The home is the most important investment a family makes at virtually every stage of life.
In selecting or building a new home, people seek a residence that they will be proud to show their family and friends, a home that will have comfort and luxury all year round, is easy to maintain, and affordable. Of course, everyone seeks comfort and luxury in their home while trying to avoid excessive costs.
How to achieve this apparent paradox? The classical solution to comfort and luxury in a residence was to commit to artisanal builders and top craftsmen, but for most people the cost of features such as a fresco or mosaic sculpture may be difficult to justify in the overall budget. So people seek revolution in building practice and materials that can add a particular element of luxurious feeling to their home – comfort and luxury with in a budget.
And a solution is out there. It is to utilise building systems and building elements that are created ‘in factory’ to top architectural specification and are manufactured to the most stringent performance and conformance specifications. These elements are then assembled on site where they can still provide individuality to the house coupled with next generation technical performance –comfort and luxury.
Some years ago we met Preformati Italia who fulfill these dreams for people who seek water features in their homes, spas, saunas, pools, fountains; and achieved this through use of a lightweight machineable material with wonderful thermal insulation, very high compressive strength, exceptional acoustic insulation and excellent moisture barrier properties. It is EPS, expanded polystyrene. While polystyrene has been used for many years for insulation, the introduction of this engineering grade occurred more recently.
So, it did not come as a surprise at the Open Day of Tondin Doors on 27 June to find that Luca Tondin’s fine timber doors and windows company is collaborating with Maico to produce window ‘boxes’ with the frame comprised of EPS. The revolution to the design is the creation of a new simplified means of assembly of top grade windows into the building.
For each window, the external border that interfaces with the brickwork or concrete of the building, is traditional timber board. This surrounds the EPS in which the window and accessories are mounted.
The EPS is covered with plaster that matches the coatings on the masonry. The whole assembly is sealed to the structure with expanded polyurethane foam and joints are covered with vapour barrier tape. Thermal barrier performance is optimised, the aesthetics and appeal of the window frame make even the most critical architect happy, and the Tondin motto –‘Serramenti di Valore’ - Top Value Window Frames is exemplified.
Nevertheless there is one more element to provide complete satisfaction to the client. That element is warranty and corporate commitment, in case of accidental damage to the installation. Corporate warranty is not a financial issue, it is a personal matter, it is the pride of the manufacturer and supplier in making every customer happy with the goods provided, delivering comfort and luxury for the life of the house.
It is at events such as the Tondin Open House that you develop the confidence that Luca Tondin, his wife Valentina, his father Adriano and his team are fully committed, competent and proud of their work - it is the demonstration of their quality of life.
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