SmartHinge is face-fixed onto your existing window frame rather than fitted into the reveal, so it works on windows in all styles and materials.

However – four things to check before ordering:

1: Is there a flat face all the way round the window? SmartHinge needs a continuous flat surface around the full perimeter of the window to seal and fix to. Ornate mouldings, deeply beaded frames, a sloping timber sill or a chamfered edge won’t give it anything to sit against.

If your frame isn’t flat all round, look at fixed panel kits or sliding secondary glazing instead, both of which can be reveal-fixed. Our premium, bespoke secondary glazing can also be designed to fit awkward frames.

2: Is there room for the panel to swing outwards? You need 50mm of flat frame on the hinge side for the panel to open fully, and 30mm on the toggle side for it to close properly. Measure both. Where the hinge side has less than 50mm, order the opposite hand and swing the panel the other way.

3: Is your window the right shape for SmartHinge?

SmartHinge runs from 300mm to 1,000mm wide and 300mm to 1,800mm high. For anything wider than a metre you’d want two panels side by side, or our sliding secondary glazing, which spans up to 2m in one unit.

Alternatively you may prefer our bespoke premium glass secondary glazing.

4: Will your window furniture clear the frame?

SmartHinge sits 25mm forward of the face of your existing window frame. Anything projecting further into the room than that – cranked window handles, stay bars, trickle vents, blind brackets – will get in the way of the panel. Check the projection of your handles before ordering. If they stick out past 25mm, tell us when you order and we’ll advise if a different product would suit you better.

Measure the width across the flat face of the window frame, in three places – top, middle, bottom.

Measure the height up the flat face, in three places – left, centre, right.

Use the smallest figure of each. Frames are rarely dead square, and the smaller measurement is the one that determines whether the panel sits flat.

Check your hinge margin. You need 50mm of flat frame on the side you want the panel hinged.

Check your toggle margin. You need 30mm of flat frame on the opposite side.

SmartHinge arrives fully assembled and glazed. There’s no cutting, no glazing to fit and no frame to build.

The hinge side screws to the flat face of your existing window frame, the toggle clip fixes to the opposite side, and the panel closes against the frame. All you need is a drill, a screwdriver and a spirit level. Most people fit a single panel in well under an hour.

A step-by-step installation guide (PDF) is available on every product page. We recommend reading this before you order, not after – it shows exactly where the fixings land and will tell you quickly whether the job suits you.

SmartHinge secondary glazing is really easy to open – when the toggle that shuts the panel to the window frame is released the panels will naturally swing open.

If you wish to add a handle to the SmartHinge range, you could add a stick in handle, but it’s not needed – the windows open very easily without a handle.

No. SmartHinge panels are sold individually – left and right.

No. SmartHinge is glazed with 4mm or 6mm Clear-as-Glass solid plate polycarbonate only. Polycarbonate keeps the panel light enough to hang off a side hinge and swing freely, and it’s optically very close to glass. If you specifically want glass, look at our bespoke glass secondary glazing units.

SmartHinge, like all secondary glazing, reduces condensation a lot. Secondary glazing keeps the inner pane warmer, so moisture is much less likely to settle on it.

Yes. That’s the main reason people choose a hinged secondary glazing panel over a fixed one. Release the toggle and the panel swings clear of the whole opening.

Made-to-measure panels are built to the figures you supply, so they can’t be returned as stock items. If there’s any doubt, email your sizes, your hands and a photo taken from inside the room and we’ll check them before you order. We’d much rather do that than have you stuck with a panel you can’t use.