Une fenêtre oscillo-battante

The new living-room window we had installed yesterday consists of two fixed side panels and one central panel that opens. There are two ways of opening it: the middle panel can swing into the room on its side hinges (like a door), or it can "tilt" slightly into the room on bottom hinges. The point is to be able to let air in or out of the room without opening the window all the way and letting cats, birds, or burglars in.

The new air-tight, double-glazed tilt-and-turn window

Oscillo-battant : type de châssis de fenêtre permettant de l'utiliser comme un battant ou comme une fenêtre oscillante. In English, this is called a "tilt-and-turn" window, apparently. It's a very common type of window in Europe. Several years ago, we had one installed in our W.C., which is the half-bath where the toilet is located (there's no toilet in the main bathroom). It's very practical for ventilation.

Window installer Serge Roch getting ready to put in the

new window frame on a warm summer day

Battant is an interesting word in French. Whenever talk turns to doors, windows, or shutters, you hear it. I'm not sure what the translation is. The battant is the door or window panel that hangs on hinges and can be opened. French windows and door open into the room, whereas English windows and door open to the exterior. I guess the battant is the door panel. A double door is a porte à deux battants.

In this photo, you can see the window tilted slightly into the room for ventilation

and held in place by hardware. There's tennis on TV.

The job took only about three hours to complete. Serge Roch, who has installed half a dozen windows for us over the years, always does a good job, and his fees are reasonable. We were lucky to make his acquaintance in 2004, when we were starting our renovations.

We've had good luck growing coleus plants on our north facing window ledge this summer.

Now I'm almost eager to have some cold weather so that we can feel the benefits of the new window. I posted this picture of the old window yesterday.