If you are looking to install new windows in your home this summer, there are priorities that might be easily overlooked amid the summer heat. In particular, it may be very easy to ignore the importance of good insulation.

This is one good reason for fitting aluminium windows, as they can be combined with a wide range of insulating measures to help keep the heat in on a cold day.

For those who already have aluminium frames but no insulation, various DIY measures can achieve this effect. They include fitting rubber strips, adding spray foam insulation and applying window frame sealant.

However, there is no point in getting aluminium-framed windows fitted without insulation and then doing a DIY job on them. Instead, you can have the insulation built into them from the outset, ensuring that as soon as they are in place, they can keep your home warm.

A reason some may not think of insulation as being so important is the need to try to keep the home cool during the hot summer weather, something many would suggest needs to be more of a priority as the climate gets warmer.

However, that approach falls foul of a problem that homes in hotter countries face in reverse, Australia being a prime example.

Homes down under are designed to handle the heat, which means they are better at staying cool in their hotter summers than British homes. That means even though our temperatures in summer are generally colder, we will feel hotter inside.

However, the other side of that coin is that Australian homes are not well insulated against colder weather, which means they are some of the least well-equipped for dealing with cold weather.

One article noted that even a Canadian, coming from a country with some bitterly cold winters but homes equipped to handle them, had never felt colder indoors than in the Australian winter.

Given that our winter days are still significantly colder than those in Australia, there is no good reason to neglect insulation. However warm our summers get, we will still need it a few months from now.

When you’re a homeowner, renovations like replacing your windows might seem like a big job. For many of us, it’s tempting to make do with our current glazing, but there are several reasons why now might be the time to consider upgrading your windows. 

An obvious sign is if your current window frames are degraded, which means they no longer create a seal and therefore let draughts into your home. This could be seriously affecting the energy efficiency of your property and costing you more in heating bills. 

Depending on how old your home is, your existing window frames may have warped or become misaligned. Often the first sign that this has happened is that your windows are hard to open or close. Sometimes this can be fixed, but on other occasions the best solution will be replacing the windows in question. 

Timber frames are particularly prone to warping, so if this is a problem you’ve experienced you might want to consider switching to windows with aluminium frames to prevent this from happening again. 

Even if your windows appear in good condition, if they are more than ten years old it might be worth getting a window installer to take a look to see if new windows could add more than you imagine to your home.

It’s not just a case of updating the aesthetics. As the HomeOwners Alliance notes, glazing technology has moved on a long way in the past decade, which means modern windows often perform much better in terms of their energy efficiency. This means they will make your home more comfortable, as well as ensuring the exterior looks as good as possible. 

Of course, if you still have single-glazed windows anywhere in your property, start here. These types of windows are far less energy efficient than their double or triple-glazed counterparts. You’ll certainly notice a difference in the temperature of your home and your energy bills if you replace these with more modern glazing. 

Now that the equinox (March 20^th) has passed, the days are longer than the nights, something that will continue to be increasingly true until the end of June. At the same time, the sun will get higher and higher in the sky in the middle of the day, reaching as high as 62 degrees here in Yorkshire.

The prospect of some warm sunny days will be welcomed by those glad to see the back of winter, but there are ways in which you can enjoy it even more in your home. Fitting a new skylight is a great way of doing just that.

It means when the sun is high in the sky in summer, it won’t slip completely out of sight by rising above the line of the ceiling. Instead, it can shine down on the room below, providing extra illumination.

A bonus element of this is that you can still enjoy at least some of this extra light when it is wet, staying dry indoors while at least having a lot of light to enjoy despite it being diminished to an extent by the rain clouds. The weather can’t be guaranteed, but the planet’s axial tilt can.

If you are planning to have a skylight fitted, a modern aluminium-framed version will provide you with a durable, smart product that will last you for many years, enabling you and your family to enjoy the benefits of the summer sun high in the sky for many years to come.

A key issue, however, is to ensure you plan to install it in the right part of the roof. Ideally, you want to enjoy the direct light in the early to middle part of the day, but less so beyond into the late afternoon, as this is when the heat has built up and the temperatures are at their highest.

By planning this right, you can enjoy the best of the light in summer while not roasting at 3 PM.

Maximising the amount of natural light that floods into your home brings with it all sorts of benefits. Of course, there’s the aesthetic quality that cannot be denied and you’re also sure to find that practical use of your living spaces is easier with all the extra light (not to mention the opportunity to reduce your energy bills), but there are also lots of health benefits to be enjoyed, as well, including better mental health, more energy and better sleep, to name just three.

If you have a flat roof at home, you have the perfect opportunity to invite more natural light inside – and one of the most popular ways of achieving this right now is through the installation of walk-on rooflights.

Designed for anyone with a roof terrace, basement conversion or suitable kitchen extension, these design features bring more light into your living areas without affecting how the above space is used, or the thermal integrity of the room below.

They’re made using incredibly tough glass, so you don’t need to worry that they won’t hold your weight and they’re available in anti-slip finishes, as well, so safety isn’t compromised either.

Not only that but these rooflights are also very efficient, designed to reduce thermal bridging to maintain a comfortable living environment, with energy-efficient glazing with a u-value of 1.2 provided as standard. They’re also available as triple glazed units if you want to take it that one step further.

Note that if you plan to have your walk-on rooflight installed outside, you’ll need to carry out a water test prior to fitting. Ideally, you want a gradient of 40mm for every 1,000mm that runs in accordance with the fall of the roof. 

To carry out your water test, pour water on the highest point of the rooflight and see if any of it pools… but this is something we can certainly help you with, so get in touch with the team today to find out more.

Whilst people want a beautiful front door, the priority for many homeowners is safety, and a tailored aluminium door installation allows for both.

The most recent version of the Building Regulations (Approved Document Q, section 1.2) requires front doors to reach a minimum security standard, but the easiest way to know that your door is secure is to choose one with Secured by Design accreditation.

The Secured by Design initiative was launched by the UK Police Service to help people choose security products that help to prevent crime by improving their security credentials.

They focus on a wide number of security systems and whilst they do not undertake any testing themselves, they recommend suitable security standards that ensure that the door is not only secure but also provides fire resistance to stop a burglar from simply burning the door down to get in.

The accreditation consists of a series of security parameters alongside a test designed to mimic an opportunistic burglar and how they would attempt to break in using tools that could be easily bought and concealed on their person.

The most common test is PAS 24:2022 a Product Assessment Specification overseen by the British Standards Institution (BSI), with a simple pass or fail test but there are other systems available which can describe a much wider range of security products.

The most common security standard other than PAS 24 approved by Secured by Design is LPS (Loss Prevention Standard) 1175, with the most recent version of the guidance being Issue 8.2.

Before Issue 8, LPS 1175 featured eight security ratings (SR1-8), of which SR6 was the highest given to a door and lock system.

This has since been replaced by a letter and number combination, the former describing a set of increasingly complex, loud and sophisticated tools, whilst the latter is the time in minutes the door survives a forced entry attempt using these tools.

For the building regulations, the minimum standard was B3 (the old SR2), but some metal doors have higher ratings than this.