Aluminium Window Colour and Solar Exposure: Finish Selection for Australian Projects

Colour is usually the last decision made on an aluminium window package and the first one anybody notices. A facade is approved on a render, the render shows a deep charcoal frame against pale masonry, and the finish is treated as a purchasing detail to be resolved once the glazing and the hardware schedules are locked. In practice, the finish is a performance decision as much as an aesthetic one. The colour of an aluminium frame determines how much solar radiation its surface absorbs, how hot that surface becomes on a still summer afternoon, how much it moves between a cold morning and a hot afternoon, and how visible the consequences of that movement become at the joints, gaskets and seals over the life of the building.

This guide sets out a practical method for selecting aluminium window and door finishes on Australian projects, where high solar exposure, coastal salt, driving rain and wide diurnal temperature swings frequently occur in the same location. It covers the relationship between colour and solar absorption, the two finish families that dominate the market, orientation and shading as design controls, thermal movement, coastal care, cleaning and inspection routines, the interaction between finish and glazing, and the standards framework that a specification should reference. It deliberately avoids quoting surface temperatures, gloss readings, coating service lives, installed costs or thermal and acoustic ratings: those figures are product-specific, they are established by testing and by the coating supplier’s own published data, and they belong in a project specification supported by evidence rather than in a general article. Where a number would normally appear, this guide explains what to ask for instead.

Colour and Solar Absorption as Design Considerations

What a Finish Actually Does with Sunlight

An opaque painted or anodised surface does not transmit solar radiation; it absorbs part of it and reflects the rest. The split depends on the colour, the pigmentation and the surface texture of the coating, and on the wavelength mix of the light arriving at the surface. A pale, light-toned finish reflects a comparatively large share of the incident solar energy and absorbs a smaller share. A dark, saturated finish does the opposite. That difference is not a matter of appearance only: absorbed energy becomes heat in the coating and the aluminium beneath it, and the surface temperature of a dark frame in direct summer sun will rise well above the ambient air temperature and well above the surface temperature of a pale frame in the same position.

Two consequences follow, and both matter to a window designer. The first is that the frame becomes a small but real heat source on the exterior of the envelope, sitting directly against the edge of the insulating glass unit, where the sealant and the spacer are most vulnerable to sustained heat. The second is that the frame expands. Aluminium has a relatively high coefficient of thermal expansion for a structural material, so a frame that is a few degrees warmer than its neighbour is also a few millimetres longer over a long span. Neither consequence is a reason to avoid dark colours, which remain the dominant architectural choice in Australia and are entirely appropriate when the system is designed for them. They are reasons to treat colour as an input to the system selection rather than a colour card exercise.

Why Surface Temperature Matters at the Frame

The temperature of an aluminium frame is not a single value. The outer face, the inner face, the mullion in shade and the transom in full sun all sit at different temperatures at the same moment. On a thermally broken system the outer aluminium is separated from the inner aluminium by an insulating barrier, which limits how much of the exterior heat reaches the interior face. On a non-thermally broken system the frame conducts far more readily, so the exterior surface condition has a more direct route to the inside. This is why the finish decision and the frame construction decision should be made together: a deeply coloured frame on an unbroken profile behaves differently from the same colour on a broken profile, and the specification should say which one is being supplied.

Where the frame meets the glass, temperature matters for a second reason. The glazing sealant, the gasket and the edge seal of an insulating glass unit all have operating limits, and a frame that runs hot in service imposes a higher sustained temperature on those components than the glass itself experiences at its centre. A dark frame is not a defect, but a dark frame in an exposed west-facing opening needs a system whose glazing details, gaskets and sealants are specified for that condition rather than assumed from a mild inland project.

Colour Choice Is a System Decision

The practical rule is that colour should be selected against four other variables at the same time: the orientation of the opening, the amount of shading the opening receives, the frame construction, and the glazing type. A dark anodised or powder-coated finish on a shaded south elevation is a low-risk choice. The same finish on an unshaded west elevation, in a coastal location, on a large sliding door with a wide span, is a different proposition and should be reviewed as such. Designers who treat the colour schedule as a separate document from the performance schedule tend to discover this at the first site inspection, when a frame that was specified for appearance alone shows movement or sealant distress that nobody modelled.

Texture belongs in the same conversation. A matte or finely textured finish scatters light and reads differently from a gloss finish at the same nominal colour, and it also changes how visible dust, salt bloom and handling marks become. On a coastal facade, a matte finish in a mid-tone generally shows airborne salt less obviously than a dark gloss surface, which is a maintenance consideration rather than a performance claim.

Powder Coating and Anodising: The Two Finish Families

Almost every architectural aluminium window in Australia carries one of two factory-applied finishes: a powder coating or an anodised layer. Both are industrial processes applied before assembly, both are intended to protect the aluminium and provide the colour, and both are routinely specified alongside each other on the same building. They are not interchangeable, and the differences that matter are in how the finish is formed, how it behaves at edges and joints, and how it is repaired if it is damaged.

Powder Coating: What It Is and Where It Suits

Powder coating is a dry finishing process. A pigmented resin powder is applied electrostatically to the cleaned and pre-treated aluminium extrusion and then cured in an oven to form a continuous film. Because the colour is carried by the pigment in the powder, the process offers a very wide colour range, including the deep charcoals, blacks, bronzes and muted greens that dominate contemporary Australian residential and commercial work, and it allows a project to specify a colour that matches other coated elements on the facade such as louvres, balustrades, screens and garage doors.

The film is a polymer layer sitting on the metal rather than a conversion of the metal itself. That has practical implications. The coating has a defined film thickness, it can be damaged by impact or abrasion at a level that would merely polish an anodised surface, and damage that penetrates the film exposes bare aluminium. On the other hand, powder coating can be touched up on site with matched material, and a damaged panel or sash can be re-coated, which is a genuine advantage on a building where a single scratched frame would otherwise be visible for decades. Powder coating is the natural choice where colour flexibility, colour consistency across a mixed-material facade, or a specific architectural colour is the priority.

Anodising: What It Is and Where It Suits

Anodising is an electrochemical process. The aluminium surface is converted into an oxide layer that is integral to the metal, so the finish is not a film applied on top of the extrusion but a hardened, sealed surface grown from it. Because the colour comes from the oxide structure and from dyes or pigments absorbed into it rather than from a paint film, anodised finishes have a characteristic metallic depth that powder coatings approximate but do not reproduce. The palette is narrower: natural silver, champagne and bronze tones dominate, with black and darker tones available through the process.

The integral nature of the oxide layer gives anodising its main practical strength. There is no discrete film to chip away from an edge, so the finish is tolerant of the abrasion that frames receive during transport, glazing and site handling, and it performs well where a frame will be touched, wiped and knocked in normal service. The trade-off is that anodising is difficult to repair invisibly: a deep scratch through the oxide layer cannot be blended out on site, and colour matching of a replacement section to an aged anodised facade requires care. Anodising suits projects where a metallic finish is the design intent, where the colour range is acceptable, and where the priority is a surface that resists handling damage and requires minimal intervention.

Comparing the Two Without Overselling Either

Both finishes are factory-applied, both are available on thermally broken and non-thermally broken systems, and both are used successfully on coastal and inland projects when the specification, the pre-treatment and the maintenance regime are appropriate. The choice usually comes down to four questions. Is a specific architectural colour required, or is a metallic tone acceptable? Will the frames be handled heavily on site, or protected until handover? Is invisible repair likely to be important, or is replacement of a component acceptable? And what does the finish supplier’s own published data say about the conditions on this site? Those questions produce a defensible answer; a preference for one process over the other does not.

Colour Matching Across a Project

Colour matching is where finish selection most often goes wrong, and it goes wrong quietly. Two extrusions coated to the same nominal colour in different production runs can differ enough to be visible where they meet, and a frame adjacent to a coated louvre blade, a metal fascia or a painted door can look mismatched even when both are within tolerance. The control is procedural. Approve a physical sample of the actual finish on the actual substrate, retain it as the project reference, keep components for one elevation from a single production batch where the supplier can arrange it, and state in the specification how colour will be assessed and under what lighting. A colour approved on a screen or a printed card is not an approved colour.

Orientation: Designing the Facade Around the Sun

Orientation determines how much solar energy reaches a facade, at what angle, and for how long. It is the cheapest control available, because it is decided at concept stage and costs nothing to change then. A finish selected without reference to orientation is a finish selected on incomplete information.

The Four Exposures in the Australian Context

In the southern hemisphere the sun tracks through the northern sky, so a north-facing facade receives useful winter sun at a relatively high angle and can be controlled with modest horizontal shading, while an east or west facade receives low-angle sun in the morning or afternoon when the sun is close to the horizon and the intensity on a vertical surface is at its highest. A south facade receives little direct sun in winter and can receive low-angle sun in summer mornings and afternoons depending on latitude and time of year. The practical implication for finishes is straightforward: the west and east elevations are where frames run hottest and where the consequences of a dark colour are most pronounced, and the north elevation is where shading design can most effectively reduce exposure before it ever reaches the aluminium.

East and West: The High-Stress Faces

Low-angle western sun strikes a vertical frame almost square-on for a sustained period on a clear summer afternoon, which is exactly when the frame is already warm from the ambient air and when the glass is at its hottest. This combination, not the peak air temperature, is what produces the most demanding service condition for a frame and its glazing seals. On an east or west elevation a deeply coloured frame should be paired with a system whose thermal and sealing details are appropriate to the exposure, and with shading if the design allows it. Where a west elevation cannot be shaded, a mid-tone or pale finish will run cooler than a dark one in the same position, and the glazing specification should be reviewed for the resulting edge conditions.

North: The Controlled Face

North-facing glazing is the easiest to control and the most valuable for winter solar gain. Because the summer sun is high and the winter sun is low, a correctly sized horizontal element, whether an eave, a pergola, a blade or a projecting head, can exclude summer sun while admitting winter sun. Frames on this elevation therefore experience a more predictable regime, and the finish decision can be made largely on appearance. This is where a project can afford a dark, saturated colour without adding meaningful thermal load to the frame, provided the shading device is actually sized for the latitude and not copied from a different climate.

It is worth stating clearly that orientation analysis is site-specific. Latitude, prevailing summer wind, altitude, surrounding vegetation, neighbouring buildings and the reflectivity of adjacent surfaces all change the result, and a rule of thumb carried from another city can be actively wrong. The finish schedule should record the exposure assumed for each elevation so that the assumption can be checked later rather than rediscovered.

Shading: Reducing Exposure Before It Reaches the Frame

Shading is the most effective way to manage solar exposure on a frame, because it acts before the energy reaches the surface. A shaded frame does not need a different finish; it needs a design that keeps direct sun off it during the critical hours. Shading should therefore be resolved on the drawings, not left to a blind or curtain specified by the occupant after handover.

Fixed Shading Devices

Eaves, projecting heads, horizontal blades, vertical fins, deep reveals, pergolas and screened balconies all reduce direct sun on a facade. Each has a different effect by orientation: horizontal elements work well on north elevations where the summer sun is high, while vertical elements are more effective on east and west elevations where the sun is low and the problem is lateral. A deep window reveal, which is often available for free in a masonry wall, shades the frame and the glass edge without adding a component to the facade, and it is one of the most underused controls in residential work. Louvre systems, whether fixed or operable, are a standard part of the product range on many aluminium window packages and allow a facade to be shaded without changing the window system itself.

Adjustable and Operable Shading

Operable louvres, external blinds, shutters and sliding screens allow the facade to respond to conditions rather than to a fixed assumption. They are valuable on east and west elevations where the sun angle changes through the day and through the year. The cost of that flexibility is mechanical: operable shading has fixings, pivots, guides and in some cases motors, all of which sit on the outside of the building in the same salt and UV environment as the window finish, and all of which need to appear in the maintenance schedule. A shading device that is specified but not maintained becomes a source of noise, jamming and water staining rather than a benefit.

Shading and Daylight Trade-offs

Shading reduces solar gain and glare, but it also reduces daylight, and an over-shaded room is a common outcome of a facade designed only for heat rejection. The balance is struck by shading the parts of the opening that cause the problem, usually the upper portion on a north elevation and the side portions on an east or west elevation, rather than the whole opening. From the finish perspective, partial shading is also the better outcome, because it reduces the peak surface temperature of the frame while leaving the window’s appearance intact.

Thermal Movement in Aluminium Frames

Why Aluminium Moves

Aluminium expands and contracts with temperature change more than most building materials. A frame exposed to direct sun will be warmer than the ambient air, and its temperature will swing between a cold winter morning and a hot summer afternoon by a margin far larger than the air temperature swing alone suggests. Over a long span, that swing produces measurable change in length. Movement is not a defect and it is not avoidable; it is a design condition that the system, the fixings and the joints must accommodate.

The relevant figure for any given project is the movement the frame will actually experience, which depends on the span, the colour, the orientation, the shading and the frame construction. That figure is a project-specific engineering calculation, and it should be provided by the system supplier or the facade engineer rather than assumed. This article does not quote a coefficient or a movement value, because a generic number applied to a specific opening is how clearance problems are created.

Designing Joints, Clearances and Fixings

Three details carry most of the responsibility for accommodating movement. The first is the joint between adjacent frame members and between the frame and the structure: expansion joints, slip joints and movement joints must be sized for the calculated movement of the assembly, not for the convenience of the installer. The second is the fixing: a fixing that restrains a member at both ends prevents it from moving and transfers the resulting stress into the frame, the glass or the substrate. Fixings should permit the intended movement, and the installation sequence should be described so that the person on site knows which fixings are slotted, which are fixed and in what order they are tightened.

The third is the interface with the glazing. Glass does not expand appreciably with temperature in the way aluminium does, so the frame moves around a relatively stable pane. Setting blocks, edge clearances and gaskets must be sized to keep the glass isolated from frame movement, and the glazing details must match the system that was tested. A frame installed with the correct clearances but the wrong setting blocks will still crack glass, and the cause will be attributed to the glass rather than to the installation.

Colour, Temperature and Movement Together

This is where colour selection and structural detailing meet. A dark frame on an exposed west elevation will run hotter and move more than a pale frame on the same elevation, so the joint and clearance details must be reviewed for the darker finish rather than taken from a standard detail developed for a lighter one. The practical instruction for a specification is to state the finish, the orientation and the exposure assumption in the same section as the movement and clearance requirements, so that the connection between them is visible to whoever reviews the shop drawings.

Coastal Care: Salt, UV and Finish Durability

What Coastal Exposure Does to a Finish

A coastal facade is exposed to three things at once: airborne salt, ultraviolet radiation and wind-driven rain. Salt is the most aggressive of the three for aluminium. Deposited salt holds moisture against the surface, and where the finish is damaged or where the metal is unprotected at a cut edge, fastener or drainage path, that moisture supports corrosion. Ultraviolet radiation attacks the organic components of a coating and the pigments within it, which is why colour fade and chalking are coastal symptoms rather than inland ones. Wind-driven rain determines where salt is deposited and where it is washed away, so the pattern of staining on a coastal building is usually a map of its wind exposure.

Distance, Aspect and Shelter

Coastal exposure is not uniform, and treating a whole suburb as one category leads to over-specification in some places and under-specification in others. The variables that matter are the distance to the surf zone and the open sea, the elevation of the site above the water, the prevailing wind direction relative to the facade, and the amount of shelter provided by headlands, dunes, vegetation or neighbouring buildings. A frame on a windward face close to breaking surf sees a different regime from a frame in the lee of the same building. This is why a project should define its exposure in writing, with the reasoning, rather than relying on a general assumption that a coastal postcode means a coastal condition.

Hardware and Fixings Are Part of the Finish Specification

A finish schedule that covers the aluminium and ignores the hardware is incomplete. Handles, hinges, rollers, lock strikes, screws and fixings are exposed to the same salt environment, and they are frequently made of different materials with different corrosion behaviour. Where dissimilar metals are in contact and moisture is present, galvanic corrosion can occur at the interface, and the resulting staining or seizure is often blamed on the frame finish. The specification should state the hardware material and finish, require compatible isolation between dissimilar metals, and require that fixings be of a type and material appropriate to coastal service. Handles and moving hardware should also be included in the cleaning regime, because a handle that is wiped weekly lasts better than one that is never touched.

At cut edges, drainage outlets and any site-cut component, the protection provided by the factory finish is interrupted. Those locations need to be identified, sealed or protected as part of the installation, and inspected at handover. This is a small detail that determines whether a coastal installation shows its first corrosion at a weephole or at a mullion base, and it is entirely within the installer’s control.

Cleaning and Maintenance of Finished Aluminium

A Routine That Actually Gets Done

Finish performance depends heavily on what happens after handover, and the single most effective maintenance action is ordinary washing. Salt, dust, pollen, insect residue and atmospheric fallout all sit on the surface and hold moisture against it; removing them before they accumulate is what keeps a facade looking as specified. A practical regime for a coastal or exposed site is a periodic wash of the frames, glass and hardware with clean water and a mild neutral detergent, using a soft cloth or sponge, followed by a clean water rinse to remove detergent residue. Horizontal surfaces, head and sill profiles, and the bottom tracks of sliding doors collect the most material and deserve the most attention.

The frequency should be set by the site, not by a generic interval. A windward facade close to the water needs more frequent washing than a sheltered inland elevation, and the regime should be written into the building’s maintenance documentation with the exposure reasoning attached. What matters is that the regime is defined, assigned and recorded, because an undocumented regime is the same as no regime.

What to Avoid

Abrasive pads, scouring powders, steel wool and blade scrapers will damage both powder-coated and anodised surfaces, and the damage is usually permanent. Strong alkaline or acidic cleaners, including many bathroom and masonry products, can attack the coating and the sealant; solvent-based products can soften or stain a cured powder film. Where a stubborn deposit such as cement splash, mortar or construction adhesive is present, it should be removed with a product and method approved for the specific finish, on a small test area first, rather than by mechanical force. Cleaning should also avoid directing high-pressure water at gaskets, drainage slots and joints, because the same pressure that removes dirt can drive water past a seal that is otherwise sound.

Drains, Weepholes and Tracks

Every window system has a designed path for water: drainage slots, weepholes, baffles and track channels. When those paths block, water stands in the frame, and standing water is the precursor to almost every finish and corrosion complaint on aluminium windows. The maintenance regime should include clearing these paths, checking that baffles are in place, and confirming that sliding tracks drain rather than pool. This is a two-minute task per opening that prevents a category of problem no coating system can solve.

Inspection: What to Look For and When

Pre-Delivery and Pre-Installation

Inspection should begin before the frames reach the wall. On delivery, check that the finish matches the approved sample in the approved lighting, that components for one elevation are from a consistent batch, that protective wrapping is intact, and that there is no transit damage at corners, edges and hardware locations. Record what is found rather than resolving it verbally. A frame that is installed with a defect is much harder to reject later, because removing it involves the glazing, the flashings and the waterproofing around the opening.

Before installation, confirm that the frame construction matches the tested and certified system: profile, thermal break, reinforcement, gaskets, setting blocks and drainage details. This is the point at which a substitution becomes visible, and it is far cheaper to catch now than at practical completion.

Practical Completion

At completion, inspect each elevation in daylight with the sun on it, not in shade or under artificial light, because low-angle light reveals surface irregularities that diffuse light hides. Look for colour variation between adjacent units, damage at handling points, sealant that has been smeared onto the finish rather than tooled cleanly, missing or displaced gaskets, blocked drainage slots, and hardware that does not operate smoothly. Operate every opening window and door through its full range, check that locks engage without force, and confirm that sliding panels run without binding.

Confirm also that site-cut or site-drilled locations have been treated as the specification requires, that fixings are the specified type, and that any touch-up material used matches the finish. Record the inspection with photographs and elevations noted, so that any later dispute about the condition at handover has evidence behind it.

Periodic Inspection

After occupancy, the useful inspection is a short, regular one rather than a comprehensive one every few years. Check for chalky residue or colour change on the most exposed faces, staining at fixings and cut edges, sealant that has cracked or lost adhesion, gaskets that have hardened or shrunk, water marks inside the frame or on the reveal below, and hardware that has stiffened. Each of these has a cause that is cheaper to correct early. A chalky surface, for example, is a sign that the coating is being degraded by UV and that the cleaning regime needs review; staining at a fixing is a sign that the interface needs attention before corrosion spreads.

Glazing Interaction: Where Finish and Glass Meet

Thermal Stress at the Edge

Glass and aluminium behave differently under heat. The frame warms and expands, the glass stays comparatively stable, and the edge of the glass is the part that feels the difference first, because it is in contact with the frame and often shaded by it while the centre of the pane is in full sun. That temperature difference across a pane is what produces thermal stress, and it is why the combination of a dark frame, a partially shaded opening, a deep reveal and a heat-absorbing glass is a combination that deserves engineering review rather than assumption. The mirror or fabric applied to glass after handover, the blind mounted close to the pane, and the air-conditioning vent directed at the glass all change the temperature pattern and belong in the building’s operating guidance.

Coatings, Reflectance and Appearance

Glass coatings change what the frame looks like next to them. A highly reflective glazing appears light or dark depending on the sky, and a frame colour that reads well against a render can read very differently against a coated glass at dusk. Sample the frame finish and the glazing together, in the actual orientation, before the order is placed. Where performance glazing with a visible tint or coating is used, consider whether the frame should match the glass, contrast with it, or match another facade element. None of these is wrong; the failure mode is choosing in isolation and discovering the combination on the day the hoarding comes down.

Safety Glazing and Identification

The finish schedule should state how glazed panels will be identified as safety glazing where required, and how that identification will survive cleaning and the application of films. AS 1288 covers glass in buildings and AS 2208 covers safety glazing materials, and the selection of glass for each location is a design decision that must be recorded in the glazing schedule rather than inferred on site. The frame finish has a role here too: a permanent, legible marking needs a surface it will adhere to and a location where it will not be abraded by the sash or obscured by gaskets.

Standards and Specification Framework

The Standards That Apply

Australian window and door projects commonly reference AS 2047 for windows and doors, AS 4284 for the performance of windows, AS 1288 for glass in buildings, AS 4666 for installation, and AS 2208 for safety glazing. New Zealand projects reference SNZ TS 4211:2022 and SNZ 4223 alongside the relevant New Zealand glazing requirements. These documents sit within the broader framework of the National Construction Code and the applicable state or territory requirements, which govern what must be demonstrated for the building as a whole. None of them prescribes a colour, and that is precisely the point: the finish sits inside a compliance system that tests and certifies the window as an assembly, so a finish change that alters the assembly needs to be considered against the certification rather than treated as a cosmetic variation.

Writing the Finish Specification

A finish specification that can be enforced contains, at minimum: the finish type and process; the colour reference and the approved physical sample; the substrate and pre-treatment required; the coating or oxide requirement expressed as the supplier’s published specification; the elevation-by-elevation colour schedule with the exposure assumption for each; the hardware material and finish; the treatment of cut edges and site modifications; the touch-up material and method; the cleaning regime to be handed over; and the acceptance criteria and inspection points. It should also state what evidence the supplier must provide, and distinguish clearly between the manufacturer’s published data and any project-specific engineering value.

Two habits make this specification more useful. First, express requirements as measurable properties or as referenced published data rather than as adjectives: “durable” and “premium” cannot be inspected, while a named process, a specified pre-treatment and an approved sample can. Second, keep the finish, the frame construction, the glazing and the installation in one coordinated package, because compliance is assessed on the assembly. A window that meets its performance requirements in one configuration and is supplied in another has not been shown to comply, however good its colour looks.

Evidence and Certification

Ask for the certification evidence that applies to the system being supplied, and check that the product on the schedule is the product that was tested. Meichen International Windows & Doors works to this principle for the Australian and New Zealand markets: the company has served the ANZ market since 2017 from a 20,000 m² manufacturing facility, holds certification for 43 product series for Australia under the AS 2047, AS 4284, AS 1288, AS 4666 and AS 2208 framework, and holds New Zealand certification for 13 product lines under SNZ TS 4211:2022 and SNZ 4223, with published water tightness results of up to 960 Pa under AS 4284. Those are the manufacturer’s published positions; the finish, glazing and exposure values for a specific building remain project decisions supported by the relevant test evidence and the coating supplier’s data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a dark window frame make a room hotter?

A dark frame absorbs more solar radiation than a pale one and therefore runs hotter at the surface. How much of that heat reaches the interior depends on the frame construction, particularly whether the system is thermally broken, and on the glazing. On an exposed west elevation, a dark frame on a thermally broken system with appropriate glazing performs very differently from the same colour on an unbroken profile. The colour is one variable in a system, not a standalone thermal rating.

Is powder coating better than anodising?

Neither is universally better. Powder coating gives a broader colour range, better colour matching across a mixed facade, and the option of site touch-up and re-coating. Anodising gives an integral metallic finish that resists handling abrasion and needs less surface intervention, with a narrower palette and less forgiving repair. The right choice follows the design intent, the handling conditions and the exposure, and both are used successfully on Australian coastal and inland projects.

Can I change the colour after the windows are certified?

A colour change is a change to the finished assembly, and it should be reviewed against the certification and the tested configuration rather than treated as cosmetic. In practice, a system is normally available in a range of finishes within its certification, and the supplier should confirm which finishes are covered. If a finish is outside that range, the project needs a documented position before the order is placed.

How often should aluminium windows be cleaned on the coast?

The interval depends on the site: distance from the surf, height above the water, prevailing wind and shelter all change the rate at which salt accumulates. Rather than adopting a fixed interval, define the exposure in the maintenance documentation, start with a frequent wash and extend the interval only if inspection shows the surface is staying clean. Horizontal surfaces, sills and door tracks need attention more often than vertical faces.

What causes white chalky marks on a coloured frame?

Chalking is a surface condition in which the coating breaks down under ultraviolet exposure and leaves a powdery residue. It is a sign that the finish is being degraded and that the cleaning and exposure regime should be reviewed. It is not the same as salt bloom, which is a deposit that washes off, and the two should be distinguished before any remedial action is specified.

Why do my sliding doors become hard to move over time?

Usually because the track has accumulated grit, salt or construction debris, or because the rollers and guides have been affected by the same environment as the frame. Track cleaning is part of routine maintenance and is often the whole remedy. If operation remains stiff after cleaning, the hardware should be inspected rather than forced, since continued operation against a seized roller damages the track as well.

Do I need shading if I choose a light colour?

A light colour reduces the solar absorptance of the frame, but it does not reduce the solar gain through the glass, and it does not remove glare. Shading and glazing selection address the heat and glare entering the room; frame colour addresses the temperature of the frame itself. They are separate controls and both are worth having on an exposed elevation.

Can scratched powder coating be repaired on site?

Small damaged areas can usually be touched up with matched material, and a badly damaged component can be re-coated or replaced. The key requirement is that the touch-up material is approved for the finish and applied by the specified method, and that significant damage is recorded rather than concealed. Deep damage to an anodised surface is harder to disguise and is usually addressed by replacing the affected section.

What should be inspected at handover?

Colour consistency against the approved sample, transit and handling damage, sealant condition, gasket continuity, drainage paths, hardware operation, and the treatment of any site-cut or drilled locations. Inspect in daylight with the sun on the elevation, operate every opening, and record the result with photographs referenced to elevations. A documented handover inspection is the baseline for every later maintenance decision.

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