When choosing windows for your loft conversion try to make sure they are as maintenance free as possible. In some cases it would always be best to use UPVc, especially if you have them in your house already, you could ask the company used for the rest of the house to give you some details/profile of the existing windows.

Other areas like conservation areas you are required to match in soft or hard wood to what you have already, we don’t recommend wood for maintenance reasons, two stories up windows are exposed to the elements, you will probably have to pay over the odds every other year just to have scaffolding erected to the rear to have them sanded down and maintained.

There is a company called Marvin who are a northern American company, they produce a very nice window in sash, which is white powdered aluminum on the outside and real wood on the inside. It is completely operational and works the same as a normal sash window, but it is completely maintenance free from the outside. Marvin gives a 20 year guarantee.