes, and additional care, they require much more than any plastic.
Plastic products have increased strength, do not require special care, are hygienic, durable (in the event that high-quality materials from trusted brands were originally selected), exceed wood in many other parameters:
Noise isolation
An example of noise absorption of a double-glazed window
Due to the design of the profile and double-glazed windows, PVC significantly reduces the influx of many noises from the street, which windows made of natural material cannot provide.
It is possible to reduce sound transmission and resonance phenomena due to the difference in the thickness of the double-glazed windows, increasing the width of the profile, or using a special layout when the window is divided into several separate segments, each of which consists of a separate mini-block made "in the image and likeness" of a large PVC block.
Another option for soundproof double-glazed windows is to cover the outer triplex (laminated, shockproof, pressed block glass) with a special soundproof film, further reducing noise by another 39-40 dB.
The cost of such a window, of course, increases, but given that it will not have to be changed for at least 50 years, you can strain and go broke.
Environmental friendliness?
In this case, if all the required technologies were observed during the construction of walls from glued laminated timber or logs, then it is the walls that will be responsible for regulating the humidity and the main heat exchange. PVC only maintain and maintain a comfortable microclimate inside the house, created by "breathing" natural wood.
Those who claim that after the appearance of PVC windows, there was “nothing to breathe” in the house, I would like to remind you that wooden houses “breathe” not with windows, but with walls!
Of course, this does not mean at all that it is necessary to completely abandon the natural ventilation You still need to ventilate!
Heat preservation
Unlike wooden windows with ordinary glass, the metal-plastic package design saves heat inside the premises 2-3 times better. This is very important for wooden buildings, since they are most often found in rural areas, where heating is carried out by individual heating systems due to the lack of central heating. Saving firewood and gas will be on the face!
Scheme of the principle of energy saving double-glazed windows
The savings are due to improved sealing between the main frame and the glazing sash, which does not let in even the slightest breath of cold air from outside.
Condensate
If the condensate inside the glass is an indicator that the double-glazed unit itself, and, most likely, the frames for it are made with violations of manufacturing technologies
Such PVC will not protect either from noise or from the cold, it is no better than an ordinary "village" window, and the cost is several times higher. Don't throw your money down the drain whistling through ill-fitting metal-plastic parts!
What else affects window insulation? - The profile from which the frames are made. The profile for plastic windows is not a one-piece monolith, but multiple, ant-like passages, jumper chambers. Hence the name - chamber profile.
This structure allows you to keep dry air inside the profile and pass heat much worse than glass.
Vconclusion: increasing the thickness of the profile is a pointless exercise, but choosing a profile based on the heat of the insulating chambers, which play the main role in heat transfer resistance, makes sense.
In a wooden house built in frosty regions, we choose a wider profile, for the Southern regions - narrower.
The optimal window for any house in the Middle Strip, including block-log houses:
- 5-chamber profile
- 2 sealing circuits
- 2-chamber double-glazed window
Energy-saving low-emission glass coated with the thinnest film of silver ions will also contribute to the preservation of home heat, as it will reflect heat from itself back into the room.
Light transmission
Low-emissivity glass, polished, better than a mirror! It has increased translucency, but at the same time reduces the flow of UV rays by 30%, and at the same time keeps things, paintings and furniture from fading.
Burglary protection
The design of plastic windows (a profile reinforced with rigid internal reinforcement + an anti-vandal double-glazed window and a method of attaching it to the wall) allows us to hope that an attacker will have to sweat a lot to open himself access to the interior of a country house.
Safety first!
A window open for ventilation is not accessible to a thief in the same way as a tightly closed one - such is a well-thought-out design. It is impossible to build such mechanics inside a wooden frame, but you are always welcome to put PVC into the wall of a wooden house!
Additional "nyashki" options
Heat Frame
A special metal corner, which usually plays the role of reinforcing the profile, can be heated, which will eliminate frost and the formation of frost patterns on the glass.
Argon
Of course, air is an excellent heat insulator, which acts inside the package according to the law of convection, descending as a cold layer along the outer glass and pushing the warm layer upward from the outer one. With such a cycle, heat loss, although minimal, is inevitable. Reducing the distance between the glasses is only one option, which the manufacturer most often resorts to.
The principle of operation of argon in a double-glazed window
But there is another one - the injection of the inter-pane space with an inert gas, which is lighter than air and absolutely transparent. Neutral "slow" argon is ideal for these purposes. It reduces convection, simultaneously increasing (slightly!) the energy efficiency of windows and their sound insulation.
Such a window can really show its “abilities” in full force only if it is inserted into a wooden wall somewhere in the region of Magadan or the harsh Kolyma Territory. There are such windows with "filler" in the P2A class.
Insect protection
This is such a kind of bonus for a small surcharge when ordering PVC - a mosquito net fixed on a plastic frame exactly to the size of the window. It is easily mounted in the opening for the summer and just as easily removed for the winter, when annoying insects no longer risk flying to you “on the light”.
Rescue from mosquitoes and other unwanted guests
With its acquisition, you will deprive yourself of the dubious pleasure of chasing flies for half a day and slapping yourself, driving away mosquitoes in the evenings. That's really someone, and there are plenty of these bloodsuckers in the countryside!
window shapes
Wood is a very plastic material that allows you to cut a window in the wall of any shape and size, making the house in a special way individual, depending on the taste and artistic preferences of the owner. It turns out that the plastic edging of the glass "eyes" should harmoniously fit into the general appearance of a wooden dwelling and not disturb its interior.
The abundance of choice of forms and types
And even better - to emphasize its originality and preserve the overall style, creating a single composition with a wooden wall. And many manufacturers have already created a whole line of PVC, in perfect harmony with natural materials, including wooden buildings of various architectural styles.
The shape of the window, in addition to the classic rectangular, can be:
- hexagonal
- oval
- arched
- trapezoidal
- round
- triangular
Window Options
Decorative layout (dividing glass into segments without violating its integrity) allows you to realize almost any design project. The layout for a wooden house is used not for the sake of economy and practicality, as a couple of centuries ago, but because of the perfect combination of glass separated by bars and natural wood, giving the house a mysterious and romantic look.
The layout is made with facets and stained-glass windows
That's just the cost of such beauty is still "biting", especially stained glass. Nothing! There were times when ordinary white plastic windows made of far from the best plastic also “bite”! Now the quality of plastic has improved significantly, and the price of PVC has gone down.
An expensive stained-glass window can be easily replaced with a high-quality stained glass (not to be confused with a decorative!) film with a color pattern.Stained-glass windows look especially good in a wooden bedroom-bedchamber, - time. In the upper room of the second floor, such a window is called "red" and it is the central and largest one - two.
Having decided on the size, type, type and shape of the windows for your wooden family nest, you need to get acquainted with the features of their installation. And the first thing to do, even before the saw touches the walls, you need to draw the outlines of future windows, make sure that they will be located where they belong, and fasten all the logs and timber together with planks and nails around the perimeter of each window . This is done so that the wall does not begin to move in different directions under pressure during cuts.
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Installation feature
Each house should be given the right time to shrink. The structures of wooden structures are especially mobile due to the loss of moisture stored by wood. The house is not only slightly reduced in volume, but some deformation of the walls can also occur if the supplier is unscrupulous about his obligations and supplied raw material: the more moisture, the more noticeable the processes will be.
Usually in the 1st year the height of the wall does not "fall" more than 1.5 cm per meter. Shrinkage lasts from 3 to 5 years. If PVC is installed earlier than this time, then the window itself will be deformed.
In the first year, it will be invisible, because these one and a half centimeters will fall on the sealant layer between the frame and the window opening (wool, ursa, foam). In the second year, subsidence and contraction will continue. Perhaps the window will already begin to open and close with difficulty.
The third year is more worries. By the fifth year, the window frame can be compressed so much that even the reinforced profile will not withstand, and the double-glazed window will simply burst. A window cannot replace a load-bearing beam!
Scheme of window shrinkage in a wooden house
But even after 3-5 years, the tree will continue to “walk” - in spring and autumn it will collect water and swell, and in winter and summer the moisture will evaporate and the wall will settle. Such changes are not noticeable to the eye, but to a window rigidly inserted into the opening, it is very noticeable.
To avoid pressure directly on the window, for metal-plastic (as well as for wood) a special design is used - a pigtail or in another way - casing, deck, linden or salary, which acts as a ligament between the wall and the window frame.
This design allows you to make the window independent of the load-bearing walls, eliminating the load on the rigid frame during the "walking" and curvature of the walls. This effect is achieved by blocking the movement of a bar or log vertically with a wooden block-bar, with a section of at least 5-7 cm. If necessary, the pigtail takes on a “walking” load and provides additional wall reinforcement.
It will not be difficult to insert such a bar in the presence of a parquet saw, you just need to make a strictly vertical cut along both side walls, a little wider in size than the bar itself. A “finishing” board is attached to the movable bar, to which, in turn, a profile frame is rigidly attached.
If you have had experience in dismantling old houses, then you probably noticed that the pigtail in them is made of 4 thick boards of 25-30 cm wide (threshold, sides and top), tightly knocked together. But in no case are they rigidly fixed in the opening with nails, but fastened to it with a simple movable “groove-thorn” system on the sides. And never strut is placed between the threshold and the top! Never!
This is an old way of inserting a window into wooden walls, and this good technique is still used today if desired. A less "ancient" option, most often used for houses made of profiled timber, is called "salary in a spike" or "monitor pigtail".
Such a salary is made of solid rectangular bars-carriages with a cut in the form of the letter "P" on one side, put on a protruding spike-thorn, machined directly into the side walls. The distance between the edge of the carriage and the wall must not be less than 10 cm!
What you should pay attention to
1. The gap between the upper crown and the top.
- It is needed so that the upper timber (crown) descending during shrinkage does not press down and deform the pigtail and the profile frame under it.
- With a correctly calculated gap (the maximum possible shrinkage), this cavity will decrease to a barely visible gap.
- For a log house, the upper gap will be at least 5 cm, for a cobbled house - a little less.
2. Window sill
Since in the case of metal-plastic this part serves as the basis for the window, its installation should be treated with special trepidation.
3. Sealing and insulation
Neither polyurethane foam nor felt insulation is suitable as a sealant and insulation for a pigtail. The first can bend the boards during expansion - once, and crumble under the influence of external factors (sun, frost, etc.) - two.
Felt insulation is not suitable because of its fanatical love for moisture absorption and poor drying. Only tow and lionvatin - jute will do. Jute is preferred!
The upper gap above the top is “caulked” with soft insulation. Seals (if necessary) we use silicone, able to withstand changes in different temperatures and weather conditions for many years.
The sealant must be vapor-permeable and with good adhesion to building materials of a different structure: concrete, brick, plastic and, of course, wood. Self-adhesive butyl rubber tape at least 7 cm wide will provide a decent waterproofing.
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At the end of sealing all the gaps between the pigtail and the wall, proceed to the installation:
- In order to technically correctly install a PVC system in an opening with a salary, it is absolutely not necessary to drill through the unfortunate profile with evil and long self-tapping screws, completely destroying the concept of window tightness.
- For this case, there are special fasteners that will be sold to you as a load to the window. These "pieces of iron" are attached to the end of the frame, where there is a technical slide specially for them. These "pieces of iron" will be screwed tightly to the pigtail, without touching either the wooden walls themselves, or the embedded bar or spike-comb.
- The operation will be easier in the literal sense if you first remove the sashes from the window frame, which weigh a lot due to double-glazed windows. We take out the pin that collects them into a single whole from the loops and calmly take out the alignment. The profile is in an almost vertical position.
- Now we need to remove the double-glazed windows without shutters. To do this, you will have to carefully “knock out” the glazing beads holding them in the main frame. First of all, vertical glazing beads are “knocked out” and only then horizontal ones. The process is simple and you don’t have to knock on the glass.
- We find a gap between the glazing bead and the frame, insert a knife or a narrow screwdriver into it and, slowly tapping the handle with a rubber mallet, move the blade or sting along the edge until the glazing bead separates. When the glazing beads are removed, the double-glazed window no longer holds anything in the frame. Carefully remove the block and set aside.
- If there are 2 or 3 blocks, we remember which one, where it stood and which glazing beads “belong” to each of them.
- Of course they should be like twin brothers! But anyway…
- The building level will help us to mount a large frame evenly into the pigtail.Distortions will lead to improper use of PVC, which will reduce their service life, and windows that open spontaneously in a free position or not included in the sash frame are very annoying!
A more beautiful and more aesthetically pleasing plastic window looks in a wooden house if it is inserted without recessing inside, on the same level with the edge of the outer wall
- When screwing the window, do not forget that the frame will need to be foamed from below, so under the lower part of the profile we put small voluminous sticks-slivers, 1.5-2 cm high. Before starting work with mounting foam, we will pull them out.
- After fixing the frame, we return the shutters to their place, close them and foam the window almost along the perimeter. Why "almost"? - Because we will fill the upper gap between the crown and the pigtail with a heater!
- Willingness to "serve and protect" a metal-plastic window.
- It's time to check and adjust the tightness of the sashes to the main frame in order to make sure that the cold wind does not disturb us in the "long winter evenings".
- The easiest way is with a notebook or any other durable but thin sheet.
- Starting from the corner, insert the sheet between the frame and the sash, put the handle on “closed” and pull the sheet towards you. It should come out evenly along its entire length, but with some effort, as if reluctantly.
- If the sheet "slips", then it is necessary to check the quality and tightness of the seal and adjust the pressure of the frame and sash.
- Some defects, in the form of a seal that has come off in some places, can be easily eliminated with any adhesive, such as "Titan", which has such technical characteristics as increased elasticity, moisture resistance and resistance to climatic extremes.
- To adjust the flaps, you will need a special 6-point wrench. The upper and lower hinges will help to eliminate a slight skew or move the sash up to 5 mm to one side or the other. They have holes that match the size of the key. When the key is rotated clockwise, the sash will move closer to the hinge, and the opposite part of the window will rise exactly as much as the sash has moved away. When the anti-sun key is rotated, everything will happen exactly the opposite - the sash will move away from the hinge, and the window will go down.
However, until the PVC warranty has expired, it is better not to experiment on your own, but to invite a master who will set up a window for proper operation, like a good tuner - a musical instrument
Of course, a good product cannot be sold for next to nothing! But, choosing one or another brand - a manufacturer of metal-plastic windows, remember the words Karl Marx: "We are not rich enough to buy cheap things!" - and he is still recognized as the father of "Capital"!
Installing a plastic window in the casing
In a wooden house or log house
