Frame materials
Green Building Store is committed to the use of carefully-sourced timber as a durable and sustainable material for its windows and doors. For specifications requiring very low maintenance, we offer four window ranges with external composite products. The Ecoclad, Alphawin and Alu2wood ranges have powder-coated aluminium cladding and ENERsign has a fibreglass exterior.
Timber
FSC certification
In 2004 the Ecoplus range pioneered the use of FSC 100% timber in UK
window manufacturing and is still probably one of only a handful of UK
window ranges to use FSC 100% timber. FSC is the only timber
certification scheme endorsed by environmental
NGOs such as Greenpeace and WWF. There are several levels of FSC
Certification. FSC 100% means that all timber
used is certified. Other grades include FSC Mixed, in which some
material is
FSC and some from 'controlled' (ie legally logged) sources and FSC
Recycled. For a company to offer an FSC certified product, they must have been through a
rigorous auditing process to ensure 'chain of custody' of the timber used from
forest to product.
Green Building Store FSC Chain of Custody number: SA - COC - 1435.
Engineered timber
Our Ecoplus3, Ecocontract & Ecopassiv window & door ranges use European redwood or oak laminated and finger-jointed to BS EN 204 D4.
Engineered timber is made from smaller pieces of timber laminated and finger jointed together, which are then machined into sections
The use of engineered timber improves timber stability and creates high quality sections, while also using resources efficiently.
Hardwood vs softwood
Hardwoods tend to be slow growing and therefore more difficult to source sustainably which is why we would always promote use of FSC 100% certified timber for hardwoods and softwoods. Softwood windows & doors can be as durable as hardwood, thanks to good design and use of aluminium extension sills, bottom beads and 'drained and ventilated rebates', allowing free drainage of water and air circulation and ensuring the maximum durability for the glazing unit and frame.
Our window and door range options
FSC 100% redwood
FSC 100% oak
Ecoplus3
Ecocontract
Ecopassiv
Timber & aluminium composite
We do offer three lower maintenance aluminium-clad ranges Ecoclad, Alphawin & Alu2wood. These are ideal for situations where windows & doors are inaccessible or commercial applications where maintenance will be difficult. However, bear in mind that even aluminium cladding will eventually need repainting and that it is usually not suitable for coastal locations due to salt corrosion.
Ecoclad (FSC Pure redwood timber)
Alu2wood (fir, spruce, larch and oak).
Alphawin (fir, spruce, larch and oak).
Timber & fibreglass composite
ENERsign (redwood, larch or oak timber)