The window that fell off the back of a lorry

After: the repaired window, all's well that ends well

We naturally wanted the large dormer window to be triple glazed too. It wouldn't cost much more than double glazing. And as well as the insulation benefits, a big window like this (nearly 3m by 2m) would shut out even more road noise thanks to the extra layer of glass.

We settled on Rationel, a Danish company with over 50 years experience in making windows. But the time crunch was on: we had to order it urgently because being triple glazed, it would take 13 weeks to arrive. We didn't want to delay the build and we knew (from friends and from watching too many episodes of Grand Designs) that window problems always delay builds.

Our story was no different. Want to find out how disaster stuck with our window? Click on read more...

Before: the shattered central window pane

On the day the window was due to be delivered, I rang to check on it, only to be told that it had been dropped off a fork-lift truck! Seriously, the previous afternoon it had toppled over, smashing one of the big panes and damaging the frame in countless places. They even emailed us stomach-churning photos. This sounded disastrous: it could mean a delay of weeks if not months.

We arranged to have the window delivered anyway and for a Rationel expert to inspect it to see if it was salvageable. To cut a long story short, it was. The window frame was fitted, a double-glazed unit temporarily filling the gap while a new triple was built, and finally the damaged aluminium cladding on the outside replaced.

This all took several weeks, but because the frame was fitted our builders could crack on with finishing the room. We ended up with a window almost as good as new, with just a few scuffs on the timber inside – nothing compared with the wear and tear our family would soon wreak on it. And with a reasonable £500 discount on our £2,000 window, all was well that ended well.