The first week after new windows are installed

2 days ago
3 min read

Introduction

The windows go in, the fitters clean up and leave, and the customer is pleased. Then over the following week a series of small things happen. There is condensation on the inside one morning. A sealant line looks different in daylight. A handle feels stiff. The trickle vents are open and the house feels draughty.

None of these is a fault. All of them generate phone calls, and a proportion of those calls turn into reviews. The difference is whether anybody explained the first week before it happened. Ten minutes on the day covers all of it.

1. The first week after new windows are installed is the noisy period

Everything unfamiliar gets interpreted as a defect. That is not unreasonable of them.

Customers compare new against remembered

They are comparing a modern sealed unit against thirty years of habit. Draughts they used to have are gone, and things they never noticed are now obvious. The house genuinely behaves differently.

Small things arrive in a cluster

Four minor observations in five days feels like a bad job even when each one is trivial. Warn them and the cluster becomes a checklist instead. Say to save the questions up for one call.

2. Explain condensation before it appears

This is the single most common call. It arrives within a fortnight, reliably.

Why it happens more at first

Moisture that used to escape through old frames now stays in the room, and plaster and sealant around new openings are still drying out. Both settle within a few weeks.

What the customer should do

Ventilate, use the trickle vents, run extractors, do not dry washing on radiators in a sealed room. Say it plainly rather than leaving them to search online. Leave it in writing too.

3. Show them how the windows actually work

Modern hardware is not obvious. Nobody reads the leaflet.

Locks, handles, restrictors and night vents

Demonstrate each one on at least one window. Multi-point mechanisms and tilt functions confuse people who have never had them. Let them try it themselves.

Trickle vents and how to use them

Explain what they are for and when to open or close them. Customers close them all, then ring about condensation a fortnight later. Explain the connection directly.

4. Set expectations about finish and making good

This is where reasonable people disagree.

Say what was agreed on internal finishing

Plaster, trims, painting, filling. Be explicit about what is yours and what is a decorator's job, because customers almost always assume it is included.

Explain sealant and how it settles

Fresh silicone can look uneven for a day or two and cures to a different appearance. Told in advance, it is normal.

5. Leave the aftercare and the paperwork

The last five minutes prevent months of small friction.

Cleaning and lubrication

What to clean the frames with, what to keep off them, and that hinges and locks want lubricating once a year. Most customers never do it and then report a stiff handle as a fault.

Guarantees, registration and how to report a snag

Give one route for problems and a realistic response time. A customer who knows how to report something stops broadcasting it instead.

Conclusion

The week after installation produces a cluster of small observations — condensation, a sealant line, a stiff handle, unfamiliar vents — and every one gets read as a defect unless somebody explained it first. Warn the customer that several trivial things will show up, so the cluster becomes a checklist rather than evidence of a bad job.

Explain condensation before it appears and say what to do about ventilation. Demonstrate the locks, restrictors, night vents and trickle vents on at least one window. Be explicit about who is doing the internal making good, warn that fresh sealant settles, and leave cleaning and lubrication advice plus one clear route for reporting a snag.