Let me tell you something that’ll probably ruffle a few feathers.
After nearly two decades in the building game from site supervisor to project manager to running my own consultancy I’m going to say something that would’ve made my younger self cringe: Aluminium doors and windows are actually brilliant. Not just good. Brilliant.
I know, I know. Five years ago I was the bloke banging on about timber being the only way to go, muttering about “soulless metal boxes” and “corporate sterility.” Had a client in Bondi who wanted full Aluminium throughout their renovation, and I spent twenty minutes trying to talk them out of it. Thankfully, they ignored me completely.
Why Is Aluminium Durability Better
Here’s what the timber romantics won’t tell you and I was one of them. Aluminium doesn’t just last longer; it laughs in the face of our brutal Australian weather. While your beautiful hardwood frames are expanding, contracting, and slowly warping themselves into expensive kindling, Aluminium sits there doing absolutely nothing. Which is exactly what you want from a window frame.
I’ve seen twenty-year-old Aluminium Doors in Sydney that still operate like they were installed yesterday. Meanwhile, I’ve also seen five-year-old timber windows in the same suburb that need plane adjustments every season. The math is embarrassing.
Low Maintenance
This is where I get properly annoyed with the industry propaganda. Every second building magazine will tell you that Aluminium requires “minimal maintenance” like it’s some kind of compromise. Minimal? Try none. When was the last time you saw someone touching up Aluminium window frames?
Never. That’s when.
You want to know what timber window maintenance looks like? It’s standing on a ladder every eighteen months with sandpaper and stain, cursing your life choices. It’s watching your beautiful natural frames fade from honey to grey while Aluminium owners are inside watching Netflix.
Energy Efficiency: The Game Changer Nobody Expected
Now here’s where it gets interesting, and where the old guard really loses their minds. Modern Aluminium systems with thermal breaks are energy efficiency monsters. The stuff we’re installing now makes those single-pane timber jobs from the 80s look like air conditioners running in reverse.
I had a client in Adelaide massive heritage home, heritage overlay, the works. Council approved Aluminium replacements because the thermal performance was 300% better than restoring the original timber. Three hundred percent. The heritage purists were apoplectic, but the owner’s power bills dropped by forty percent in the first year.
Want specifics? We’re talking U-values around 1.6 W/m²K for quality Aluminium systems versus 3.5+ for old timber singles. Numbers don’t lie, even when traditionalists wish they would.
Design Flexibility: It Has Many Uses
This drives me absolutely mental the assumption that Aluminium means boring rectangles. Have you actually looked at what’s possible with contemporary Aluminium systems? Custom curves, impossible spans, floor-to-ceiling glass walls that timber could never support structurally.
I’m working on a project right now in Melbourne where we’re installing Aluminium sliding doors that span eight metres without a centre mullion. Eight metres! The structural engineer laughed when I first suggested timber. Actually laughed.
And the powder coating options? Forget about it. Any colour you want, texture finishes that mimic timber grain so perfectly you need to touch them to tell the difference. We did a job in Fremantle where the Aluminium frames perfectly matched 100-year-old jarrah weatherboards. The heritage consultant couldn’t spot the difference from street level.
Secure and Strong
Here’s something nobody wants to discuss because it makes timber advocates uncomfortable security. Aluminium frames with multi-point locking systems are infinitely harder to jimmy than timber alternatives. Insurance companies know this. Police know this. Burglars definitely know this.
I’ve seen break-in attempts on Aluminium doors that left the glass intact but completely destroyed crowbars. Try that with a timber door frame and you’re replacing both frame and door.
Its Not As Expensive as people think
“But Aluminium is expensive!”
Sure, upfront. But show me a costing exercise that includes maintenance, replacement cycles, and energy savings over fifteen years. I’ll wait.
A proper life-cycle cost analysis makes Aluminium look like a bargain. Factor in that Aluminium is 100% recyclable at end-of-life while treated timber heads to landfill, and the economics become embarrassing for the timber camp.
Installation Speed Saves You Money
As someone who’s managed installations of both systems, here’s what your builder won’t tell you: Aluminium installs faster. Much faster. Precision-manufactured frames, minimal site adjustment, weather seals that actually work first time.
Timber installations are art projects. Aluminium installations are engineering solutions. One takes three days of careful fitting; the other takes three hours of systematic installation. Guess which one keeps construction schedules on track?
It Looks Good
I’ll cop to being completely wrong about aesthetics. Modern Aluminium systems, especially the slimline profiles coming out of Europe, are genuinely beautiful. Clean, minimal, letting the glass do the talking instead of chunky timber frames dominating the view.
Been to any high-end residential developments lately? They’re not using timber. They’re using Aluminium systems that cost more per square metre than my first car. Because they look incredible, perform flawlessly and last forever.
Good For The Environment
The environmental argument against Aluminium makes me laugh now. Yes, smelting Aluminium is energy-intensive. Know what else is energy-intensive? Harvesting old-growth forests, chemical treatments, regular maintenance products, and replacement cycles every fifteen years.
Aluminium gets recycled indefinitely. Treated timber gets incinerated. The environmental lifecycle isn’t even close.
What I Have Finally Realised
After eighteen years watching buildings perform in real-world conditions, Aluminium doors and windows win on every metric that actually matters: durability, maintenance, energy efficiency, security, and total cost of ownership.
The only thing timber has left is nostalgia. And nostalgia doesn’t pay electricity bills or prevent break-ins or eliminate weekend maintenance projects.
If you’re building or renovating and still choosing timber because “it’s traditional,” you’re choosing sentimentality over sense. Nothing wrong with that just don’t pretend it’s the practical choice.
Your future self will thank you for choosing aluminium. Trust me on this one.
