Guest Post by Martin Randall in response to this comment on a previous post
The timber industry is very active with spin about other materials but it would be best to stick with the facts.
PVC-U, UPVC or PVC does not give off fumes nor does it leach into the ground whether buried or not. PVC-U is a particularly inert material. Once it is manufactured into profile it lasts, and lasts, and lasts. Many of the windows installed in the 1980s by Local Authorities are being replaced with double glazed frames because they were single glazed to save money. Others are being replaced and upgraded so they are more secure or have better insulation, or because the hardware breaks down and is obsolete. But the PVC-U itself just goes on and on.
Early estimates of its lifetime have had to be revised upwards. PVC-U windows will clearly last 35 years with ease, but the material itself looks good for 70 years or more. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if, like concrete, it lasted much longer. The surface gets grubby and fades after a time, but that’s it. It resists burning and self extinguishes in fire. It doesn’t melt in normal fires. When it does burn, at very high temperatures, and long after timber has burned to a crisp, it does give off some fumes. All materials do. Timber for example gives off far more noxious dioxins than PVC-U which gives off just a trace.
The more we recycle the better. It’s just good house keeping. It’s a waste if we don’t, but buried PVC-U is not a hazard or danger to health.
Now if you are concerned about easily leached materials from the surface of window frames in landfill, consider the nasty materials from the coatings of old timber frames. Like PVC-U windows, timber windows can be recycled. They could be dismantled but you try scraping away the paint and breaking down the window into components. Most timber windows aren’t recycled as you can see from the contents of skips all around the country. Most replaced windows going into landfill are not PVC-U, they are timber. If you want to lie awake worried about window materials leaching into our water supplies, worry about old timber windows.
Martin Randall
Fighting Back With Facts
http://www.fightingbackwithfacts.com
Tags: double glazed frames, fighting back with facts, PVC, pvc-u, single glazed frames, timber window industry, Timber Windows, timber windows landfill, UPVC, upvc windows landfill
Very well put Martin.
PVCu always seems to get a bad press but in reality it performs equally as well as the alternatives and when considering its life span, low maintenance, security, and value for money you can understand why PVCu is the material of choice.
We may have a struggle to change the minds of some diehards, but at least there are now people and organisations speaking up for the environmental credentials of PVCu.
Well done.
I agree with all of your comments and sentiments, and congratulations on your new appointment within the GGF. I have read this webpage over the last 12 months and noted the comments without a response, however I think now is the time to make one or two points.
One of the major developments in recent times must be Lead Free Profile, some system companies have either avoided the change or just chose not to do it, Lead Free petrol was launched to reduce pollution, everyone who buys petrol now buys lead free because its the right thing to do, some systems companies still supply lead stabilised window profiles, why?????. the only reason can be commercial gain for short term profit. Just imagine if you had to put the green skull and crossbones on your adverts for windows and imagine the conversations to explain this to joe public.
The systems companies have been guilty of not supplying new products over the last 3 or 4 years due to the constraints of reccession, innovation has stalled, but this has been fed by the fabricators just wanting to buy cheap. I have met numerous fabricators who know that the system they fabricate is outdated, lead stabilised, restricted in terms of thermal performance but cheap. This just allows the system companies to avoid expensive change of either tools raw materials or both. Ultimatly who will lose out.
If you look at other industries then change and improvement is driven by the customer, everyone now accepts that their new fridge has a energy rating, every one accepts that your new fridge is fully recyclable without any nasty gases inside , yet why oh why do some fabricators keep knocking old outdated windows with no energy rating, made with soon to be illegal metal inside, come on lads rather than moan about the market, look forward and embrace change and help push it forward rather than being dragged along.
[...] Guest post by Roger Hartshorne in response to Martin Randall’s recent post [...]