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Frequently Asked Questions
How do the four types differ?
By how far the window opens and what stops it there.
Friction stays hold the sash anywhere by resistance alone.
Egress hinges swing the sash clear to give a full opening.
Restrictor stays deliberately limit how far it opens.
Top-hung hinges set the geometry rather than the restraint.
Two of them maximise the opening and two of them constrain it, which is the real division.
Which one does a given window need?
It follows what the window is required to do rather than what it is.
A window that must serve as an escape route needs egress hinges.
A window above ground level with children about needs restriction.
A window that is simply opened for air needs a friction stay.
One window can carry two of those requirements at once.
That combination is what releasable restrictors exist to resolve.
What makes an egress hinge different?
It swings the sash clear of the frame to give an unobstructed opening.
An ordinary stay leaves the sash partly across the opening.
That makes the clear opening much smaller than the window.
Escape routes require a regulated clear dimension.
An ordinary stay generally will not meet it.
Which windows must serve as escape routes is set locally and differs between markets.
What do restrictor stays do?
They deliberately limit how far a window opens, usually for child safety.
That is the opposite requirement to an egress hinge.
Requirements commonly apply above ground level.
Releasable restrictors exist for windows that must also open fully.
Whether a releasable device is acceptable on an escape window is a local question.
It is a regulatory decision rather than a product one.
Can the requirements conflict on the same window?
Frequently, and it is the hardest question in this branch.
Escape demands the largest possible opening.
Fall prevention demands the smallest safe one.
Both can apply to the same bedroom window above ground level.
Releasable devices are the usual technical answer.
Whether one satisfies both requirements is a regulatory question rather than a product one.
What is common across all of them?
They carry the sash, so weight and size govern every selection.
Glazed weight is what counts rather than the frame alone.
They are handed and are replaced in pairs.
They live in a wet location near the outside face.
Corrosion is what ends most of their service lives.
Those four things apply whichever type the window needs.
Can friction be adjusted?
Within a limited range on most stays, and it is worth doing.
Too little friction lets the window move in the wind.
Too much makes it hard to open and stresses the fixings.
Adjustment is usually a screw on the stay arm.
It should be set with the sash fully glazed.
A stay that will no longer hold at any adjustment has usually worn or corroded past recovery.