And the View’s So Nice – Why We Love Sliding Windows

I’d been rudely winkled out of my comfortable country home last week and forced up to London. It happens every once in a while and I don’t usually enjoy it.

This time, though, my friend took me to Primrose Hill, where we walked in some unseasonably warm weather before taking a turn to the nearest pub for refreshments.

And on the way up the Hill, we passed a piece of graffiti that seemed to encapsulate my views on sliding windows. Someone had scrawled on the path leading to the top of Primrose Hill:

“And the view’s so nice!”

That’s pretty much how I feel about installing a sliding sash or even a full set of sliding windows for a client’s property. It’s what I have on my own, so I can enjoy an uninterrupted view of the countryside outside my lounge and kitchen.

A casement-style window is all very well, in some situations it is perfect (think about rooms or places where you might need to accurately control the gap that opens when you let the air in, for example if you have small children or pets) – but for me, nothing will ever beat the look and open feel of sliding windows.

When you open a casement window there is always a part of your vista that is obstructed by the open leaf of the window itself and no matter how attractive your windows, are or how good the wood from which they are made, I’d still rather see my garden in all its glory without a piece of wood and glass sticking out into the middle of my view.

With modern pulley and locking technology, there’s even no reason why sliding windows should present the problems they used to either in terms of having a propensity for suddenly sliding down when they aren’t supposed to, and trapping unsuspecting fingers on the way; or with regards to keeping your children and pets safe from launching themselves out of upper stories or clambering over the kitchen sill and ruining your flower beds.

Bedroom with aluminium sliding door windows

The bespoke sliding windows we put in for our clients incorporate sequential locking systems to make sure that there are no discrepancies between where you want your window to open and where it actually opens to.

The locking mechanisms are silent and strong, and the pulley systems ensure that the rising and falling action of the sash occurs smoothly and slowly – no more slamming down or springing up!

I have to admit I love the look of sliding windows too. A sliding window adds an air of space that not many casements have the ability to impart.

It’s something to do with the unobstructed shape of the sliding window, which looks, when closed, more like a whole continuous pane and less like something that has been deliberately separated. Houses for courses, I know – I just prefer sliding windows!