Hazlemere Garage Doors Buyers Guide
With 25 years of experience to call on in the home improvement industry, the Hazlemere Group have produced yet another home improvement buyer’s guide, this time on garage doors, to assist homeowners make informed decisions before investing in the best garage door for their property, ensuring they get the right product for their particular circumstances.
Click here to order your free copy of Hazlemere Garage Doors Buyers Guide
Hazlemere Window Company have already produced an independently edited Window & Doors Buyer’s Guide, a Conservatory Buyer’s Guide and an Eco Friendly Windows & Doors Brochure. You can obtain these free Buyer’s Guides on the Hazlemere Group website, plus access lots of home improvement useful resources.
Hazlemere Garage Doors Buyer’s Guide looks at all the different operating mechanisms, the material choices and offers invaluable expert help and advice for homeowners considering a replacement garage door or who have to buy a new garage door for a new build garage. The Garage Doors Buyer’s Guide looks at the pros and cons of the different types of garage doors available, both in terms of how they open and close and the benefits of one garage door material over another.
Hazlemere are also producing an Awnings, Blinds and Canopies Buyers Guide, which like the Garage Doors Buyer’s Guide will be available both online and as a hard copy in the post. If you would like to receive a free copy of any one of the Hazlemere Group buyer’s guides, simply click here provide your name and address, and in the box marked “Nature of Enquiry” state which complimenatry buyer’s guide you would like to receive by post. This free buyer’s guide will then be sent out to you by the Hazlemere Group on the next working day. (Please note hard copies of the Garage Doors Buyers guide will be available from around mid-January 2010 and the Awnings, Blinds & Canopies Buyers Guide from around the end of January 2010).
CATAGORY|Home Improvements
If you are not already, I am hoping you will soon be aware of the Government proposals to drastically revise Part L of the Building Regulations in 2010. As, if these proposals do come into effect on 1st October 2010 as the Government plans, they will affect all existing English and Welsh properties, whose owners wish to install replacement windows in the future.
In addition, property owners looking to build an extension or a new property after 1st October 2010 will have to ensure that the extension or new building is at least 25% more efficient than current new buildings have to be, which will obviously have a cost implication, although not every component of a building will have to improve by 25%, but overall it will have to, so some elements clearly are going to have to be made/built to a higher specification to deliver the substantial energy efficiency savings these proposals are looking to achieve.
Pilkington published “Bulletin 9″ in September 2009 as a “guide to help architects, specifiers and the glazing industry to understand the new proposals and how these changes affect their industries.” It would certainly be worth your while to read Pilkington’s Bulletin 9 which summarizes all the proposed Government Building Regulation Part L changes to existing/new dwellings, existing/new buildings, listed buildings, new conservatories and building in a conservation area.
If these proposed changes are adopted (which given the Government’s carbon reduction targets seems likely), the implications for homeowners, as well as commercial and public buildings are enormous, as from 1st October 2010, no property owner will be legally allowed to install windows that have do not have a British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC) energy rating certificate of “C” or above.
Currently therefore, the vast majority of retail double glazing products being sold in the UK (which are band “D” or below) will become obsolete overnight, as property owners will only have until a deadline of 30th September 2010 to have completed their installation with these less energy efficient products. Many homeowners who may have started their window refurbishment programme using these double glazing products, will only have until 30th September 2010 to install “matching” windows to those they already have if these proposals go ahead as planned.
Consequently, there may well be a rush by property owners to order replacement windows in time to ensure they are supplied and fitted before the deadline. Demand in this situation would be likely to outstrip supply, so it will be worth keeping a close eye on whether or not these proposals are adopted, the decision on which will hopefully be announced by the Government by Easter 2010, giving property owners the time to order aesthetically matching identical products before the cut off point should they wish to.
Normally having “C” rated or above double glazed windows does cost more, so these Government proposals will have the effect of overnight pushing up the cost of replacement windows for everyone in the land, as the most energy saving, energy efficient windows are more expensive due to the higher specification required, so that they comply with the strict energy rating standards set by the British Fenestration Rating Council.
Although higher rated energy rated windows cost more (than less well rated ones), they do have significant environmental benefits as they reduce your carbon footprint by cutting emissions, save on your energy consumption (consequently reduce your energy bills). So, although the initial outlay may be a bit more, the long term gain offers a decent return on your investment in terms of saving money on your heating bills when you install energy efficient double glazing.
You can find out more about the current Building Regulations in England & Wales on the Pilkington website as well as on the planning portal.
CATAGORY|Saving Energy, Windows & Doors
(week six)
Purchasing a conservatory is a major investment and needs to be extensively researched and considered with care. Whatever it is you want to use your conservatory for, getting the right conservatory will change your home and ultimately add value to your property.
So, with this is mind we want to present our bespoke conservatory buyers guide so you can buy the conservatory of your dreams – with confidence and peace of mind. Our no-nonsense guide will enable you to evaluate, compare and hopefully find the right conservatory that compliments your home.
Although you can download our buyers guide in its entirety from the Hazlemere website, we’ve decided to break it down into more dissolvable chunks for you. Once a week we will provide you with the key advice and benefits of introducing a wonderful and practical conservatory to your property. Our aim is very simple: to turn what could be a potential headache into an altogether more pleasurable experience!
Last week we focused on Safety and Security. This week we’ll be looking at how to find the right supplier and what to ask before you make your final decision.
Hazlemere High Wycombe Factory & Showroom
Where do you start looking when you need to find an honest and reputable company that you can trust to give you the advice you need with craftsmanship to match?
Finding the right supplier is often the hardest part of any home improvement project. Here is our advice for finding someone you can rely on and we also offer guidance on what you should be checking when you first start to talk to them.
One of the best places to start your hunt for the best company for you is with friends and family. Ask the people you know if they can make any recommendations either following work that they have had done themselves, or perhaps if they know someone that has had work done recently.
By working from local reputation and recommendations you will get a clearer idea about the company from the start. Companies with a good reputation are also likely to have been in business longer and this is a good indicator that you will probably be more secure with them.
The phone directory, direct mail leaflets that drop on your doormat and local newspaper advertising are also all good ways of establishing who is operating in your area. Unfortunately the phone directories, mailing companies and newspapers do not regulate who can advertise with them so you will need to be a little more careful when dealing with companies that you haven’t heard of before.
Once you have started to talk to companies then you should ask the following sort of questions:
How long have they been established in the area?
The longer the better but check that they have always traded under the same name as some companies will go bust and, like the proverbial ‘phoenix’, reappear with a very similar name and continue trading. Deposits are lost and guarantees become void in this process and it is invariably you, the customer, who sadly loses out.
Will they be able to take care of the planning & building regulation side of things?
It is possible that you will not need planning permission or to build to building regulations, depending on whether you have used up all your permitted development rights (if any?), however a reputable company will be able to competently take care of this for you. If your supplier does do this on your behalf then ensure you see the relevant paperwork yourself before any work commences. Ask to see references or testimonials. If possible ring references up and ask them if they were happy with the work that was done. Most importantly ask how problems were resolved. It is unrealistic to expect every installation to be trouble-free, but it is how a company deals with problems that are the most important issue.
Do you have to pay a deposit?
Companies will vary on what they expect you to pay ‘up front’. Some reputable companies do not ask for a deposit at all. On no account should the deposit be more than 10% unless the order is highly specialised.
What guarantee is offered?
Some companies sell insurance backed guarantees but these only cover you if the company goes out of business. What is really more important is how they handle their after sales support generally. Again, check with the reference to see if the company managed ‘under guarantee’ call backs efficiently and without trouble.
Does the company carry public liability insurance?
Building a conservatory is a major home improvement project so you need the peace of mind of knowing your supplier is fully insured should something go wrong on site. Smaller, one-man operations may offer you a cheaper conservatory but not have this valuable protection.
What are my finance options?
There are a number of ways you can pay for your new conservatory. Consider any finance options you are offered carefully as personal loan or mortgage charges may be lower. Taking independent advice may help you to find the best option.
Finally, and most importantly, read the details of any contract very carefully and ask for a fully itemised list of the proposed works. Ask for full detailed drawings and only when you are totally satisfied with everything should you sign off the work to be undertaken.
See our full conservatory buyer’s guide for advice on choosing a conservatory design, the many styles available, the pros and the cons of different materials and how planning law applies to glass conservatories.
CATAGORY|Conservatories
When buying or renting a property, or looking at replacement double glazed windows, I am sure that carrying out a fire risk assessment, or ensuring one has been carried out by the landlord or local council, is not the first thing you would think of doing?
Sadly, recent tragedies do prove that carrying out a fire risk assessment could indeed save lives. Earlier this month, Ed Davey for BBC News, London wrote an article on the BBC News website that should be a wake up call for us all called “Lives risked by cheap fire option” following a BBC London investigation.
The article expressed concerns that “across London vast numbers of buildings have seen traditional wooden window frames replaced with PVC plastic, including a block in Croydon which burned to the ground in 2007. These replacements had also been made at Lakanal House, in Camberwell, south London, where six people were killed when a fire ripped through the building, last July.”
Picture of the post fire damage at Lakanal House, Camberwell in 2009
Ed Davey’s article went on to report that “experts have blamed the speed that the fire spread there on a windows as well as a replacement facade for the building made of plastic.”
From reading the article it does appear that the installation may not have been done properly, which was then compounded by a fire risk assessment not being carried out. It goes without saying that as PVC is plastic it will obviously melt in a fire, so it is important to ensure that if you do own a house with these windows, or are considering replacement UPVC windows because they cost less than hardwood or aluminium windows, that they are installed properly. In the article Chris Houston, a fire risk consultant, was quoted as stating that “any fire engineer will tell you PVC burns easier than wood.”
Every window material on the market place has advantages and disadvantages, so it really is important to ensure that the products you have or are going to have in your property are as safe as they possibly can be, given there is no 100% safe solution, as obviously wood also burns, and aluminium will also eventually melt in intense heat, although it does not give off the sort of acrid smoke PVC does when it burns.
The 2007 Croydon Residential Fire
In terms of the fires involving PVC windows in Croydon in 2007 and Camberwell in 2009, BBC London “learned of the striking similarities in the Lakanal disaster to that of the fire which destroyed the block in Croydon, on Christmas Day 2007. The official report into that fire blamed incorrect installation of PVC windows. Along with replacement PVC windows in place, neither had had a valid fire risk assessment – meaning both councils had not carried out basic safety checks.”
Read Ed Davey’s entire BBC News article
Given that six people died as recently as July 2009 in London because of these factors, we should think seriously about not only what type of windows we have, but also how they are installed, and in essence carry out our own common sense fire risk assessment of where we live. When looking for replacement double glazed windows or energy efficient windows for an extension or new build project (which must comply with Building Regulations anyway), it is worth remembering that, in my view, cheaper is very rarely better, as in this precious life, one tends to get what one pays for and living in safety is something you can not put a price to.
CATAGORY|Major Events
Whilst the Hazlemere Group are primarily known throughout High Wycombe and Buckinghamshire as independent window, door, curtain walling and conservatory manufacturers, suppliers and installers, Hazlemere are also independent suppliers and installers of all types of garage doors, including up and over garage doors, sectional garage doors, roller garage doors and side hinged garage doors.
Hazlemere Garage Doors supply and fit garage doors in all the different materials available in the UK marketplace today, including glass reinforced polyester (GRP), ABS (plastic), steel, aluminium and solid timber. Consequently, Hazlemere decided to pass on their years of experience and expertise by producing a Garage Door Buyers Guide to assist homeowners choose the right garage door for their property.
Hazlemere Garage Doors Buyers Guide
This
free twelve page Garage Doors Buyers Guide looks at the different garage door operating mechanisms available, and discusses the merits of the various different garage door materials. The guide is full of useful tips and advice for property owners, along with the sort of things you should consider before deciding which garage door is the best for your particular property.
Click here to look through all the different garage door types Hazlemere Garage Doors supply and install.
CATAGORY|Home Improvements
The Hazlemere Group have been supplying and fitting made to measure manual and electric remote control garage doors in Bucks, Berks, Herts, Middlesex, Oxon. and surrounding counties for years now, so have the experience and expertise to advise homeownwers on the best garage doors for their home, particularly if they want to protect their garage space from cold, wind and precipitation.
As independent manufacturers of windows and doors, Hazlemere Window Company Ltd are not tied to any make of garage door, so offer genuine independent advice on the different types of operating mechanisms available in the market place, along with free professional advice on the pros and cons of the choice of garage door materials available. The Hazlemere Group supply and fit all types of bespoke garage doors, be they glass re-inforced polyester garage doors (GRP), steel, plastic (ABS), solid timber and insulated aluminium garage doors etc. Hazlemere Garage Doors supply and fit made to measure single and double up & over garage doors, side hung garage doors, sectional garage doors and roller shutter garage doors.
If you would like to have as cosy and snug a garage as possible without spending a fortune insulating all the walls and roof, install an insulated garage door with a weather seal, along with double glazed windows and a side door etc. The best insulated garage doors tend to be sectional or roller garage doors as they run in channels down the side of your garage walls and can have weather seals fitted along the bottom strip, keeping out leaves, the wind, rain and the cold.
You can see a demonstration model of a white electric up and over garage door in the Hazlemere Group Showroom on Cressex Business Park, High Wycombe, along with a demonstration model of a remote control GRP sectional garage door with a wood grain effect finish and a weather seal, which offers your garage decent insulation from the elements. Find out more about Hazlemere Garage Doors
CATAGORY|Home Improvements
(week five)
Buying a conservatory is a notable investment and needs to be researched and considered with care. Whatever it is you want to use your conservatory for, getting the right conservatory will transform your home and ultimately augment the value to your property.
So, with this is mind we want to dispense our bespoke conservatory buyers guide so you can buy the conservatory of your dreams – with confidence and peace of mind. Our no-nonsense guide will enable you to evaluate, compare and hopefully find the right conservatory that compliments your home.
Although you can download our buyers guide in its entirety from the Hazlemere website, we’ve decided to break it down into digestible sections for you. Once a week we will provide you with the key advice and benefits of introducing a inviting and practical conservatory to your property. Our aim is very simple: to turn what could be a potential headache into an altogether more pleasurable experience!
Last week we focused on Ventilation, Shading and Heating. This week we’ll be looking at Safety and Security and how the right conservatory can easily protect you and your home.
Secure Aluminium Hazlemere Conservatory
British Standards clearly states the ‘critical locations’ where special glass must be used in our homes. Apart from the roof of your conservatory, these areas are glazed doors, glazed side panels to doors and windows within 800mm of the floor. There are three types of safety glass that can be used in these vulnerable areas.
The first is laminated glass which is actually two pieces of glass bonded together with a plastic layer between the two. This type of glass cracks on heavy impact but the pieces of glass stay in position and so reduce the risk of injury.
The next option is toughened glass which is much stronger than ordinary glass and if it does break, it falls into small granular pieces that are unlikely to cause serious harm. Wired Safety glass has a wire mesh embedded within it so that it behaves like laminated glass when broken.
Security Zone
As well as protecting those who are meant to be in your home, the use of laminated glass can also help to protect your home from unwanted visitors. A note of caution though – it is important to understand that glass that is hard to break may actually be a risk in itself should you need to escape from your home in the event of a fire.
However, special ‘fire-egress’ hinges can be fitted onto your windows which will allow the window to open far enough to allow you to escape. Experienced window companies will be able to advise you on the best arrangement for your home. This type of advice is invaluable and is one of the reasons why buying on price alone is rarely a good idea.
Don’t overlook the locking options available on the conservatories you look at. What is ‘standard’ for one company might be an ‘optional extra’ for another. Most modern replacement windows and doors in conservatories feature multi-point locking ‘as standard’.
This is a locking system that secures at more than just one point in the window or door frame. Some will also offer a ‘night vent’ position which gives you a lockable, partially open position – remember though that any window left open, even if only slightly, is still a security risk.
See our full conservatory buyer’s guide for advice on choosing a conservatory design, the many styles available, the pros and the cons of different materials and how planning law applies to glass conservatories.
Next week: Finding the right supplier
CATAGORY|Conservatories
When it comes to reducing our own carbon footprint or reducing our energy consumption, we all have to start somewhere. Doing nothing yourself just because other people do nothing to reduce climate change is obviously not the answer, but leading by example is always a good way to go.
We can all start by being more efficient by using energy-efficient light bulbs, turning down the thermostat on our central heating or night storage heaters. We can get a Home Energy Check done, run our fridges at 3-5°C, plus heat hot water to only 60°C, draw curtains earlier in the day thereby retaining more heat indoors. We can also set the washing machine to 30-40°C, dry clothes naturally, recycle, switch electrical equipment we are not using off as soon as we have stopped using it and print less emails and literature.
An important and effective way to reduce our carbon footprint is to insulate our homes and workplaces. We can do this by improving loft insulation, insulating cavity walls, laging boilers and pipes, insulating hot water tanks, installing solar hot water systems, along with energy efficient, energy saving double glazing.
We can choose to travel less, work from home wherever possible rather than commuting, car-share and fly less. Other ways to reduce our carbon footprint and help the environment include eating green, cutting down on meat consumption (farming animals for food leaves a huge carbon footprint), buying as much local produce as possible therefore reducing “food miles”.
We can also opt to think rainforest and shop “forest-friendly” (look for the logos of the Forest Stewardship Council or the Rainforest Alliance) when buying wooden things as deforestation accounts for 20 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions. It is never too late to start to reduce your carbon footprint, which at the end of the day is your call, but whatever your actions (and those of others), we will have to all live with the consequences in the short, medium and long term.
CATAGORY|Carbon Footprint, Saving Energy
I was thrilled when the former Dr Who, Colin Baker, in his Bucks Free Press article entitled, “Look Who’s Talking” on Friday 4th December 2009, suggested that “Anyone wanting to reduce their energy consumption should look at http://www.hazlemere.co.uk/blog/category/savingenergy”
Colin Baker’s column also discussed the GGF’s campaign to encourage the government “to introduce a national window scrappage scheme, recommending a grant of £1,000 to encourage homeowners to replace energy inefficient glazing with environmentally friendly windows.”
This former Dr Who, Colin Baker further comments on the potential merits of a national window scrappage scheme stating that a “single glazing scrappage scheme from central government could result in considerable savings in fossil fuel depletion, emissions and waste, offering immediate potential savings of 10% as a result of this initiative alone.”
Naturally I found his article both very intersting and amusing, especially when he said that I like him are “a failed manager of the universe”, which made me wonder if he had read my profile on my own personal blog “Champions Don’t Give Up, They Get Up“. I trust he found my blog entitled “Why on earth do double glazing companies in Bucks use high pressure selling tactics” interesting? Although, as the sixth Dr Who, I am sure Colin Baker had more pressing matters to concern him.
The first Dr Who I can remember from my distant past was, the third Dr Who, Jon Pertwee, but I certainly remember Colin Baker as Dr Who, who is now a school governor who suggests we should invest in the present to save energy for the future…”replacing these windows would pay for itself in a compartively short time in terms of the legacy we leave just the next generation, let alone those after.” (Colin Baker, Look Who’s Talking article on page 15 of the Bucks Free Press on 4/12/09)
The former Dr Who, Colin Baker also kindly says about Bucks based independent double glazing window and door manufacturers, suppliers and installers Hazlemere Windows that “independent and local are both good in my book.” Find out what else Colin Baker had to say in his article about reducing energy consumption
CATAGORY|Carbon Footprint, Saving Money
“The Carbon Trust estimates that investing in energy efficiency measures yields a return of between 15 and 17 per cent and nowhere is that investment more required than in buildings – commercial, public and domestic.” says an article on the telegraph.co.uk website by Andrew Charlesworth entitled Talking Energy: energy efficiency, where he goes on to state that “Buildings in the UK account for about 44 per cent of our carbon emissions, says the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Building improvements would save an equivalent of 36 million tCO2e (tons of CO2 equivalent) per year, and enhancing the efficiency of lighting and appliances could save 31 million tCO2e, according to McKinsey, a consultancy.”
“Energy efficiency must not be regarded as some kind of soft option or nice to have, but rather as a rigorous and vigorous action programme to reduce substantially the country’s demand for energy,” wrote former energy minister and MP for Croydon North Malcolm Wicks in his report Energy Security: A National Challenge in a Changing World, published last summer.
Andrew Charlesworth goes on to explain that “While new-build projects present the biggest opportunity to reduce emissions per building, in the UK 60 per cent of the premises we will still be using in 2050 are already built, according to the Carbon Trust. Heating and lighting domestic buildings account for about two-thirds of our emissions from buildings, so clearly this is where one solution lies to save money and carbon.”
“National Energy Action, a charity that campaigns for the eradication of fuel poverty (defined as households spending more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel), believes the Government should initiate a comprehensive retrofit of UK housing.”
“Improving the thermal efficiency of the housing stock is the core intervention that can be made in the eradication of fuel poverty,” says Jenny Saunders, chief executive of NEA.
“There is already an established measure of a building’s thermal efficiency — the Energy Performance Certificate, which is mandatory for houses sold after October 2008. An average 80-year-old terraced home with 100m2 floor space has an energy efficiency of only about 50 per cent.” states Andrew in his extremely helpful article article. He goes on to encourage us to improve the energy efficiency of our homes, which “can be increased up to 80 per cent by conventional retrofit measures, such as loft and cavity wall insulation, double glazing and low-energy lighting. Saunders argues that every UK home needs to be upgraded to at least this level, and preferably to be 81-91 per cent energy efficient.”
CATAGORY|Carbon Footprint, Saving Energy
