Installing plastic windows in winter: how to do it right and is it worth it at all

The installation of plastic windows is most often planned for the warm season. There are several reasons for this, but not always the time for installation is chosen because of the preparation for the heating season. Much more often they refuse to install in winter because of the well-established opinion about the impossibility of high-quality installation in the cold:

• Firstly, the room can freeze like this.
• Secondly, glue and foam will not be able to polymerize in winter, and the quality of window fixation, as well as the effectiveness of thermal insulation, will decrease.

Both factors are only partially true. In fact, windows can be installed all year round, not only in new buildings, but also in residential premises. What are the risks of winter installation, and how to plan the installation of windows in the cold season — we will tell you in this article.

Winter installation: pros and cons

The winter installation of windows does have several important features. If they are not taken into account, you can forget about the quality of installation, and the room will be seriously damaged by the cold. You need to pay attention to:

• Duration of installation. During installation, the opening remains open — and the longer it stands without an installed window, the greater the risk of hypothermia. In severe frosts, 10-15 minutes is enough — the room will cool down very much, and not only indoor plants, but also sensitive electronics will suffer.
• The quality of the materials used. Standard formulations — foams, sealants, adhesive mixtures — work in a fairly narrow temperature range. If you use them in winter, both the adhesion and the polymerization rate will change. In addition, due to contact with cold air, ice crystals will form in the thickness of the solution, which will significantly reduce the strength of the material.

Are these risks important? Of course, they are important — they should definitely be taken into account when planning work. Fortunately, masters with sufficiently high qualifications are well aware of the dangers associated with installing windows in the cold season, and take measures to minimize the negative consequences.

In fairness, there are advantages to winter installation. So it is not necessary to postpone the installation of windows until the warm season:

• Low demand for windows. In some articles of our blog, we have already paid attention to the seasonal nature of demand in this market segment. In winter, windows are ordered and installed less often — so window companies are more actively involved in the fight for the buyer. Firstly, thanks to this, seasonal discounts and favorable promotional offers appear. Secondly, due to the lower production load, the windows will be ready faster. Finally, the installation teams also have fewer orders — because you do not have to wait long for installation. In the dry balance — a noticeable saving of money and time.
• Installation quality control. When the air temperature is low outside, it is almost impossible to miss a gap or a cavity when sealing the mounting seam. The same applies to the adjustment of accessories — any problem with the clamp will be detected at the time of installation, and you will not have to call the wizard again to troubleshoot.

As a result, it is quite possible to compensate for the disadvantages of winter installation (and below we will tell you how to do this). But the advantages of the installation in the cold season are quite significant — and they will be the main argument when choosing the time to replace windows.

Installing windows in frosts: what should be considered?

Usually, the masters of the installation of PVC structures take into account the risks of work at low temperatures at the planning stage. So some of the recommendations are introductory in nature — experienced craftsmen already know this.

If the windows are installed in a new building, then you need to pay attention first of all to the materials used:

• Standard mounting foam will not work in the cold. To guarantee the sealing and thermal insulation of the mounting seam, a "winter" foam is used, designed for use in the temperature range from -5 to -20 ° C. The use of such foam, as well as similar adhesives and sealants, allows you to solve the problem of sealing the mounting seam at subzero temperatures.

Pay attention! If the frost reaches -15 ...-25 ° C (in Ukraine, such cold rarely lasts longer than a few days in a row), the installation should still be postponed.

• The expansion of the PSUL in the cold will go slower than at a positive air temperature. This leads to the fact that the outside of the mounting seam can remain unprotected for a long time. To solve the problem, the rolls of PSUL are necessarily brought into heat before installation — after two or three hours at a temperature of at least 20 ° C, the tape expands at a normal speed even in the cold.

In a residential building or other room that is already in operation, you need to think about how to minimize damage from the cold:

• Houseplants and pets (especially exotic ones) are the first to suffer. They need to be removed from the room in which the installation will be carried out. The exception is large aquariums: we simply cover them with a blanket, because 100 liters of warm water will cool down for a long time, and they will not suffer during installation.
• The design should be prepared in advance for installation — this will save time on installation. Ideally, no more than 15-20 minutes should pass from the dismantling of the old structure to the initial installation of the new one. If everything is done correctly, the room will not have time to cool down.

Pay attention! In some cases, it is possible to install additional protection. A plastic film is attached to the window from the outside, which closes the opening during installation. When using such improvised thermal insulation, you can take your time — polyethylene effectively retains heat in the room.

• After the installation is completed, the structure must be checked for drafts or blowouts. The temperature difference allows you to instantly identify any leaky areas of the mounting seam. The detected problem is eliminated immediately — either by adjusting the fittings, or by additional sealing.

High-quality winter installation of metal-plastic windows is quite real. Of course, the technology of installing metal-plastic structures in the cold season has its own characteristics that need to be taken into account. That is why it is worth entrusting the solution of this task to highly qualified craftsmen who know well how to minimize the risks of winter installation.

You can order a high-quality professional installation of metal-plastic windows by following the link