I've seen a few rotten timber windows in my time. The problem is that houses that were constructed with them in the first half of the 20th century - which probably accounts for a significant proportion of the current housing stock in the UK - used softwood which needs frequent painting to withstand typical UK weather. And then, given the number of homes that need to be built every year to support a growing population, we would have to destroy our remaining native forests to provide sufficient hard woods - or further destroy tropical rain forest.

It's all part of humanity's inability to live within the capability of the planet to sustain us.