Many customers come to Paarhammer Windows and Doors because they want the same indoor comfort levels they’ve experienced on their European travels. Others have heard about the company’s sophisticated fire resistant products for Flame Zone.
Edith Paarhammer and her husband Tony have been leading the market in high quality, European-style windows and doors since they started their family business in 1990.
At the time the couple had newly arrived from Austria and were building their house, but they couldn’t find the high performing windows and doors they had grown up with. The double or triple glazed tightly sealed kind that actually protects the inhabitants from heat or cold and provides a high degree of security at the same time.
So in the absence of the quality they were used to Tony, a master cabinet maker and joiner, decided to make the windows for their house himself. Today Paarhammer Windows and Doors has used that kick start to filling the gap in the Australian market to employ around 30 people at its manufacturing facility at Ballan near Ballarat in Victoria, to supplying products to most parts of Australia.
The company has also embraced sustainability with a passion, making sure its factory as well as their products meet the highest standards.
“As sustainable materials for windows go, timber is perfect,” Edith Paarhammer says. “It regrows and carbon remains locked in the wood for the life of the piece of timber.”
Timber is also a “very bad conductor of heat”, making it very good for energy efficiency. In line with its sustainability commitment Paarhammer uses timbers that are AFS, PEFC or FSC certified, and the company is itself FSC Chain-of-Custody certified.
The use of timber in buildings ties in with biophilic principles incorporating the innate affinity of humans for nature. Interaction with nature can relieve stress, increase health and encourage a positive mindset, Paarhammer says.
“But longevity is the real sustainability. If something lasts longer – has a longer, useful life, it does not have to be replaced and the pressure on the environment is reduced.”
The European-style windows that Paarhammer manufactures are tilt and turn windows, lift-slide sliding doors, French and bi-fold doors, and entrance door systems. The range also includes low maintenance Wood-Alu composites as well as heritage styles. “All feature seals and several locking points for airtightness and security. And are very highly energy efficient.”
Tilt and turn windows tilt inwards at the top like hopper windows, and are child-proof, but they also open sideways like a casement window for easy cleaning.
The lift-slide sliding doors are likewise cleverly designed for comfort and ease of use. Double rubber seals ensure air tightness. Turn the handle and the whole door lifts right up and slides “really easily” Paarhammer says, then “drop the handle and the door eases back onto the seals.”
The Paarhammer factory features 300 solar panels, almost 100kW, on the roof, generating enough power for the factory. This would be enough to run over 20 homes and saves CO2 of the equivalent of planting over 3000 trees a year.
The sawdust and offcuts from manufacturing are compressed into wood briquettes and are used for heating, reducing landfill of almost the volume of an Olympic sized swimming pool every year. There is also management of lighting and water gets collected and used in and around the manufacturing plant.
Energy-wise the windows perform very well
By way of efficiency values, the best windows the company makes have a “U” value of 0.8 with their lowest standard 2.2 (higher rating numbers signify poorer energy efficiency performance). By contrast single glazed aluminium windows can have a U value of 6 or even 7.
There are also star ratings that assess sustainability with the higher numbers signifying higher energy efficiency. “Our windows have 7.5 cooling stars and 7 heating stars on WERS (Window Energy Rating Scheme),” Paarhammer says.
Products listed on WERS are third-party certified and participating companies get audited yearly.
The windows also help to control air leakage, a common factor in overconsumption of energy.
Demand for high quality work is growing
A lot has changed with Australian standards since the couple arrived in Australia Paarhammer says, and the market is now moving at speed in the company’s direction – with growing demand for high quality product that offers high energy-efficiency and sustainability.
The revised 2023 National Construction Code, for instance, now requires better windows and doors that are thermally efficient. But there is also rapidly growing consumer awareness that after several years of severe weather and fires, homes and commercial buildings alike need strong protection.
After the devastating Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Paarhammer invented, tested and had approved windows and doors for flame zone areas without shutters. These products have been a particularly strong source of demand growth, not just in rural areas but in peripheral urban areas adjacent to bushland.
More than a few customers, however, come to Paarhammer because they’ve been to Europe and have experienced the comfort level the most sophisticated windows there can provide.
“They’ll say ‘we’ve had this comfort level in the hotel or Airbnb, where there’s really low temperature fluctuation, even if it’s winter outside or really hot. But within the building itself, within the room, there is not much fluctuation’.
‘And they like that comfort level of even temperatures. As well as the way the windows open and lock, keeping the house very secure.
“All those sorts of things are part of why our clients come to us.”
The very same things in the end that drew Edith and Tony Paarhammer into the business in the first place.
For more information on Paarhammer Windows & Doors contact them on 03 5368 1999 or visit www.paarhammer.com.au
