DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Last year I had replacement windows fitted by an installer registered with Fensa (which I checked via the Fensa web site). I used them previously in 2004 - and a Fensa certificate was sent fairly quickly.

The original wooden windows that came out of this installation had plastic vents at the top (trickle vents I believe) which we generally had closed. The new windows fitted do not have these vents at the top but instead can be locked in a slightly open position allowing venting.

I ask because Fensa want to send round an inspector. I was working on the basis that if I used a Fensa registered installer the compliance with building regs came sort of automatically.

Is the two stage opening system - ie. that the window can be locked in a slightly open position an acceptible alternative to trickle vents or am I now not building reg compliant ?

If it was a requirement all windows would be fitted with trickle vents as standard to all windows.
Its not a requirement unless the local authority asks for them usually on a new build or extension

Strictly speaking you are not. Current regulations require trickle vents in all apartments and you've taken yours away therefore you are not compliant. If the original windows didn't have then you would have made things any worse but they did so you have!

From 2016 all new homes will be built to Passive House standards.
While new build office blocks and factories come in at 2020.

These new standards require that homes are more or less air tight, this is required by new EU law.

It relates to the enormous amount of heat that is lost due to un controlled ventilation.

As you may well appreciate a trickle vent fitted in a ground floor window in the middle of London, may well not do very much.

However, the same vent fitted upstairs in an exposed position will cost the home owner a fortune in lost heat.

It is better that you can control the amount of ventilation you desire, closed on windy days, wide open on hot days, part open as you prefer.

Its your choice as to how much money you throw away.

Note: A 9mm diameter hole can strip all the heat from a home on a windy day