HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR HOME AND ADD VALUE
Research has shown that more homeowners than ever are planning to improve and add value to their homes over the next 12 months, instead of moving home. Here, Georgina Campbell, Marketing Manager at JELD-WEN, gives some tips on enhancing your home and increasing its value through upgrading the windows and doors.
1. Make a great first impression!
First impressions do count and one of the best ways to do this is to upgrade your front door. JELD-WEN offers a range of high quality external doors to suit every home. With today’s trend towards oak finishes and furnishings in the home, the Kensington Premium range is the perfect complement. These distinctive doors feature a high quality hardwood design in oak that immediately creates a striking impression to any entrance, with black leading and beveled glass adding further elegant detail.
For homeowners looking to create an exclusive Arts and Craft feel to the front of their home, JELD-WEN’s Mackintosh Inspired range in cherry would be a great choice. These stunning entrance doors are manufactured from luxurious cherry veneer, combined with glazing that consists of colourful geometric patterns and floral art reflecting this popular era of design.
For buyers who wish to further enhance the energy efficiency of their homes, the new DreamVu™68 doorset offers at least six times the thermal performance of other materials. This type of doorset offers very low U values, which means it helps to retain a consistent temperature indoors and reduce your energy bills. All DreamVu™68 doors are double weather sealed, to keep out wind-driven rain, which is especially important as we enter the winter period.
2. Upgrade to timber windows
Installing timber windows in a property has been found to be one of the best ways to add value to a home. The quality and aesthetics of timber windows mean they are generally associated with higher value homes and so enhance the appeal of any property. This is particularly the case if the home is a conservation area or rural setting, where timber windows will ensure the property is in keeping with its surroundings.
With the trend towards oak, JELD-WEN’s Oak Stormsure windows are proving extremely popular. The Oak Stormsure is manufactured from attractive engineered oak and combines superb energy performance with outstanding aesthetics. It is the perfect complement for JELD-WEN’s entrance doors, giving a home a real ‘wow’ factor.
JELD-WEN offers a wide choice of timber windows, with factory finishes available to enhance performance. A 60 year Lifespan™ guarantee is now available as an option on JELD-WEN’s fully finished and glazed timber windows, demonstrating their durability for the long term.
3. Install or upgrade patio doors
Patio doors are one of the best ways of bringing more natural light into your home, and creating an attractive, airy living space. They have also been found to significantly add value by enhancing the living area and bringing the home and garden closer together. If you have older-style patio doors which have become worn or draughty, then upgrading them will not only improve the look of your property but could save you a small fortune in energy costs.
Sliding folding doors are very popular at the moment as they mean you can open up the front or back of your house, with the doors folding neatly away concertina-style. This provides huge opportunities to extend your lifestyle by creating a patio area or offering al fresco dining on those long summer evenings.
JELD-WEN offers a range of popular sliding folding doors including the Canberra and the Wellington. The Canberra is available in a high quality oak veneered, with an engineered timber core for added stability. The Wellington patio door is available in unfinished hardwood or fully finished softwood in white to suit buyer’s tastes. French doors are now available in both the Canberra and Wellington designs to further extend buyer choice and provide a suited look for homeowners that wish to include both sliding folding and French patio doors.
4. Make your home more energy efficient with low U value timber windows
The recent rises in energy costs mean many homeowners are looking for ways to reduce heat loss. Over a fifth of a home’s heat is loss through the windows. Even if your windows are already double glazed, the frames can become worn and the seals broken over time, which may lead to air leakage and reduced energy efficiency. JELD-WEN offers a wide range of timber window style with a variety of glazing options, including triple glazed and gas filling between the glazed units, which reduce the transfer of heat from the inner to the outer pane.
All of JELD-WEN’s windows are compliant with the latest Part L building regulations – relating to thermal performance. Ask you window supplier too about low emissivity glass
(known as Low E). This contains a special metal coating which reduces the transfer of heat or cold through the glass and has the twin benefits of keeping rooms warm and cosy during cold weather and preventing them overheating due to excessive solar gain in summer. As well as helping to maintain a constant comfortable temperature in the home, this type of glazing reduces the need for costly heating or air conditioning.
For a truly energy efficient window solution, the DreamVu™ range from JELD-WEN offers market leading thermal performance and is available in both engineered softwood in a choice of factory finishes, or aluminium clad styles, which offer very low maintenance.
5. Upgrade your home’s security
Your home is your castle so make sure it is well protected. Windows and doors can be an easy target for burglars, so choose robust replacements with high quality multi-point locking systems.
All of JELD-WEN’s windows and composite doorsets meet rigorous quality standards to ensure their mechanical strength and on many window styles it is possible to specify them as Secured by Design, which offers that extra level of protection. Secured by Design products are approved by the Association of Chief Police Officers.
6. Let the light flow through
Exposure to natural lighting has been shown to improve human health and well-being, which is probably why homes with more light are always the most appealing. You can maximise the amount of daylight within your home by opening up the interior spaces with glazed internal doors, which let the maximum amount of light filter through.
Building on the popularity of JELD-WEN sliding folding doors, which are renowned for letting the maximum amount of light into a home, the Room Fold Plus internal sliding folding doors open up the living space between rooms. Room Fold doors have become really popular because they provide the flexibility to use a space as a single room or have it sub divided at other times. As homeowners can choose exactly which doors they want, taking into account aesthetics and glazing considerations, they can create their own internal sliding door to suit the style and design of their home.
7. Choose co-ordinated doors and windows
If you are looking to add value to your home, a very good idea is to choose co-ordinated doors and windows throughout, improving the appearance of the entire property. With JELD-WEN’s wide choice of internal and external doors as well as patio doors, French doors and windows in luxurious oak you can continue this distinctive trend through every room of your home.
Often when carrying out a major refurbishment, many homeowners also choose to replace the stairs too. It is possible to choose a staircase that co-ordinates with the windows and doors in a home – for example, oak stairs create a stunning feature that enhances and adds value to a property.
8. Be kind to the environment
Check with your supplier that your timber windows and doors are accredited to one of the Chain of Custody schemes, such as the FSC or PEFC. All of JELD-WEN’s timber windows are Chain of Custody Certified certified, which means they originate from forests with strict reforestation programmes.
Timber has also been defined as the only truly sustainable material, not only because it is naturally renewable but because growing trees draw in and store Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere, bringing huge environmental benefits.
9. Choose fire doors for extra protection
Many homeowners choose to upgrade their internal doors to fire doors to provide even greater protection for their home or family. When choosing a fire door, you should always buy from a stockist that is registered to the BWF-CERTIFIRE scheme (visit website for your nearest stockist www.bwf.org.uk), so you can be sure that the door has been fully accredited and tested to meet the British Standards.
Most fire doors are available as FD30 and FD60 (30/60 minute fire protection), this relates to how long the door will withstand smoke ingress and flame and protect the occupant, if it is being used properly. A BWF-CERTIFIRE approved fire door will carry a metallic identification label that is placed on the top edge, this identification is recorded with the manufacturer to allow full traceability.
10. Choose a high quality factory finish
One way to enhance the appearance of windows and doors and enhance durability and longevity and provide low maintenance is to choose factory finished products. This means that a specialist paint or varnish is applied by the manufacturer in factory controlled conditions. These finishes have been developed over the years to ensure maximum durability and superior performance over the lifetime of the product. JELD-WEN offers a 10 year guarantee on factory finished painted doors and windows and a six year guarantee on varnished finishes.
For more information about JELD-WEN windows or doors, or to order a copy of the new brochure, contact the sales helpline on 0845 122 2890 or visit the website at www.jeld-wen.co.uk
