Residential Installations

If you’re looking for a low maintenance window, then aluminium is your answer. That’s because when aluminium comes into contact with air, a protective layer of aluminium oxide immediately forms on the surface. This layer is extremely resistant to corrosion from anything the weather can throw at it, including acid rain, and it won’t be damaged by cleaning products. Unlike timber or PVC-U frames, aluminium window frames won’t swell, crack, split or warp over the years whatever the weather. Protection from corrosion can be increased even further by anodising or painting (usually by powder coating) the surface.

In case you’ve forgotten your GCSE chemistry, that means it can be bent or pressed into shape or drawn out into a thin wire without losing its toughness and without breaking or cracking. In other words: it’s pliable, not brittle. In fact, aluminium is the second most malleable metal and the sixth most ductile. This is fantastic news for anyone wanting curved windows or doors, as the aluminium frame profiles can easily be bent or pressed into the required shape without any danger or risk of breaking.
100% Recyclable

Aluminium is unique when it comes to recycling metals. It is 100% recyclable, and the quality of recycled aluminium is identical to that of virgin aluminium, which means it can be recycled again and again. In fact, nearly 75 percent of all aluminium ever produced is still in use today. This is good news for aluminium supply, especially when you consider that since the first industrial quantities of aluminium were produced around 100 years ago, worldwide demand for aluminium has grown to around 29 million tons per year. However, there is even better news for the environment, because whilst it takes 14,000 kWh to produce 1 tonne of new aluminium, it only takes 5 -10% of this to remelt and recycle the same amount. This means a smaller carbon footprint and lower costs.

As we’ve already seen aluminium is usually alloyed with other elements to improve its physical properties. For example, the strength of pure commercial aluminium can be increased by 20% by simply adding manganese. Aluminium also readily forms alloys with silicon, copper, zinc, iron, and magnesium. This means it is possible to produce a range of alloys with properties tailored to particular applications. Aluminium glazing companies use alloys of aluminium with silicon and magnesium, which are an excellent choice for extruding aluminium profiles. They are very versatile, heat treatable, highly formable, weldable and have high strength plus excellent corrosion resistance.

Aluminium can be easily anodized or powder coated to give it a decorative smooth or textured finish. This means that aluminium windows and doors not only perform well but look fantastic too.

The aluminium is pre-treated either by anodizing or via a chemical reaction to form a corrosion resistant barrier and can then be powder coated in any RAL colour. The pre-treated aluminium bars are earthed, and the paint powder is given an electrostatic charge as it leaves the guns. This helps the powder molecules to stick to the bars via electrostatic charge, just like dust particles stick to your TV due to the electrostatic charge on the screen! The bars are then cured in an oven where the powder melts and forms a uniform, flexible and smooth finish which is resistant to weathering for in excess of 25 years.

Our system suppliers use recycled aluminium to produce its product and are now recycling plastic bottles to produce their thermal break, which will happen across their whole range over the next few years.

With the energy prices rising, we can offer A+ energy rating within our ranges, to help towards the overall reduction of energy consumption within any building.

As well as achieving exceptional thermal performance, the Si suite of products attains superior weather performance for water tightness, air permeability and wind resistance.