TYPE OF WINDOWS

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TYPE OF WINDOWS

For something as seemingly simple as glass in a frame, windows are as diverse as their applications and fuctional. From transoms location above a window or door, gable windows under a roof or single hung windows in many former British colonies, you could fill a book with the construction types, opening types, designs and purposes. But we won't go quite that far. Instead, learn more about the most common designs in use today including their intended use and benefits.

Window Categories: Applications, Functional and Aesthetic

A number of window types are named for the installation applications. Consider front doors, side doors and back doors. The name denotes nothing more than location and the opening style, material and design may or may not be the same.

Balcony Windows
Dormer Windows
Gable Windows
Kitchen Windows
Roof Windows
Skylights
Transom Windows

Each of these examples can be customize with different sizes and opening styles. However, in these cases the applications usually play a large role in determining the window's performance needs as well as available options in terms of security, insulation, opening mechanism and more. Therefore, they are often discussed as a category to themselves.

Window Types: Functional

The next major category of different types it that of opening style. It is defined by the way the sash and handle function. While basic hinged casement windows were standard for much of history, advances in fenestration technology and manufacturing have seen a number of new options come to market. Alphabetically, these include:

Window Type

Awning Window
Casement Window
Double Hung
Jalousie Windows
Inswing/Outswing
Parallel Action
Pivot Windows
Sliding
Single Hung
Tilt and Turn
Tilt Only

Description

Top-hung. Swings out and up forming an awning.
The casement is side-hung on hinges and swings like a door.
Sash window in which upper and lower sash slide vertically
Parallel slats of glass that open and close like a Venetian blind.
The window swings either inwards or outwards
The casement can slightly open, parallel to the frame for ventilation
The window pivots/swivels on an axis, centre or offset
The sash slides horizontally. It does not swing.
Sash window in which lower sash only slides vertically
The casement can both swing open or tilt inwards
The casement only tilts inwards

These options can be combined with many other window styles. At times, the location or shape of the window will limit your options, particularly with less common shapes such as trapezoids, triangles or round windows. However, modern window fittings can offer up to four different operating mechanisms at a time, for example: closed, tilt, turn and parallel action. Old-fashioned single and double hung windows however, are limited by their outdated technology and design

Window Types: aesthetic

The final main category of window types is based on the aesthetic and purpose, not functional or applications. For example, bay windows can come in different configurations, sizes, colours. It may have all fixed casements, all operable ones or a combination thereof. But we differentiate from others based on the overall design: a window that projects outwards from the main wall forming a small bay.
Additional design types include

Window Type