Here’s a guide to the commonest repairs and jobs needed for Sash Windows to keep them in good order. Knowing the commonest faults and their repair will help you decide on whether to have someone come to your property or not.
Draught Sealing
The gap around the sashes can also allow cold air to enter the room and cause increased heat loss. Sealing these gaps is an effective repair to help reduce heat loss. Brush pile or woven wool pile seals can be inserted into the routed channels in the meeting rail and frame edges. These types of seal can be installed without restricting the opening and closing of the sashes.
Staff Bead Replacement
The staff bead is the narrow sliver of timber running along the bottom of the lower sash. Over time this can begin to split, shrink or become detached from the surrounding frame allowing the sash to become loose and sometimes even to begin rattling in its run. This type of work is required to be carried out with great care to avoid making further damage to the surrounding timber.
Sash Balance Adjustment
Spiral balances found on newer sash windows can lose tension allowing the sash to drop or not stay open when fully raised. The work to put this right is to remove the sash, to reset or replace the balance cartridge and check the sash travels freely up and down.
Joint Consolidation
As a window frame is constructed from timber it will naturally undergo seasonal expansion and contraction. This can cause the corner joints to open and allow air to penetrate. Once opened these joints can be difficult to close back up completely but they can be fixed. The process is to carefully take down the old filler from the joint, and then fill with a suitable adhesive or filler. The joint is then clamped or pinned until the filler has fully hardened.
Frame Repainting and Re-glazing
Flaking paint from previous decades of decoration can expose the sash window to moisture, allowing the timber to decay. Similarly, failing putty from old panes of glass can allow water to penetrate into the rebate of the sash. Paint stripping, re-puttying of loose panes and priming and painting in the correct order is required to tackle such decay. For older period buildings, it is also worth seeking guidance on the maintenance of historic buildings, to ensure that the correct products are used to avoid causing further decay. If you are looking for Sash Window Repair, see https://www.sashwindowpreservation.co.uk/services/sash-window-repair.
Understanding which faults your windows have will help you to get the best repair.
