I asked a builder why this was, and he said that the lateral forces created by a slightly tilted window has just enough force to rip the entire side of a house clean off due to houses having the structural integrity of wet newspaper, which is the preferred construction method in the States
While I agree that our windows are generally superior from a functional perspective, the Americans have us beat in the fact that you can't install a window AC unit in our windows.
Hence we get to just die in the increasingly common heat waves. Not great - we've got to figure this one out.
Before portable ACs are mentioned - I'll point out that they have terrible efficiency, and connecting the tube to blow out the hot air is still terrible with European windows.
I admit I'm an American and my windows don't open that way, but I'm not sure why whoever made that meme thinks that means a light breeze can't come through them. Because... a light breeze can come through them.
Lite breezes were great maybe 30 yrs ago. With modern heat waves and obesity you gonna sweat like a mofo 'les you figure out how to put an AC up in that tilt.
Ah, but that classic wood-on-wood sliding window, where all that stands between a destructive crash is an irreplaceable rope installed inside walls when the house was built.
Imagine not having screens on the windows and letting every single bug in the nearby area take up residence inside and being okay with it cuz "it's only a few months out of the year".
Or, know, we could just crack open the bottom (in the case of the popular double hung, the top) of the window a little bit. But it is-3c (yes, we Americans understand metric) where I am now, so I have no interest in doing that. No Gulf Stream keeping us relatively mild in winter over here.
Listen, you want to brag about health care, public transit, intercity high speed rail, or historic buildings, fine, you got us there. But stop with the air if superiority about everything else.
Tilting you windows is a nice option that i rarely use. Most if the time its STOẞLÜFTEN as we germans like to say (opening the windows wide up to really let in all the fresh air).
Honestly, I think the verti slide windows make for a better breeze infrastructure than the tilt windows , because the tilt windows can be force shut by sudden strong winds.
And in the summer when I need a strong breeze at night and have to fully open the windows, I have to hold them open with a chair or something because they will slam-shut in the middle of the night.
I complain a lot about silly american building stuff but in the case of breezes, I think the verti slide is superior.
Also, they're more adjustable. Euro windows can do tilt or open, but the vertical slide windows have a range.
Over here in the USA, we “tilt” our windows on a vertical access, minimizing the effort involved to friction. We call it “opening” the window, because ergonomically it’s identical to opening a door.
My windows can tilt. Not in the same way, but you can either slide them up or tilt them in. And besides, is being able to tilt your windows really that great?
Unfortunately windows in the UK generally cant tilt, likely since opening them wasn't really meant to be common anyways (unfortunately climate change is making that more important)
European Window frames are heavy and sturdy, many times with thick wood or metal. The window is double paned, sometimes tripple Most window frames I've seen throughout Canada, USA and Mexico, are mostly flimsy aluminium frames that can warp super easily, most of the time with a single window pane in it