JELD-WEN has become the first volume joinery manufacturer to offer a 60 year guarantee on timber windows, backed both by innovation in timber preservative technology and independent academic research on Wood Window Alliance windows by Imperial College.
The ‘Lifespan’ guarantee against rot and fungal attack is an optional guarantee and applies to any JELD-WEN fully factory finished softwood factory-glazed timber window. This matches the expected 60 year lifespan on which most new build housing funding calculations are based.
This breakthrough, which has huge implications for both the new build and refurbishment sector, particularly in social housing, takes JELD-WEN’s timber windows to a whole new level in terms of guaranteed long life and reliability.
Offering timber windows with a guaranteed lifespan the same as a newly built property will significantly reduce ‘whole life’ costings, specifically in the area of maintenance and replacement costs for owners and social landlords during the lifetime of the home.
Ian Purkis, Technical Director at JELD-WEN, explains: “We are very excited about this industry first, which means our fully finished softwood windows represent even better value for money and offer the best possible whole life costings. In these budget conscious times, local authorities and housing associations in particular are looking at long term performance of windows and our 60 year guarantee means there should need to be no replacement of the original windows in the design life of the house, which has major cost saving implications.”
JELD-WEN, which is one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of timber windows, worked in partnership with Osmose, a world leader in wood preservation technology, to bring this major initiative to the UK market. The technology involves taking every engineered softwood component and treating it with an innovative new preservative system, incorporating proven active ingredients, before it is primed, undercoated or topcoated through JELD-WEN’s automated sprayline. As part of the Lifetspan™ guarantee, JELD-WEN is also offering a 15 year paint finish guarantee which applies to all fully finished Hi-build painted softwood windows.
Responding to demand from its social housing customers, the guarantee is part of JELD-WEN’s continuous commitment to sound environment principles in accordance with its ISO14001 certification, backed up by the A+ Rating as a BWF Timber Window Accreditation Scheme member under “The Green Guide”. All windows covered by JELD-WEN’s 60 year guarantee are FSC Chain of Custody certified, which ensures the sustainability of the timber sourced.
The 60 year Lifespan™ guarantee is also available on JELD-WEN’s windows that feature its Secured by Design specification, which meet the enhanced protection against intruder attack that is approved by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
“Our 60 year guarantee will now become a valuable option on all our factory finished softwood windows,” Ian Purkis adds. “Our fully finished timber windows have long been known for their low maintenance and long term performance, but this latest innovation takes this to a whole new level. We are looking forward to demonstrating this to our customers over the coming months.”
For more information contact JELD-WEN on 0845 122 2890, or visit the website www.jeld-wen.co.uk
