Episode 11 - Windows and Doors

In this episode, Kate and Jenny go through everything to do with choosing the right external windows and doors - from your front door to Crittall-style doors, and from sash windows to sunroofs.

Items mentioned:
- Aluclad windows - engineered wood surrounding metal mechanisms
- Bi-fold doors - you need more space than you think to fold them away
- Crittall and Crittal-style steel-framed windows and doors
- Fineo glass - ultra thin glazing
- Velux Cabrio - balcony roof-window
- Sun tunnels
- Switchable Privacy Glass 

Follow us on Instagram - Jenny is @workerscottage and Kate is @victorianrathmines

Transcript

Windows and doors 

 [00:00:00] You are listening to rip it up the renovations podcast. 

Kate: hi, I'm Kate. I run the Instagram page, Victorian 

Jen: Wrath Mines. And I'm Jenny. I run the Instagram account, Worker's Cottage.

Kate: This podcast is all about renovation and interiors from the renovator's perspective. We've been through it a few times between us and it hasn't scared us off. In fact 

Jen: we loved it so if you are planning to do up your own home you can expect to hear lots of advice from our own experience along with plenty of tips and inspiration.

Episode intro

This is episode 11 and we are talking all things external windows and doors from your front door to Crittall style doors and from sash windows to sunroofs.

Episode body

Jen: Welcome to episode 11. lucky 11. Hi, Kate. Hi, Jen. How's it going? Good. We're continuing on our journey of kind of renovation step by step. Yeah. And today we're going to talk about windows and doors.

Mm. So all your external. Windows and doors. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: [00:01:00] Another thing that has a pretty long lead time, can have a long lead time, because they need to be custom measured, custom made. And more decisions than you would think. And lots of things to go wrong, unfortunately. This is one where I was like, I just for some reason just didn't give a crap about windows.

I, I have a funny thing where like I don't care about the exterior of my house at all. I just really cared about the interior. So windows, I was like, I don't know, just get windows. And they were like, well, what material do you want? What kind of glazing do you want? And I was like, I don't know, the normal kind?

And there's lots of different options. 

Kate: And you have 

Jen: to think it through. I 

Kate: find in renovation, it tends to be where people have problems. Really? Yeah. Major problems. We had problems in our first house up here. Our glazing. So And I'm talking about our new glazing. I'm not even talking about the original windows we restored.

Like we had problems with the supplier there. So like, it can be an area where things go wrong. There's a lot of things to seal and fit right. And like you said, it's custom. They're custom openings. They're custom styles. And the frames, you know, have [00:02:00] been measured at one point in time. And then they come back and something could have shifted.

Something could have changed on site. Or something, you know, wrong in the build and now they don't fit anymore or something, you know, so yeah, things can go wrong. That's an expensive mistake. It's an expensive mistake for sure. Yeah. So it's definitely worth going with reputable suppliers when it comes 

Jen: to windows and doors.

Big time. Yeah. Because that's one of those things that's going to be in forever basically. Yeah. Again, just don't cheap out on your windows and doors. It's not worth it. No. So. So the first thing that I was asked to choose anyway is what, what material, like what's your, is it going to be wood? You know, it's so the casing of the window, basically what material you're going for.

On my front of my house, I went with wood because I just liked the look of it. I think it was more in keeping with when you say what is it like actually, it's an engineered wood. So back in the day, right, if you had wood. There would have been quite a bit of maintenance involved in them because they had to be repainted and they had to be resealed and all that kind of stuff.

But actually these days they're made from an engineered wood, for [00:03:00] the main part, right, double check with your supplier. And they're fairly bulletproof and pretty much last forever. 

Kate: And your mechanisms 

Jen: and all 

Kate: that? Yeah, 

Jen: so 

Kate: then built 

Jen: into it is 

Kate: all Okay, so it's like an alu clad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's got an aluminium frame, but it's clad in wood.

Clad in wood. Okay, it's not solid wood. Exactly. Sorry. Because our windows in our old house were the original sashes, which were all wood. Yeah. But you don't have any of that lovely kind of new mechanisms then. You have kind of, you know, woods, sliders and weights and all that kind of stuff. So it's not as smooth.

But 

Jen: it looks beautiful. It looks beautiful, yeah. But it's a case you have to 

Kate: open it. 

Jen: Yeah. Well, yeah. But alu clad, sorry. So alu clad is basically, yeah, there's a metal So, the bits that you can, that open and close, the hinges, the locks, all that kind of stuff is metal. But then it is clad in an engineered wood.

Which I think looks really nice because you can paint it different colours. Definitely. Yeah. I've mine painted one colour on the outside and one colour on the inside, which I really like. It's a fun option. I didn't realise it was an option, but my supplier did. It was like, what color do you want on the inside versus the outside?

And I was like, oh, cool. I get to pick two [00:04:00] colors. 

Kate: I'm not getting decision fatigue at all. 

Jen: Thanks. I'm just about to explode today. Because I love the look of dark windows, but from the outside, I actually don't love the look that much from the inside. 

Kate: I get you, yeah. 

Jen: So I went yellow on the inside and dark on the outside.

Kate: Yeah, no, I love that kind of the option to 

have that wood, but still have the kind of aluminum mechanisms. I love like the look of solid wood in the sash windows because, well, can I just say, first off, I, I hate PVC. Can we just, you can get a PVC as an option, don't, that's enough said on the matter. I'm sorry, okay, like, I know people tell me you sashes now, you can get, they never look that good.

They also don't last that well. They always have these big chunky frames and like, they just never look that slick. I'm all for like, either, you know, alley clad or something like that where you have the timber on the outside, or solid wood, but I think the PVC just, It's just don't cut the mustard. I just 

Jen: don't love it in a door either and it can warp and it can break and it's just it's not the perennial material that's.

Kate: Yeah I know, no but [00:05:00] Ali Clive for me. Gives you kind of the best of both worlds. Yeah, 

Jen: and now that's, there's a reason that it's the more expensive option, but it's not crazy more 

Kate: expensive and I think it's worth it. Yeah, in our house we didn't have that option because our house was protected so the original sashes had to be maintained.

So we essentially restored them. So you have the kind of option in some of them, not all of them, to kind of put a double glazed I suppose, sandwiched window in the original frames, in the original sashes. So you take 

Jen: apart the original frames, 

Kate: kind of expand them, and then put a Exactly, yeah, you have to kind of just route out a little extra space, and then put in these kind of double glazed units.

Now, putting those into old sashes wouldn't give you the kind of good insulation properties of, say, new windows, because you still have the weight system, you still have the kind of voids around the window that drafts are going to get in, so it's never going to be super efficient. But it's better. But, since we did our last windows And we've gotten the same one to go out to quote for a new place.

We've come across this amazing new stuff. Now the brand Hugo showed me, there's probably loads of brands, but it's called Finio. So it's this ultra thin kind [00:06:00] of vacuum glass. So you can fit it. It's as efficient as a triple glaze, but it's a thin unit that you can fit into original satis. 

Jen: Absolute magic.

Because I know some of you listeners would be. going through this, certain conservation protections on homes require you to have single glazing for planning permission. I think that's bonkers. It's just so ridiculous and it goes against what we as a country are trying to do in terms of energy efficiency.

But anyway, there are requirements on certain homes for conservation that you have to have single glazing. Yeah. So you're saying there's an answer? 

Kate: Well, no, I wouldn't call it an answer because for conservation, they want you to keep original glass because the way they made the glass. You know, spun the glass or whatever isn't done that way anymore.

So you don't get that lovely rippling with this new glass. Which I mean, I know that is nice. I mean it does look beautiful from the outside. But like huge slash windows, that single glaze, you're losing all your heat. I'm sorry, this is not sustainable homes. There has to be something you can kind of, some bit of give.

So this [00:07:00] finial glass, Has tiny tiny little dots So if you really hold up to bright light And you're up close you can kind of see the dots Now from any distance away you wouldn't see the dots at all Do the dots do anything? I don't know why the dots are in it Is there something about the structure of it or something?

I haven't a clue But there are dots in the glass Tiny little specks I suppose So that's an option if you have very thin wood frames that you want to retrofit. Okay. Something more efficient. 

And if you are restoring kind of original sash windows, there's like, that's a whole process in itself, right? It takes a long time. So the person will probably have to take out the sashes, restore the frames potentially, re weight the system, do all that and then actually maybe replace the glass if you're replacing the original glass or put in double glazed units or this kind of thing.

Vacuum glass we mentioned so there's lots around that as well and some of that can be dictated by conservation if you've bought an old house that's listed So keep it in mind time wise because it can be a very complicated process How long I mean 12 weeks maybe? Like I mean, you know, you're not making the windows so it depends on the supplier Obviously someone some suppliers might be [00:08:00] quicker But like it's a lot of joinery in it and getting that right and taking those off and stripping them and you know You Doing the new latches and locks and all that kind of stuff and reweighting the system.

There's a lot of work in it. It's expensive and You know, it's a lot of it can be dictated by conservation. So definitely keep it in mind time wise. Good to know. 

Jen: I will say windows and doors day was like probably one the most exciting days of my renovation I don't know why but just getting to know windows and doors in, it's just when I leave out like a house or something, you know?

Leaving the building 

Kate: kind of properly airtight. 

Jen: You'd be like, well 

Kate: I could live in here now if I wanted to. Yeah, 

Jen: maybe that's what it was. Yeah.

remember back in the day, you don't see this anymore because glass is so well made now that it's, it's really difficult to break.

But you remember back in the day, you'd have these windows that would have either kind of like wire mesh running through them. I have it on the door. That was like a 

Kate: school glass almost like. Like a 

Jen: school glass and it's for structure, right? So it doesn't shatter and break easily. 

Remember that lead diamond pattern? our next door neighbours, long story short, their, garage exploded. And. [00:09:00] I remember our neighbor on the other side of them, their windows bulged out but didn't break because they had that lead crisscross pattern through it.

Oh wow! Isn't that mad? Yeah. That's mad. Everybody else's windows shattered but their glass didn't shatter. It just bulged. Wow. Yeah, it's wild. 

Kate: Yeah, we've got that wired glass in the side panels beside our hall door. Oh 

Jen: yeah. 

Kate: It's hideous. Like, I obviously have to change it. It's really old fashioned.

Like, we didn't put it in. It was just there when we bought the house. So it's something I'd love to change. But yeah, that One of the limitations of trying to retrofit original sash windows is you just mightn't have the space to put double glazed units because they're very thin wood frames. So this new kind of type of glass might be a solution to that.

Jen: And I mean if you have original sash windows and if you are able to seal the edges of them so there's no draft they're so beautiful. So beautiful. I mean there's no matching them. Like they're just so stunning. So, so beautiful. I know they're a bit annoying to open and close and they've got old school kind of chain mechanisms and all that.

Yeah. But they're 

Kate: so pretty. Yeah, they are so pretty and there's no comparison I think in the front. with original timber sashes, as in the [00:10:00] frame thickness, the arches at the top, what they look like, no other windows look as nice. Agreed. Agreed. So, yeah. 

Jen: But if you don't have sash windows and you're not necessarily putting in sash windows, then you're left with a whole option of styles and what you want.

So, I would, I, there was a great piece of advice from Optimized Design, Denise from Optimized Design, I was researching for an article about this before. She had a brilliant piece of advice saying, if you're buying, in a neighborhood surrounded by similar houses. Talk to your neighbors and ask them, would they do anything differently with their windows and doors?

And I thought that was so clever, especially for windows. Because, you know, certain aspects of the house, for example, you might want to have, be able to open the window more widely, or you might want security in your front windows. You might want to be able to crack them for certain reasons. So that will really dictate then what type of window you get in terms of the opening mechanism, or whether you get, you know, lots of different panels versus one big fixed panel or something like that.

I thought that was a great piece of advice. 

Kate: Yeah, that is. And especially for people who have lived there for a while, they'll know if it needs to be soundproofed better, [00:11:00] or whatever, and that kind of stuff as well. So yeah, definitely ask. And look at the windows that you like on the street. 

Say, I like your windows the best. Where do you get them done? You know, like, you know they can do them then. They've done a house similar to yours, so it's definitely worth looking around at your neighbours. 

Jen: I have, what do I have, I have tea, I think it's called T bar or T pane. It's basically three panes where there's one horizontal one at the top and then there are two vertical panes underneath it.

Okay. And all of them, I, I love this mechanism where you can, crack the window. So there's a draft coming through but it's not, it's still locked closed and there isn't enough space for someone to get like fingers inside or anything like that.

That's so handy for summer because this house gets very hot in summertime. 

Kate: Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Ours were just sliding sashes in the old house so they're huge, like they just slide up and then there's a massive opening. You can climb out the window if you want or climb in if you leave it open.

But then in our current house we have casement windows. Go on. But original casements are like four small panes in most of the bedrooms and then the front bedroom they replaced it at some point so we want to replace it back to kind [00:12:00] of a, what would have looked like the original one. Yeah. But they just open out,

Jen: so you can have casement which opens out wide open. You can have tilt and turn which is where the hinge, rather than being at the top of the window pane so that the. pane opens fully out, is in the middle of the frame so that you have half the window pane tilting into your house and half of it is on the outside of the house.

Interesting. . And then of course you can have sliding. So I have sliding doors in the back of my house. I also have a sliding window upstairs because I have a really big window pane and I want to be able to climb in and out to go down to the roof extension if I want to.

We had bifolds in our last house. Yeah, they're fab. 

Kate: Yeah, would I do them again? Probably not. 

Jen: So this is, this is, this is your back in your, you know, your back in a kitchen area. Yeah, out to the garden. Yeah. They're like accordion, don't they, kind of off to the side? Yeah, 

Kate: so we had one fixed angle pane and then we had say a 2.

5 meter long opening, [00:13:00] which we had three panels that when you kind of slid the handle, you just fold them back to the left. So they'd stack to the side. Now when you stack three bifolds they're very chunky. They're, yeah, they take up a lot of. They take up a lot of room. So I wouldn't put bifolds in again unless I had huge space.

Like a big, big opening. Or somewhere for them to fold back and hide. So, consider that. Because some people think you'd fold them back and they're invisible. They're not. They're chunky. Yeah, they do actually take up a good bit of space. Yeah, that's 

Jen: one to think 

Kate: about. Yeah, so that was bifold. And I mentioned as well we had a bit of a disaster.

Oh yeah! I won't even name the supplier because I don't like naming suppliers. Because sometimes , you know, You know, it just might have been that job they were unlucky on or whatever, but the same supplier didn't even come back to rectify any of the stuff. So it was pretty bad. But we were kind of, we wanted crittal right at the time.

So 

Jen: crittal is that gorgeous, like metal design, really light where it's all the black squares. Essentially 

Kate: like steel frames, usually black, but they can come in other colors. We wanted those. We were quoted, [00:14:00] this is eye watering. We wanted bi folding griddle, which isn't kind of typically done, but we were quoted 35, 000 euros for bi folding griddle doors.

Wasn't happening. You'd just be like 

Jen: sticking black sellotape on it. We were like, yeah, 

Kate: sure, cool. Sounds good. No. So we obviously had to look at an alternative and the alternative was aluminum windows that kind of looked like griddle. And at the time, yeah. And we didn't want chunky frames. So we shopped around for the supplier that claimed they could do the thinnest frame.

We went with them, they looked pretty slick in the showroom. But we just had issues, they didn't seal properly, the bars were offline, they never returned, whatever. So, I suppose my advice is if you want Crittle, go Crittle, but don't do fake. Because it just will never be right, I think. So go with what the supplier has experience in, rather than, don't be their test subject, I would say.

Jen: And I would for those sliding doors again, you're looking at aluminium or alu clad really, or steel. Steel is expensive, but it can be really, really nice. It's very light. 

Kate: Yeah, and it's hard to get them thermally broken as well. So that was one thing about the [00:15:00] crittle as well, to thermally break them and properly insulate the threshold can be quite difficult.

Bifold, bifolding doors have a bigger threshold as well. So that's something to consider. You kind of have to step over the threshold because Slide on the Yeah, they could slide on the tracks, whereas slider doors have a, a slimmer threshold. Yeah. So if you want that kind of slick indoor outdoor look, sliders might be a cleaner option than bi-fold bifolds.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 

Jen: That's a really good tip. I never knew that. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: So the other big question then that you have to contend with is, are you getting double glazing? Are you getting triple glazing? What other treatments are you getting on your window? Yeah, I, I don't even know what I have actually. Pretty sure I've got triple in some in the back area.

I don't think triple is worth it. I'm just going to come out and say it. Double glazing is so good. Double glazing is 80 percent more thermally insulated or more effective, let's say than single glazing. Triple glazing is an additional 30%. But that's, you've already gotten [00:16:00] 80 there. So that's 30 percent of 20%.

You know, so it's not a big margin extra. We're not living in the Arctic. I just don't really feel like triple is necessarily worth it. 

Kate: Yeah. I had double everywhere. I, there were some suggestions we did triple on the skylight. Okay. Because there's some restrictions depending on if you want to have that roof as a walk on.

Oh, okay. Or something like that, then you have to have a specific thickness of glass and stuff. We didn't want a walk on. It wasn't going to be a patio up there or whatever where we had our big skylight. So we just went with double there. But that might be somewhere someone wants triple. Yeah. If they want to walk on glass.

Jen: So, and this is especially for those skylights where it's not just a, you know, little velox window. Like this was a, the full length of your kitchen. Yes. Wasn't it? It's a full length kitchen. Window 

Kate: roof. It was like five meters by a meter. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Just long strip light. So yeah, that might be somewhere that people want to have triple glazing where they need to walk on it.

Jen: That's another really good topic though on windows is skylights. So you're not just putting windows in your walls necessarily. Skylights are amazing. Such a huge fan. I think they're great. I would put them, [00:17:00] you know, everywhere. You can have fixed ones. So you'd have fixed one. It doesn't open. You can have openable ones.

You can have ones now that are remote control. I think they're wonderful. Velux do this range. If you have a dorm or roof or dorm or bedroom, something like that, they have these lovely big ones that turn into a balcony. So the window kind of opens. At the middle, the bottom half of the window ends up standing vertically and then it has these railings that kind of come out along the side of it.

I always wondered if you were planning for that 

Kate: one. I think it was in like the Ed Sheeran Galway Girl video. Planning, 

Jen: so for those of them that are not sure, generally for skylights in your roof you don't need planning for a skylight in the back of your house. It can be an issue in the front of your house, in general, in the of your house you don't.

But once 

Kate: it's a walkout area. I don't 

Jen: know, 

Kate: I guess if you're overlooking someone there could be an issue. Yeah, that's why I think, I always wondered on planning, technically that's a, that's patio area or something? If 

Jen: anyone 

Kate: knows, let us know, because I don't. Because if you look at the end of the Galway Girl video, the Ed Sheeran video, they go out onto one of those.

Oh, do they? I want to watch that. And I was [00:18:00] like, oh, that's pretty cool. But then I was like, are you allowed to do that? Are you allowed to overlook your neighbours? Because like, it's one thing having a skylight, because you can't really see her, but if you can actually walk out there, then you have a perfect view.

potentially your neighbours gardens or other houses or whatever. Okay, I wanted to know So yeah, if anyone knows. Because usually you don't need planning, but once it's above first floor level and you're within 11 metres of someone typically you do need planning. Yeah, 

Jen: for oversight. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: I have a question about your skylight in your old kitchen.

Was it hard to clean? Did it get dirty? haha 

Kate: I had quite the knack for cleaning this. Did you? So it was 5 metres by a metre and The roof up there was seedum. So we did a green roof. Yeah, which I loved. Because I hate the look of the standard grey, whatever they put, trocal or zinc or whatever was on the roof.

So we did a green roof in Seedum and just. beside that was our bathroom, right? So our bathroom, just a traditional sash window you slid up. And in our bath, we had a handheld. So I used to lean out the bathroom, warm water from the shower, and you could hose it down. And it literally ran down, because there was a slight slope on the, there has to be a slight slope for water runoff [00:19:00] on those, right, so, if there's a slight slope, then I suppose, like, dry leaves and stuff blow off anyway, right? Kind of, like, but you'd still need to hose it down even once in a while. And the warm water would literally just clean it. I'd literally just spray it down. I might spray it with cleaner if it was very bad, if it was like autumn time now and there was a lot of dirty leaves or whatever.

I'd just spray some cleaner on it, go out, hose it down with handheld. It would all run down the, the slope of the, the glass and down the front. And it was done. Wow. Sparkling. 

Jen: So, cause I have a skylight in my upstairs landing, which it's the only source of natural light in there really. And it's in.

My old chimney because I don't have a fireplace anymore, but the old chimney stack There's a skylight on top of it to let light in which I love but I can't clean it. There's no real way to clean it. Okay, yeah, yeah. Does it get dirty? Can you see it? It does because of the bloody seagulls in the forest.

It's a whole topic for another day. But yeah, seagulls love to Sometimes they land on it early in the morning and they tap around on it. In [00:20:00] case it's bright on my lap. Look 

Kate: at how seagulls are. 

Jen: And they leave me a little present. Lovely. Feckers. Skylights, anyway. One last thing about skylights is there are these things available called sun tunnels and I think they are They're basically portals, like little round portals, but they can tunnel through.

So say for example, if you have a basement or if you have a really dark room that doesn't have a, you know, an overhead ceiling where you could put a normal skylight, you can tunnel a sun tunnel through and it's round. So it rarely leaks. It's a very solid structure. Because a lot of leaking occurs in the corners of windows or doors or yeah, or skylights, whatever it might be, but it's round.

So it's really, really, really sturdy and easy to install actually. And then it has this reflective surface on the inside. So it basically just beams natural daylight down into think I saw that in a 

Kate: Grand Designs. 

Jen: Yeah, I think they're so clever. I thought it was a 

Kate: [00:21:00] really cool idea, the reflective surface so it kind of mirrors the light all the way down.

Jen: Yeah, it 

Kate: just reflects the light all the 

Jen: way in. Yeah, so I think it's brilliant if you have a really dark room and you haven't been able to install a window or a skylight, that's one to look at. I 

Kate: think it's a really good way of just bringing in light generally, just having skylights of any kind of sort.

But we put the skylight in our last house on the south side of the house. The extension or the side side of the house. So because our garden was East facing and we had a little overhang, I mean, there wasn't an amazing light from the actual doors at the back, but the but the skylight on the South facing, it would actually just light your kitchen all day long.

And our, yeah, it is super bright. So bright. In fact, that when we worked at the kitchen island during COVID, we had to wear sunglasses. So yeah, so watch out if you've white countertops. 

Jen: Yeah, that happens to me in here sometimes in the kitchen, because I have this wet facing ground which is really bright.

Talk to me about patterns on windows. I'm thinking about, so I remember your old bathroom I think it was, in your previous house. Oh yeah. You put a reeded glass film. I did. Was [00:22:00] it on the window? For privacy. Yeah, 

Kate: so like, You know, you need privacy obviously in bathrooms. You don't want to put, like, we all know the horrible pattern flowery glass in old houses.

But like, I didn't want to commit to any particular pattern of privacy glass. So I asked them just to put clear glass panels. And then for privacy, I installed a reedy glass film, which is, for all the world looks real. And you put it, you put it up 

Jen: yourself. 

Kate: I think it was just like a 

Jen: hairdryer and a like squeegee thing to just 

Kate: Not even a hairdryer, you just spray like a washing up liquid water mix and then it kind of, you know, wiggles into place.

Oh, so it's not even a glue. Nope. It's kind of just suctioned on. Yeah. Oh, wow. So it's just like a vinyl kind of film, but it's kind of Comes right off then if you don't. Oh, I didn't know that, that's amazing. So it's kind of like It's kind of 3D, so there's kind of a texture in it, so it looks like real, real reeded glass, I think.

Very hard to tell from kind of any distance that it's not. I love reeded. 

Jen: Reeded is so, I'd never get sick of reeded. I for me, 

Kate: like, I personally would never commit to an obscured glass, because I don't know I'd like that pattern of obscuring it. Because, so you can buy glass 

Jen: that [00:23:00] basically has a pattern in it, it's etched on, so 

Kate: there's no 

Jen: removing 

Kate: it, obviously.

But then you're committed, 

Jen: like that's it. 

Kate: Yeah. And is reeded glass going to be the flowery glass of, Well, if it is, you can just 

Jen: peel it off and put it in a glass. The other thing you can do, which is fun, is like, like, you can get those films, you know, you can get frosted films, you can get any kind of film you know.

Our old, our family home, my dad just put on a frosted film in an upstairs bathroom window and it looks perfect. But you can buy decals too if you want something a bit more fun. You can get like, you can get all, you can get everything. You can get like stained glass decals. You can get anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It 

Kate: looks pretty cool. Butterfly wands. 

Jen: In my wild house that I do next, I'll put something like that on. You'll have some glittery one or something. What do you think about 

Kate: stained glass overall? I do love stained glass. But I, I'm not mad about the really vivid colours of stained glass. I like the more kind of washed out, a little bit more subtle stained glass maybe.

And I, I personally, I know it depends on the style of the house, the age of the house, whatever. But I love more geometric patterns in [00:24:00] stained glass, personally, rather than big florals. You just don't like 

Jen: flowers, I think is where we're going with this. Maybe, yeah. Maybe I'm not 

Kate: a big florally person. But like, I do love kind of geometric patterns in stained glass.

I think it's quite cool. And I saw Rathmine's glass doing one where they did. Loads of different shades of white glass. Oh, 

Jen: cool! So slightly different 

Kate: variations in kind of pattern and tints of white. So there wasn't any colour in it, but it was all different kind of shades. Which I thought was really, really cool.

I'm going to look that up. Yeah. 

Jen: They're my neighbours. Shout out to Rough Minds Glass. They're amazing. I know a friend of mine Rachel, if you're listening, has the most beautiful stained glass door in her house that she did recently. And it's amazing. Her family were, were stained glass experts. So this is a lovely kind of callback to that.

But I think it looks so stunning. I also saw, I can't remember whose house it is now. I saw it on Instagram. But it's all these like circles. You know, of stained glass in a pattern. I think it was down a stairway or something. I just thought that looked really good. Gorgeous. All different colors, like really beautiful.

Gorgeous. 

Kate: And I think you can kind of sandwich stained glass now for kind of thermal properties as well. So you can kind of put a double, you can [00:25:00] put stained glass inside a double glass unit. Oh, right, okay, so it looks like a 

Jen: purge. 

Kate: Yeah, now there is a slight risk, I think, of condensation between the layers maybe, some people say, but It's just a way of not having freezing cold, leaded glass, single pane, you know?

Because the light shining 

Jen: through it 

Kate: and the reflection. So nice! So beautiful! We had a stained glass window in our last house. And it was like maybe that's why I like the kind of more washed out colors. It was kind of like I used to call it the unicorn window. Cause it was like pink and purple and turquoise.

And it was, I loved it, but it was like really different because all the kind of stained glass I'd seen was very Julie blues and really deep reds and greens. Whereas this was kind of like. Like, I don't know, all I could describe it was like a unicorn window. It was like, it was those kind of colours and I loved it.

You want 

Jen: that kind of antique y look too. There's something about the really vivid colours that are just too new for me or something and it doesn't match with what I believe about stained glass which is that it's old. I loved it and 

Kate: the light coming through that at the same times of age, it's fab. Fab.

Gorgeous. It was like artwork on your [00:26:00] wall, the way the colours would just kind of spill down. Yeah. I love it. 

Jen: The other option for, for privacy, right, if you've loads of money and you want to throw it at your windows flyer, is you can get these, we have them in our office actually at work, you can get these it's glass that has a very, very tiny current running through it.

Okay. And you flick a switch, so it has to be wired to something or it needs battery back, you flick a switch and it goes opaque. Okay. So there's basically all these kind of It's like, it's basically polarised, right, so things line up a certain direction when you flick the switch and it turns the glass opaque, which is interesting.

If that's something you thought you needed, that could be pretty cool. Very modern though. Very modern. Very modern. Yeah. You can also get, this could be cool for your Skylight, self cleaning glass. 

Kate: Oh yeah. I've heard about this. I always wondered, and I've heard the ads for it on the radio and whatever, and I'm like, 

Jen: does it actually work?

So it's basically, again, it has a little electro, electro, electric, electrical current through it. And it basically just vibrates at a, at a, 

Kate: okay, so it kind of dries, 

Jen: imperceptible kind 

Kate: of, yeah. Essentially powders off the dirt. Exactly. Is [00:27:00] it as good as a shower hanging out a window? Probably not. Is anything.

Don't think so. So, really the answer here is if you're putting in roof light, a long roof light, put it beside your bathroom so you can hang out with, you Or your garden hose. That's how you clean it. Yeah, that's how you clean it. No, the garden hose isn't as good, you see, because you can't get hot water. 

Jen: Oh, the water.

Kate: It's 

Jen: the hot water It's the bath. Like, 

Kate: melted 

Jen: the dirt. Ah. There you go. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah. You heard her first. Just packed full of tips this podcast. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. That's windows. The next thing then that you have to order, probably around the same time as your window, is your door. Your front door.

Door, yeah. Pretty expensive nowadays. Wow, I was really shocked. I got mine with my front windows. Shout out to Mellit joinery. They're down in Ballinrobe in County Galway and they were fabulous. Okay. So he did my front door for me as well, also Ali Glad. 

Kate: It's worth it though, isn't it? For a good front door.

Because your front door lets in so much, like drafts or whatever. Even [00:28:00] through the keyhole from underneath, around the sides. If it's not properly sealed and insulated and brush stripped, you can lose so much heat through your front door. So much. so much. 

Jen: Also through your letterbox. I chose not to get a letterbox through my door.

Yeah, so I have got a box now on the outside because Like that's really where the huge amount, I'd love to look up the percentage now, but a huge amount of heat gets lost through front doors. 

Kate: Don't, if you're getting a new hall door, don't put a lot of rocks in it. No, just put a box outside. Put a post box.

Yeah. A hundred percent. You lose so much heat through that. But I also think it's cause your hall door opens into a hall, which is essentially like a tunnel. For most people, unless you have a huge house, is a tunnel. So it's like a wind tunnel. So it funnels, it funnels the cold air through your house. So it's so important to have a good hall door, good seals and if you have any glazing around it.

So this is 

Jen: always a big question. Do people get a door with a window in it? Or not? Or would you put windows on the side? It's a tough one to answer, because my gut is like, no. Because if somebody knocks on my door, I I don't necessarily want to hide, typically, right? I don't necessarily want to [00:29:00] be, you know, seen.

And for privacy, I don't know if I'd want a window in my door. But that's easy for me to say because I have a window beside my door in my hallway, going up the stairs. So I have a lot of light coming through anyway. So if I didn't have that light coming through, I'd Theoretically might want a window after I get it frosted or put reeded film on it or something The answer to all of that though really is if you can put a fan light or a transom window over the top So a transom is any window basically that goes above the door This is always such a good option even for internal doors Like if you have a you know a doorway that's going into a very dark room You could think about putting a transom window above it because you keep the privacy, but you get some light in through it Then 

Kate: yeah, you just have to be you know One of those people that isn't bothered by maybe the light coming in in the morning.

Some people like a pitch dark room. I put in glass doors in my first house in Galway. Front door? In the bedroom doors. Oh, in the inside, yeah. Frosted glass doors. But yeah, it's just that the light comes in in the morning, so that's the only thing. Yeah, yeah. But it didn't really bother me. You're a morning 

Jen: person.

It 

Kate: bothers some [00:30:00] people who love sleeping in pitch darkness. 

Jen: But, but on your front door, I think that can be a good option to give you privacy. It means you don't have to be seen through your front door. It's good for security as well. But you do get some daylight in there, which is nice. Yeah, yeah. It is nice.

Where you're not sleeping. So you've the same, basically your front door, you've the same material considerations as you do for windows. You can get PVC or UPVC.

Just don't. I think just don't bother getting PVC. No, no, just 

Kate: get a nice wood door. 

Jen: You can get, you can get wood, you know, aluminium or steel. You can get alu clad. That's what I went for. That's what I would advise going for. You redid your, your Front door in your previous house? No, 

Kate: we just refinished it.

Oh, refinished it. We priced a new hall door and we were actually floored by how expensive it was, and I'm sure they're more expensive now, but thousands because we were planning on selling. Yeah, we were like it's not worth it like it's not we're not going to get it back in the sale And I know the new owners have put in a new hall door.

I saw it, I walk past it all the time. And it's lovely like, in fairness, Every time I pass the house they've done something lovely to it. Yeah, it's gorgeous. [00:31:00] But it was just too expensive at the time, but we would have done it if we had stayed in the house longer. 

Jen: Yeah, yeah, sure. So the final kind of major consideration then right is what lock are you putting in?

And what does that mean for the hardware of your door? So The typical lock that you go for, for security and to reduce your insurance premium and all that kind of stuff is a 5 lever mortise lock. So this is where, you know, when you lock the door, bolts just kind of shoot out at 5 different points across your door and it means it's super secure.

You can get a 7 litre, leaf, litre, 7 lever mortise lock if you are super, super, super into security. But typically what you get is a 5 lever. And the easiest mechanism for opening that is a handle, but I don't like door handles. I don't want a handle on the front of my door. I wanted to keep the original brass doorknob that was in the middle of the door.

So it means that my door is a little bit tricky to open. Sometimes it just, you know, it's not, you, you kind of need two hands, right? One to turn the key and then one to, you know, push with the doorknob at the same time. But I thought it was worth it [00:32:00] because I just, when you think about the hardware, I just really wanted that traditional.

You know, existing brass door knob that I took from the old door and put onto the new door. I didn't like that. I didn't really want the handle. 

Kate: Yeah, our doors always just have the centre kind of traditional knob as well. And just just the plain kind of keyhole lock. I'm saying I don't really like the look of the handle on the outside of a door.

Jen: Yeah, I don't know what it is. I 

Kate: It's just not for old homes, I think. 

Jen: So that's your door hardware. And my last thing is, I've recently been thinking a lot about getting a smart lock. There's some really good ones out there at the 

Kate: moment. I know a few smart locks. We have one on our side entrance and one in our garage.

Kind of gym office kind of room. There's a keypad on it or you can use just like an RFID card. Yeah, 

Jen: I mean they work with phones and Apple watches and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, they do, yeah. 

Kate: It's very handy because you're never kind of stuck I suppose. Yeah. I wouldn't maybe put it as the primary lock of my hall door yet.

I think I might. The one I have. Oh, that one, okay. There's some incredible 

Jen: ones out there. You can give out a guest code and you can change [00:33:00] it. I'm doing a lot of research. Schlage seems to be the best one. Thanks to my neighbour actually for advising that one. What was the name it? Sle. S-C-H-L-A-G-E.

Kate: Okay. My brother had one called Kevo. Okay. K-E-E-V-O-I think. And then 

Jen: Yale do a pretty good one. Gotten really good reviews. 

Kate: I've actually, we had a Yale house alarm last time. Oh yeah. And you could get the kind of lock that connects to your house alarm and all that. Like that whole Oh yeah. Yeah. Again, smart home was probably another episode we could do, but like all those kind of interconnected things.

In the current house, and I think you can get ring ones as well, but we just haven't invested in them yet. We have ring alarms, but you can get the kind of ring keyholes or whatever that connect to your alarm so you get kind of notified if they're opened and stuff like that. And we also have little sensors that are connected to our ring alarm that when the hall door opens, It does a little clink clink on the base unit.

Great when you have a toddler that wants to run all the time. So I actually have one on the side gate on my hall door. So I know if someone opens either of those. That's really handy. And it just gives you a little clink clink and you look out and be like, [00:34:00] Oh, there he goes. Making a break for freedom. So that's a great kind of tip for security as well.

We'll definitely do a smart homes episode. Yeah, it looks good. But if you're thinking about locks and stuff like that, definitely think about, you know, Yeah. Connectivity with maybe your house alarm and stuff as well. 

Jen: Yeah, really, really handy. And the ones I was looking at as well, because I was like, do I need to get an electrician in and wire my front door up?

What's that cost? No, they're battery powered, which is brilliant. So, yeah, I think it's, I think I'm going to do it. It's no brainer. Keep an eye out, keep an ear out. When you smart lock door. All right, I think that pretty much covers it for windows and doors. It's an expensive one. There's a long lead time.

So make sure you, you know, make your decision early and go with a trusted supplier because As you've heard, like a lot can go wrong with Windows and Doors and it's just worth it to get it right. You do not want leaks, you do not want drafts coming through, it can be a really expensive mistake. It's worth just getting it right the first time.

Kate: Definitely. 

Jen: Thanks for 

Kate: listening. 

Jen: See you on our 

Kate: next episode. See you again.

Outro

Jen: If you found that episode useful, please do us a huge favor by [00:35:00] giving us a like, and a few stars and especially click that subscribe button. Thank you.