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How Are They Manufactured?

We often get asked about manufacturing methods. What is a weld? What is a mechanical joint? What do they look like? Which should I choose? Here we cover all questions we’ve been asked by homeowners.

Where are the windows made?

Residence Collection is the ‘systems house’ which means we have designed and developed the window systems (at our head office in Gloucestershire) and we extrude the material in 6 metre lengths (in Wiltshire). We then sell these lengths to our carefully chosen partners who manufacture across the UK and Ireland, who in turn make them into your beautiful windows, doors and orangeries. All orders are bespoke to you and made to order.

Who do I buy my windows from?

Some of our manufacturers also have fitting teams, but most will supply to a network of installers. You can find your nearest installer by doing an installer search in the top right hand corner of our website, go to

www.residencecollection.co.uk, it’s really simple; pop your postcode in and press search, you can then choose to make contact directly from here, visit their showroom or give them a call to discuss further.

What is glass bonding and what happens if the bonded glass is damaged?

When a glass unit is bonded in, it is a very strong glue that makes the window incredibly strong and secure. In the rare case that a unit gets damaged or breaks down, the bonded glass can be cut out and a new unit re-bonded on site. However, this can be quite time consuming so sometimes installers will recommend that a new sash may be a better option.

Is glass bonding necessary?

Not entirely, The Residence Collection has been developed to embrace multiple manufacturing techniques. Tests have been carried out to compare the strength using Residence Collection with and without glass bonding. Based on this, it all comes down to the type of manufacturing method used. When windows are mechanically jointed they must be glass bonded, for all other manufacturing methods they do not have to be.

What are the different types of manufacturing and what do they look like?

MECHANICAL JOINTS

Mechanical joints differ to standard window manufacture in that they’re manufactured for the most part by hand. The finish is a butt-joint that replicates a traditional 19th Century timber window.

TIMBERWELD®

Timberweld is a patented method of welding that creates a perfect butt-joint effect outside and inside the window for an authentic timber-look. It is essentially a welded mechanical joint.

MECH-WELD / EXTERNAL TIMBER LOOK (OFTEN REFERRED TO AS ETL)

This manufacturing method retains the external appearance of a butt-jointed frame. This is formed by a special machining process to the ends of the profiles prior to welding. The internal corner has a standard weld that is pinched tight to form a diagonal seam.

STANDARD WELD / GRAF WELD

A modern diagonal weld that has a clean finish to produce a seam, both internally and externally. A Graf weld is a special process that also produces a diagonal seam, but it is much tighter and is almost invisible on foiled finishes.

Got any more questions? Head on over to our website where you can download a brochure or read our FAQs . You can also contact us directly on journey@residencecolleciton.co.uk