Looking at replacing some of our windows, I can literally feel the cold seeping in through them and after all this effort we have made to insulate the roof and underfloor, it makes sense to finish the job.

I can only find people who supply aluminium double glazing and after seeing what they have to offer, I not filled with a lot of confidence that its a good product.

So I have found the following company in Christchurch

www.nkwindows.co.nz

Contacted them, seem to know what they are talking about and have been very responsive.

Wondered if anyone had any dealings with them? Or know of any alternative South Island based companies?

I've met the English bloke who owns this company a few times, they have a great reputation.

http://www.upvcwindows.co.nz/

Can't help you with SI companies but we have just had our windows done here (UVPC DG) and the diffrence is amazing!!

Good luck with it all.

Have you thought about Timber? Red pine or cedar will last forever and look a lot nicer than ugly UPVC, nice and warm too.

Hi
We have had double glazing from Homerite up here in Auckland and I believe they go onto the South Island to They were very helpful considering the size of some of our windows needing extra strength due to being on top of a hill in a high wind zone. No condensation and even when we have had 120k winds don't hear a thing.

Hey Catchafire,
Let me know how you get on as I am in a similar situation, although I will have to wait until next year to get mine done. Cheers.

I saw on another forum regarding double glazing NZ this company was recommended
http://www.eurowindows.co.nz/
Apparantly a german couple who having come here realised there was a market for UPVC double glazing

I am also interested in how much a house costs to do, watching with interest

Thanks everyone. I had a email through today from NK Windows, with a form to measure our existing windows, so they can provide a quote.

I will let you know what the damage is!

New front door, 1 x bi fold, 1 x sliding and 2 x small windows = $16,000 for me...

uPVC quote was a little more....

That seems a bit steep!

(you can get a 6ft x 4ft uPVC window for about £250 fitted in the uk)

Has anyone tried buying from the UK and having them shipped over?

Bi-fold, if it is a double French standard size costs around £4K in the UK fitted.

All the windows in our house. The front door, the back door and three french doors in our house all fitted with replacement double glazing.

Cost NZ$33,000 inc GST (VAT).supplied and installed by Warm Windows of Auckland. We live near Wellington. They estimate, supply and install windows and doors all over NZ. This included installing a cat flap ! This wasn't double glazed.

They took the old windows out and took away the waste material. I was able to sell the old french windows to a local salvage dealer which the double glazing company was aware of.

Timber frames + sealed units = blown units...........ie single glazing with added "frosting"
Been there done that and just look it up on the inter-web if you doubt it.
The Window Man .co.uk was a good place to start back in the day They also can help with a lot of the issues with buying replacement windows.
Get good profiles and spend more on other elements if you can like decent glazing. we got laminated glass on one side of the unit to improve noise issues in the UK.
In my experience the quality of the window installer is the most important element shoving windows in is not like laying carpet.........

We had the whole house double glazed about 5 years ago. Aluminimum frames.
Seven smaller windows, one big one 2mx5m (panels weigh 250kg each), one single door, one double door and a double bifold door came to about $24k from Rylock in Johnsonville.
They're nowhere near as good as the uPVC ones we had in the UK. You can feel the heat going out of them and the double glazed units just have air inside, not vacuum or inert gas like UK ones.
Much better than the old 50year-old wood ones though.

If you're talking about retrofitting sealed units in existing timber frames then perhaps you have a point.
However I am referring to purpose built wooden frames such as we had in Scotland and that have been supplied with every Scotframe house for years with no problems. They are from Scandinavia originally and they know a bit about keeping warm!
These guys look good:
http://www.european-window.com/
I've just noticed my Velux window is wood too!