The rehabilitation promotes the essays of resistance to the fire of the wooden windows

The Spanish Association of manufacturers of wood and mixed wood-aluminium Windows (looks) has been proposed to differentiate themselves in the market and specialise in this field, in which there are still doubts and controversies about the composition and structure of an enclosure of this type. "Based on the experience of architects and manufacturers of Windows, is not very clear how is presented and what is truly a fire-resistant window. There is a vacuum in this regard, because current legislation the window is governed by the same criteria as the door,"says José Palacios, Manager of peeps. The Association aims to clarify this scenario and generate and use the best tools to get to the prescriber, placed further wood Windows and better. Now, benefits that must be declared from now onwards must comply as a minimum that marks the building technical code. "It is not necessary to make a product too complicated, technically speaking", says Palacios.

The wooden window also aspires to lead the rehabilitation of buildings with a view to improving its energy efficiency. José Antonio Tenorio, head of the quality unit at the Institute of Sciences of Eduardo Torroja construction, of CSIC, ensures that they are many years has been considered in this Center energy in the building. "There has been a qualitative leap. Before 1970 there was a thermal regulation in Spain. We have gone from not having standard technical code, and what's more, a set of directives that will deeply transform the construction in our country,"he says.

The truth is that the technical building code impacted on his day to engineers, specifiers, industrial, installers, etc. They burst on the scene, among other new actors, insulation, solar panels or Windows of low thermal transmittance, fruit of a new technique to then not applied in our country. Today is technically possible to nearly zero energy buildings. "We propose that future buildings that are built are carried in the next years to levels close to the building of almost zero consumption and in rehabilitation at least until the own of the CTE, which is now in force," explains José Antonio Tenorio. "We already see this change in mentality as normal," he points out.

The window coming improves energy and acoustics in a building, together, and without generating condensation. "Putting a window better, maybe even save me insulation in the wall, which is more expensive and complex at times, such as in some works of rehabilitation. Given that existing technology permits, it would be ideal to go to much better Windows", considered the Torroja technician.

The technical building code is clear when referring to the outside spread of fire: "the risk of propagation of the fire will be limited abroad, both in the building under consideration as other buildings - says Alfredo Bazo, fire prevention technician of fire body, Logroño-. The CTE required separations vertical buildings (medians) EI 120, as well as facades, between sectors or similar".

"We must correctly choose the intumescent material applied in the window, because some react better with wood, and others with metal. The choice depends on the area of application, the required expansion and temperature of the location of the Board in the window", explains Marc Montion, responsible for sales of Odice Spain.

Fire resistance tests consist of submitting to a characteristic sample to specific conditions of pressure and temperature, simulating a real fire.

"The fire resistance test evaluates the burning behaviour of the elements used in the construction and values for how long (in minutes) an element maintains its properties (thermal insulation and integrity) when developing a fire - says Elena Malaina, responsible technician of the Department of fire Ensatec-." 13501-2 Standard specifies a procedure for the classification against fire, doors and Windows using data obtained in tests of fire resistance and on occasions in tests of durability of the self-closing and additional features".

Accomplished by overlooks the 'analysis of the life cycle of a wooden window', manufacturers in this Association now face the project of designing a generic environmental product Declaration for a series of ranges of product representative of all manufacturers integrated in looks, in a collaborative manner with other actors in the sector and based on reliable datareported by reliable tools. "It is a clear differentiation of our product. It is what us to distinguish a good aluminum window or a good window of PVC, based of course, and in the current regulations,"says José Palacios.

While in Spain this token do not have an actual impact on the market, the truth is that in Europe progresses strides, and becomes at times essential requirement so the Spanish manufacturers can export their enclosures.