Velux Windows

Levi25

Hello All,

We are considering the size of velux wondows to use on our house. Anyone know of the cheapest place to get roof windows.

We are looking at S06's (1.14M * 1.16M) for the front of the house. Does anyone have any experience of these ones (if anyone has photos I'd love to see them - I've never seen them (SO6's) installed) .

RainyDay

Levi25 wrote:

We are looking at S06's (1.14M * 1.16M) for the front of the house.

AFAIK, you need planning permission to install roof windows in the front of the house.

Levi25

We do have planning permission - just undecided about size (wasn't specified on the plans).

patrido

I haven't bought mine yet but..
i've seen the S06 in quite a few places but only from the outside, and they look quite nice and big. I was going to put a load of them in until I saw the M08 (78x140) above a neighbour's staircase and it looked fantastic. I'm now thinking of putting these in instead.

If you get your hands on the velux brochure, there is a list of the recommended prices so you can get a benchmark. There are seperate brochures for trade and consumer with different prices. the trade brochure does not include the VAT price. Also, the flashing (different types for slates and tiles) are extra.

Lot's (maybe even most) builders merchants supply veluxes so you should probably just shop around. Brooks thomas told me they would give me the trade price, and my local builders merchants gave me a slightly higher price, but said it *included* the flashing making it much cheaper overall. unless that was some muppet giving me the wrong info

have you checked out keylites - almost identical, and similar sizes, but have these optional really cool magnetically operated internal blinds.

Levi25

Hi Patrido

Yes, We've seen the MO8's aswell but haven't seen them installed either - do they look a lot smaller when they are on the roof or something? They could be all over the place!

BTW, your house looks great, very big I must say, what squar footage is it?

rooferPete

Hi,

The size of the roof light is determined by the amount of light you want, then you can look at upgrades on argon gas filled glazing units even triple glazed if you want.

I was at a meeting last week and the info I got was Velux have 98% of The World market for roof lights, that type of market share does not happen by accident, they are one of the most quality driven companies in roof accessories.

As to price which I always complain about where the Velux Brochure is concerned simply because being a decadent capitalist they are not leaving us any margin the most if you can get it would be a 5% discount.

I have found that the quality and great back up is worth the zero margin to us, also the price difference is not enough to make me change to any of what are essentially old Velux technology windows.

On the quality subject, the first Velux light I installed was back in 1978, it is still working as well as the day it was installed, there are not many products that can give that type of trouble free life.

There are a wide range of blinds available and electrically operated systems to choose from.

Personally for the very small savings available using other brands they are not enough for me to switch from Velux, even for my own home.

The two items in a house that pay for themselves and keep paying for the life of the house are Insulation and natural daylight, so choose carefully.

.

patrido

i've seen lots of what seem to be S06 around especially in developments around clonsilla, ongar, blanchardstown. i think almost any square one you see is probably an S06, though I have seen a couple that look way too big to be S06, even though velux don't have a larger square size - must be another company. i reckon the m08 is less widely used because they take up a lot more space vertically.

i think wide angle panoramas make the house look much bigger than it is
it's 2000 sqft downstairs, and should be about 1100sqft upstairs.

my autocad isn't the best, but here is a plan of the downstairs. haven't got around to doing the upstairs yet.

rooferPete

Hi Patrido,

I would love to get a copy of that "Trade Price List" I have A4 binders and CD design programmes all supplied by Velux.

The Brochure shows both ex and incl VAT prices, there is no "Trade Price", the contractor negotiates any discount with his supplier the very same way you can.

I know the exact margin each supplier has on a Velux window, and as surprising as this appears they All get the same margin, most carry the Velux range to help them to sell the other products.

There is a good margin on the blinds and the upgrades but not the basic products.

.

yop

Pete

Do I take it that if I go looking for only 2 S06 & 2 S08 that I could haggle?? Even in a wholesalers?

Levi25

Hi Patrido,

The floor plan is lovely, the house is about the same size as ours, ours is a bit wider and less long. We had loads of hassle with planners etc so the height is restricted to 6.5M, we still have a lot of head room though as its about 12 wide.

What height is yours? I'd love to be at that 6.5M now

qazxsw

check out http://www.careyglass.com/roofwindows.html before you make any decisions

"VistaTherm Elite® low emissivity glass is used as standard in all our roof windows, offering a U-Value of 1.1" they look good, I know a lad at work who installed some in a new dormer, - they look fantastic and careys / vista therm have been in the windows business as long as I can remeber, admittidely they only started manufacturing roof windows a few years ago, but worth checking out prices at any rate --

Nenagh, Tipperary.

after all some builders know what they like and like what they know :-)

patrido

rooferPete wrote:

The Brochure shows both ex and incl VAT prices, there is no "Trade Price", the contractor negotiates any discount with his supplier the very same way you can.

Hmmm, I think I've got the brochure brooks gave me at home, which was completely different to the "consumer" one velux sent in the post. I will look it up later and get myself ready to eat some humble pie

Do you have any opinion on keylites? They *look* very similar to veluxes. Is the magnetic blind a gimmick or worth having??

patrido

Levi25 wrote:

What height is yours? I'd love to be at that 6.5M now

i havent got a clue

i even had to get out a calculator to work out the exact square footage, as the upstairs is totally different to the original plan. must measure the height at the weekend out of curiosity.

interesting point actually... do people usually stick exactly to their plans as submitted to the council, or have you changed things slightly? we changed quite a few things, mostly internal walls. how far do people go, and how far before applying for retention? have people installed veluxes on the front and applied for retention afterwards?

Levi25

Our plans changed loadsa times so at this stage I've no idea what was sent to the council. The outside is practically the same as what was sent in but there are a few tiny changes. A fella I know had to drop the roof ridge on his house by .75M - it looks a disgrace now but he went way over the height submitted. I'd say there is no headroom whatsoever upstairs. It depends where you are too.

rooferPete

Hi q......

The Carey Glass unit is a nice one, my main concern was the flashing detail which they may have upgraded by now, last I checked the cost difference was about €50.00 per window.

The Keylite (Keyline ?) is an old version of a velux, I could be wrong but I heard on the "Grapevine" that there was legal issues between the two companies.

The big difference in all the windows is the timber, the velux is a really high class piece of timber when you look at the cross section.

Patrido,

When you look at the brochure you got from Brooks and the one you got from Velux the only difference is the vat, if it's more I Need To Know

I haven't looked at the blinds, I do know Velux have a nice business going on them, the last Velux blind I bought was about €90.00, I thought it heavy being about 1/3 of the cost of the window.

Hi Yop,

The best deal available is not on the windows but the flashings, there should be a little play in 4 windows, my advice is look at the total package

Take care when dealing with wholesalers, some of them have less room to move than the retailers, Velux appear to have a policy of one base price for all suppliers, some wholesalers stock items for their customers convenience.

I supply a few hardware shops at a very small margin for me but I am still cheaper than they can buy direct, we all win because my buying power is increased so my discounts stay at a good level.

BTW I don't have an account with Velux, shame really but when I had the chance I refused it the margin was too small.

qazxsw

I saw the magnetic "thingy" operatint the keylite blinds at the self build show in Galway a few months ago - looks very handy, but

1. I'd imagine the gadget sliding up and down the glass constantly would eventually leave some marks
2. I know for definite I'd mislay the magnet gadget

patrido

hi rooferPete,
attached is a scan of the "trade" brochure, and guess what? you were right... the prices are the exact same as the "consumer" brochure, but with the vat knocked off.

so when brooks told me they'd give me the trade price, they meant "we'll give you the same price as everybody else" :eek: