The Wood Window Alliance provides a variety of guides to assist specifiers and architects when specifying wood windows. Click on any of the guides listed below for more information and to download a copy.  

• Specifiers' Guide to Timber Windows
• BRE's Green Guide
• The Code for Sustainable Homes
• Approved Document L
• Fact Cards
• Windows Fact Cards from the TWA Scheme
• BWF guides on the care and installation of wood windows
• Trada documents on specifying wood windows
• Wood windows - the thinking man's choice
• Timber windows and conservatories
• Designing out the Burglar
• Summary Guide to Specifying High Performance Windows

The Specifers' Guide to Timber Windows provides important information for all professionals who are involved in specifying windows and wish to know more about the benefits of wood windows.

It is an essential tool for understanding how and why high quality wood windows are increasingly seen as the most sustainable as well as the most attractive solution.

The Wood Window Alliance Specifiers' Guide may be downloaded in PDF from here or by selecting each individual section.

The guide is available in individual sections, and gives information on:

- Sustainability
- Performance
- Service life, Whole Life Cost, maintenance and durability
- Maintaining windows in conservation areas
- Types of windows
- Timber species for windows
- The benefits of building with wood windows

NEW : A summary specification guide for High Performance Wood Windows

Specifiers' Guide to Timber Windows is also available in printed form - contact Barnaby Dickens at barnaby@woodwindowalliance.com

BRE's Green Guide is an easy-to-use publication, providing guidance for specifiers, designers and their clients on the relative environmental impacts of over 250 elemental specifications for roofs, walls, floors etc. Wood windows score the highest overall scores of A or A+ in the Guide, which uses Life Cycle Assessment to measure sustainability. Notably wooden windows were the only windows to score an A in the Climate Change category.

Click here for information relating to the ratings for wood windows in the BRE Green Guide.

The Code for Sustainable Homes

Click here for a summary of how using wood windows can help gain some of the credits required to achieve different star ratings.

Full technical guidance on how to comply with the code can be found here.

Approved Document L

Timber windows have a significant role to play in the requirements for Approved Document L : 2006 (often known as Part L). Click here for a summary.

The latest version of Approved Document L can be found here.

Fact cards

Windows Fact Cards from the TWA Scheme

Part L
Sustainability
Installation
Maintenance
Re-decoration
Specification

BWF guides on the care and installation of wood windows

Care of timber windows on site
Installing timber windows

Trada documents on specifying wood windows

Wood windows - the thinking man's choice
Timber windows and conservatories
Designing out the burglar

Windows Fact Cards from the TWA Scheme

Here are a selection of Fact Cards on topics relating to wood windows courtesy of the TWA (Timber Window Accreditation) Scheme.

Fact Card 1 is on Part L of the Building Regulations which governs the Conservation of Fuel and Power in buildings. As far as windows are concerned, this is mainly to reduce the amount of heat loss from the building through the window. This Fact Card gives you a basic understanding of the updated requirements which became effective in April 2006, how heat loss is measured and the different ways to ensure the windows & doorsets you specify or manufacture comply.

Click here to download Fact Card 1 – Part L

Sustainability comprises three areas of concern: society’s well-being, economic life and the environment. With nearly 10million frames installed in the UK each year, the production, manufacture and disposal of windows can have a great affect on the environment. This Fact Card explains what sustainability is, why it is so important, what the different options are when specifying windows and how you can benefit from using sustainable windows.

Click here to download Fact Card 2 – Sustainability

No matter how well manufactured a window is, it will only meet the demands of the end-user if it is installed correctly to the manufacturer’s specifications. This Fact Card gives a simple step-by-step check-list for installing timber windows, covering delivery & storage, protection, forming openings, fitting, support, fixing, sealing, decoration and site glazing.

Click here to download Fact Card 3 – Installation

Accredited windows are designed and engineered to meet the requirements and expectations of modern living and construction. Any high-performance, engineered product – whether it be a boiler, washing machine, car or window (of any material) – will need some form of maintenance in order to ensure its long life. This card covers why you need to maintain windows, what you need to maintain: coating systems, hardware, glazing units and weatherseals, as well as advice on how often maintenance should be carried out.

Click here to download Fact Card 4 – Maintenance

All products deteriorate over time and this is particularly true of those that are exposed to all the elements. It is therefore important to protect these products by putting a barrier between them and the elements. Whatever their framing material, windows are no exception. Previous claims that some windows were effectively maintenance-free have since been proven to be wrong. The benefit of timber is that, when re-decorated, they are as good as new again. This card covers how to re-decorate properly, including how to prepare, patch prime, denib, bring forward, prepare the final coat and apply the final coat, as well as how often re-decoration should be carried out.

Click here to download Fact Card 5 – Re-decoration

Your choice of which windows & doorsets to install today will count tomorrow. To help you make an informed decision, TWA Scheme Fact Card 6 is on the specification of windows & entrance doorsets. Taking into account building regulations and British Standards on their performance, choosing windows that are independently certified and tested will ensure that the necessary requirements are being met - giving you peace of mind. The Fact Card looks at regulation, aesthetics, security, low maintenance, energy efficiency, sustainability and cost - covering those all important issues that effect you, the inhabitant and the environment we live in.

Click here to download Fact Card 6 – Specification

The following guides, courtesy of the BWF, give you concise, easy-to-read guidance on the care and installation of wood windows. Click on the links below to view the full guide.

Care of timber windows on site

Installing timber windows

The following documents, courtesy of Trada, will give you an insight in specifying wood for windows.

Wood Windows - Designing for High Performance

Patrick Hislop, 3rd edition, Published by TRADA Technology (2009)

Click here to purchase the publication

Modern wood windows can satisfy the expectations for window performance better than any other material. They have been recognised by Greenpeace as preferable to PVCu. Some manufacturers offer a 10 year maintenance free life for factory-finished timber windows.

Click here to view this document

Brief introductory sheet on timber windows and conservatories. Please note the frame label design illustrated within this document has now changed. Contact the WWA for more information on traceability.

Click here to download this document

Secured by design is a police initiative to incorporate crime prevention measures into buildings at the design stage. Testing windows and external doorsets is crucial to the efficacy of this already successful approach. Outlines the tests and certification compliance.

Click here to view this document