Readers reply: Why do windows in the UK open outwards?

I have lived in many countries where the windows open inwards. Not only are they easy to clean (at any storey level), but also you can also attach insect nets to the outside and still open the windows without any interference. Why is it standard in the UK to have windows that open outwards? Ben, via email

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Readers reply

Windows in the UK use a different operating system. EddieChorepost

It is all to do with gardyloo. When throwing the contents of your chamber pot into the street below, inward-opening windows require you to walk backwards while holding your pot and its contents; you could trip over something. Outward-opening windows allow you to rest the chamber pot on or against the window frame while opening the window with your free hand. Having achieved this, it is easy to throw the contents of the pot into the street with little chance of the contents falling into the room. I would have thought anyone disposing of the contents of their chamber pot would realise the advantages of outward-opening windows. Ixtis1940

I’m from the Netherlands, where this is the case (mostly). In my country, it has to do with the wind. Living close to the sea gives us strong winds (often with rain); a window turning outward is better for keeping the wind out. An inward-turning window is a bit like a funnel that lets the wind (and rain) in. Simother

I heard it’s because it prevents people from falling out of windows. But I find that windows in the UK are rather small and very high up. Take the window of my old bedroom in north Wales. I went for a visit recently and was shocked to see that you could only open a small panel of glass about two inches outwards. There’s no way you could fall out of that window even if it opened into the room, just because of how narrow it is. And whereas the lowest parts of the windows in my flat in Germany are somewhere near the top of my thighs, in my old bedroom they are at chest height. Also, I’ve seen windowsills in Germany so wide that you could swing your legs up and sit on them – with the window open – sunning yourself.

I have an English colleague in Germany who is married to a German. When people ask her if she moved to Germany for love, she says: “No, for the windows.” Another asset is that they close tightly – no draughts. That was something I longed for when I lived in three places in London over a four-year period. Nina1414

Related: Alys Fowler: make the most of your windowsills

On mainland Europe, it is common for windows on buildings to have external shutters that provide a benefit in terms of security and also (in warmer countries) by keeping out the sun or heat. Having windows that opened outwards is impractical if you have shutters. In the UK, windows shutters are generally not common, as historically it’s rarely been warm enough to need them. Where they are fitted, the fashion is to fit them inside the window recess, rather than externally. This means windows in the UK need to open outwards. LifeSlipsBy

Our sash windows open neither inwards nor outwards. Mack_the_fork

Until recently, I have always lived in Victorian or Edwardian houses with huge sash windows that we could never afford to double-glaze. We have downsized to a house in Scotland that is 25 years old. The windows are double-glazed “tilt and turn”, so they tilt inwards or open inwards. We use the tilt for fresh air and the open for the odd occasion that we clean them and spend hours looking at them from different angles to see where the smears are. cajrichards

I live in Scotland in an Edwardian tenement. We have “sash and case” windows. They’re like sash windows in that the top and bottom slide up and down and you can adjust the airflow. But unlike English sash windows, you can open them from the inside to wash them – the bottom sash has an extra set of hinges on the left-hand side.

You have to release a bar on the right-hand side, lift the sash, release the cord and drop them into the hinges. Then the bottom sash swings open to the side. You can wash both sides. You pull down the upper sash and lean over to wash the outside. Then you raise the lower sash, pick your bottom sash up off the hinges, re-thread the cord and drop it into place, closing the side bar to keep in place. It sounds complicated, but it works.

Why Britons don’t have insect screens is, I presume, because of the prevalence of sash and sash and case windows. When I grew up in California, the windows were covered with insect screens, and you cranked open the window, which was on the outside of the screens. Easy enough to clean on the ground floor; not sure how you did it in a two-storey house. emmi58

Related: The 10 best windows

Historically, window shutters were pretty common in the UK, too, but they have always been fixed internally. They fold back against the window reveal when opened. You can find them on all window types, from medieval stone mullions to Victorian sash windows. whoatethecookies

The cultural difference is undeniably weather related. In France, we have inward-opening windows and shutters, which are great for helping keep the house cool in summer; in England, we have outward-opening windows and heavy curtains, which are equally good at keeping the heat inside in winter. Both have their place. In my experience, window size is not dependent on room size, but on the age of the house. BristolBoy

It’s better for the windows to open outwards if you’re in the habit of running around the room at high speed. Even if the windows are free to move on their hinges, you could still do yourself a mischief. There are also burglars to consider. They have to push the top of the ladder away from the sill to open the window, hopefully far enough for the ladder to tip over backwards, causing the burglar to have an interesting confrontation with the thorny rose bushes, wheelie bins or Ford Focus below. bricklayersoption

All my houses, built in the US between 1945 and 1975 in the hot south-west, had these three-pane, crank-opening casement windows. Single-pane glass, 5in wide, divided into thirds, with the centre inoperable. Most of the time, the crank had failed, making them just about impossible to open more than an inch or so. The screen was inside and the windows opened out. The thing was, most folks never replaced them with the swanky aluminum sliding windows for a very simple reason: it was impossible to break into the house. Hell, mostly they couldn’t be opened legitimately. Saved a lot on burglar alarms! GWPDA11

The Scottish Building Standards say you must be able to safely clean both sides of the window while standing inside. So lots of windows here open inwards. Randomusername222

One summer, I spent a week in a hotel in Glasgow. I bought some coffee and milk, but there was no fridge, so I kept the milk outside on the windowsill, where the Scottish summer temperatures could keep it fresh. If windows opened outwards, Scots wouldn’t be able to use their windowsills as fridges. Magic_Max

So, the key question: do we have windows that open outwards because we fill our windowsills with pot plants, ornaments and family photographs, or do we fill our windowsills with pot plants, ornaments and family photographs because we have windows that open outwards? LastWarriorPoet

I have an EU-to-UK window adaptor that I take on holiday so I can open my windows outwards, just like at home. Don’t buy one at the airport, though – total rip-off. ComfortEagle