Sliding VS Casement uPVC Windows: Which Is Better for Urban Homes?

When buying a window for a city apartment, you know right away if you’ve made the wrong choice. Handle slaps on curtain when cranking it open. Or the slider track gets full of road grit and begins to drag when you push it, after three months. Both issues are not apparent in the showroom. Both visit the house.

In any case, uPVC is basic. The frames won’t warp, won’t rust and the multi-chamber frames will reduce heat and noise when the window slides or swings. Therefore, it’s not really a question of uPVC or something else. It’s sliding or casement and that depends on the room you’re installing it in.

Let’s figure out which one your spot needs.

How the two windows actually open?

Casement is hinged on one side. It swings out (or sometimes in), like a little door and the entire opening clears. You push the handle and the sash throws wide.

A slider runs sideways on a track. Two or sometimes three sashes which move on rollers. Only half the window opens up at a time, as one half of the window is always parked behind the other.

The other mechanical difference is the source of almost everything. Space window consumes for airflow, cleaning, where is your AC. It all goes back to swing or slide.

Slide your walls if they are space constrained

For most of the city homes, this is a determining factor, so begin here.

There must be an opening for a casement to swing. Open it inward and it consumes room space, knocks into the curtain, prevents a shelf in the place you would like it. Open it up to the outside and you have to have clear air on the opposite side of the wall, which a few feet of a side setback or a neighbor’s wall won’t provide.

A slider doesn’t require all of that space. It does not spill out of its frame. There is nothing in the room that pokes and there is nothing outside the room that pokes. If you’re looking at a tiny flat, or a balcony walkway that you have to walk along or something parked right outside a wall, the slider is going to win before you even check one other spec.

Here the air conditioner is also important. A window AC unit should be installed in a slider window opening or a fixed gap. One cannot hang in a swinging casement, the sash has no place else to go. Both are easier to split, but with either unit, the outside line will still need to clear the window as well, so be sure to check before you buy.

To get the most air, open swing

uPVC Casement windows make the whole window opening into a vent. Nothing blocks it. The sash also pulls in a side breeze and a flat slider panel can’t really do that.

The slider caps at 50%. One of the panels is always back and you will not see the full opening, no matter how much you shove.

The casement pulls forward in a room that you want to cross-ventilate, a kitchen that requires smoke to be drawn out quickly, or any room adjacent to a garden where the breezes are worth capturing. Those who truly desire the outdoors to enter choose casement for that reason alone.

Noises and heat are not as far away as brochures advertise

Both block the noise exceptionally well and this is where many write-ups sell a sizzle that doesn’t really sizzle.

It’s not the way it’s opened that stops street noise. The glazing and the seal! The combination of double glazing and a multi chamber frame and tight gasket reduces the sound of traffic, horns and the general city hum to a faint hum. It does so on both types of windows equally.

The casement has a slight edge when closed. Like a fridge door, it makes a continuous contact line by pressing the sash flat against the frame all around. A slider seals where the two panels meet along the track, and that meeting rail is a slightly weaker line for sound and draft. Small difference. A real one, if you reside on a noisy main road, and you have your window shut most of the day.

The same is true for heat. On both sides, air is trapped and transfer speed is reduced by the multi-chamber uPVC. The continuous seal of the casement puts a hair more. However, the type of glass you choose is a much more important decision than the swing or slide type of insulation, and you should spend your time there and not lose sleep over the insulation type.

Cleaning is where sliders ask for more

No one gives it a second thought until they have the window then they think about it all the time.

A slider has a track and the track catches everything. Anything that the city air brings on it: dust, grit, dead leaves! It needs to be wiped in a high pollution area every couple weeks or the rollers begin to drag and grind. If it is not cleaned out, the sash will become stiff. Those little drain slots, weep holes, clog also and cause the rain water to back up into the channel.

Casement is one of the types of windows that don’t involve any track. Upkeep is checking the gasket now and then and dropping a bit of lubricant on the hinges. That’s it. There is just one moving part to watch – the handle – but that’s years down the road.

Both are low maintenance when it comes to wood or aluminum. Both shrug off rust and remain straight in the frame for the long term. Even if warping and swelling are not an issue, SIMTA ASTRIX conducts its profiles through global testing and BIS certification. The bottom line truth is this: if the slider is installed on a dusty road, it should be wiped down routinely, and a casement doesn’t really need to be wiped down at all.

Security is up on both sides with the proper equipment

Both types are not the weak point if the locking is performed correctly.

A casement that is secured with a multipoint lock. Several bolts are thrown into the frame at the top, center and bottom with one turn of the handle, the sash is pinned all the way around with no place to pry. That constant lock is comforting when someone might actually use it, like on a ground floor.

There is a different slider lock. Anti-lift blocks prevent the sash from being jacked off its track and a good one provides a hook lock at the panel junctures. This hardware mentality also applies to uPVC sliding doors manufacturers, who incorporate multipoint locking and anti-lift features on large sliding doors ensuring they remain safe and secure without being difficult to operate. If you select a profile with adequate equipment, such as SIMTA ASTRIX systems, a slider stoically holds its position on a higher floor or a floor on the ground.

Well, then, which one is right for your home?

Test it in your rooms rather than a spec room.

• Tight walls, a balcony walkway, a window AC or furniture butted up against the wall. Go slider.
• A garden view, an upper floor bedroom that you want cross-ventilated, or a quiet upper floor where the air circulates beats everything. Go casement.
• A traffic noise road near by, window closed most of the time. The continuous seal of casement has a slight advantage but good double glazing is far more important.
• Road with dust or construction site near by. A slider will still function if you plan for wipe downs, and casement requires less cleaning.
• Modern narrow flat, upper storey. Slider, almost 99% of the time.

Most residences end up getting both anyway. A slider on the tight street side and casements on the garden side where the breeze is worth it. One window doesn’t have to be the winner for the house! Draw out your rooms, your walls, and whatever’s on the outside of each doorway, and the right choice often becomes apparent. Still struggling to settle on a particular room? Before placing an order discuss it with our staff.