Slim aluminium windows for newer Billingshurst houses
From the 1930s bungalows to Penfold Grange and Amblehurst Green, and garden rooms in any of the villages
Where aluminium suits
Aluminium is strong enough to make a frame about 50 mm wide, so more of the opening is glass. That suits the houses Billingshurst built after the war: the open-fronted 1960s and 1970s estates, the gabled 1990s houses around Roman Way and the courtyard layouts of Penfold Grange. It also suits any room at the back that looks onto the garden.
On price it sits between plastic and wood: dearer than uPVC, cheaper than timber. For a post-war Billingshurst house that wants a crisper window than standard plastic, it is the sensible middle step.
Three aluminium windows
Slimline casement
The slimmest frame and the best price per window in aluminium. Anthracite grey and black are the usual colours on Billingshurst's newer estates.
Flush casement
The sash closes level with the frame, like the uPVC flush casement but in aluminium. It suits a 1930s or 1940s house where you want a crisp, square look.
Steel-look aluminium
Narrow sightlines and slim bars in the manner of old steel windows. The Billingshurst appraisal notes a few steel casements with leaded lights still in the old village, and this is the window for houses that once had steel.
Colour and the parish design statement
Billingshurst's design statement, written by the parish council as planning guidance for Horsham District Council, asks for window colours that are white or a warm natural shade, chosen to blend with or set off the brick and tile hanging around them. Deep grey and black aluminium are now common on new houses, but on a red brick Victorian street a softer colour often sits better.
Aluminium can be powder coated in almost any shade, and in two colours, one inside and one out.
Depending on the building (listed, conservation area, Article 4), there can be rules on the glass you're allowed and on the exact glazing-bar layout. Check with the council; Billingshurst Windows can help with that process.
Tilt-and-turn aluminium windows are also available for flats and for wide upstairs windows that need cleaning from inside.
On security, aluminium casements are fitted with multi-point locks that engage along the opening edge, and the glass is beaded from inside so it cannot be lifted out from the garden. Ground-floor handles can be key-locking. For a detached house on the edge of the village with a long back garden, those details are worth asking about on the visit.
Warm frames and dry sills
Older aluminium windows earned a bad name for streaming with condensation, because the metal ran straight from the cold outside face to the warm inside one. Today's profiles are built in two halves, outer and inner, joined by an insulating polyamide bar that stops the cold travelling through. With double glazing and warm-edge spacers between the panes, an aluminium casement now meets the same energy rules as a uPVC one.
That matters in the 1960s and 1970s houses of Silver Lane and Forge Way, where many first replacements were early plastic or the original single-glazed frames. Kitchens and bathrooms in those houses produce a lot of moisture, and a warm frame with a trickle vent keeps the inside face dry.
Garden rooms and kitchen extensions
Many Billingshurst houses on the estates have been extended at the back, and the new rooms are often where aluminium makes most sense. A slim frame over a sink or a worktop lets in more light, and a dark colour inside can match the kitchen fittings while the outside stays a softer shade for the street.
If the extension has French doors or a slider, the windows can be ordered in the same profile and colour so the back of the house reads as one job.
Aluminium window questions
Is aluminium a premium choice over timber?
No. On price it lands between the two: above uPVC, below timber. Its advantage is strength: the frames can be much slimmer, so more of each opening is glass.
Will aluminium windows suit a Victorian house?
Sometimes, but sashes or flush casements usually look more at home on a Victorian or Edwardian front. Aluminium suits post-war houses, extensions and houses that once had steel windows best.
Does a two-colour finish cost more?
Usually a little, because each face is coated separately. It is popular where the kitchen side is dark and the street side is white or grey.
See frame samples at home
Colour swatches and cut corner sections come to the visit, to try against the brick of your own walls.
An aluminium job priced
A 1970s detached house with five slimline aluminium casements is one of the Billingshurst price examples.
Window prices in Billingshurst