A brief history of uPVC windows

Almost all windows,  doors  and conservatories sold today are made out of uPVC and with pretty good reason too.

For starters it’s miles cheaper to produce uPVC windows than frames made from more traditional timber, but it’s

also an extremely strong, lightweight and durable material that possesses a versatility that lends itself perfectly to

all manner of applications within the building trade.

You may be surprised to learn that Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) was discovered completely by accident, what’s even

more surprising is that this actually happened twice; first in 1835 by the French chemist Henri Victor Reginault

and then again in 1872 by German Eugen Baumann. On both occasions; the polymer appeared as a white, solid

substance inside flasks of vinyl chloride that were left exposed to sunlight. Neither of them thought to patent their

discovery and it wasn’t until the early 20th century that anyone attempted to find a commercial use for the new

substance. Among those who initially attempted to commercialize PVC were Russian chemist Ivan

Ostromislensky and Fritz Klatte of the German chemical company Griesheim-Elektron, however, both ran into

difficulties in processing the rigid and occasionally brittle polymer and thus, their efforts were hampered.

In 1926 renowned American  inventor Waldo Semon discovered that the substance could be plasticized by mixing

it with various additives. This resulted in a softer and much more malleable material that had an absolutely

staggering amount of uses across almost all areas of manufacturing. To this day, PVC is one of the most used

manufacturing materials in the world.

The unplasticized form of PVC, known as uPVC eventually found a use of its own as a building material. The

production of uPVC windows began during the 1960′s first in Germany and then followed by Britain and America.

Manufacturers quickly warmed to the advantages of uPVC over traditional materials such as wood and metal.

Over the intervening years, production of uPVC windows increased dramatically to the point that over 90% of

windows produced, sold and fitted in the UK today are made from uPVC.

There has been something of a backlash against the widespread use of uPVC in construction in recent years, with critics deriding its use as ‘ugly’ or ‘cheap looking’ with some local authorities even going as far as to ban its use on some listed buildings. These criticisms are unfair, however, as the technology behind uPVC windows has improved to the point that they are now much more energy efficient than traditional wooden frames and can even be made tolook almost indistinguishable from them