Arched top box sash window repaired.
And another one bites the dust.
Yet another sash window painted shut.
This one had a Vent Axia ventilator in the top sash.
Why? I will never know
It had never been wired up!
It can take a surprising amount of time to get things right
KB Glass did the arch top glass.
It took over an hour to get the old glass out and 30 minutes to cut and set the new glass in.
The rest was down to me.
Now with the window re-corded, re-glazed, and draught proofed it slides up and down like a dream.
Labels: Carpentry, Sash Windows
Don't screw sash window staff beads - nail them!
Box Sash Windows are relatively simple to work on... but some people make the simple very difficult. I have just come across one such case.
To do most work on a sash window invariably means first removing the staff beads.
These are generally nailed on. It's a simple process to remove the beads with a few well placed taps using a hammer and chisel, pry bar or sharks tooth.
HOWEVER...
Occasionally some nut decides that it would be better to screw them down, drive the screws below the surface, fill in the screw slots, and then apply several coats of paint over the top. How do I know this ... because today, I had to re-cord seven windows, and they had all been screwed down in the aforementioned idiotic manner. What should have been just a few minutes work turned into an age of mutterings and expletives and curses on the head of the previous installer.
I can only imagine that the installer had just bought his first power screwdriver and wanted to show the world how good it is.
Please, please, please, where appropriate, nail staff beads in place.
Labels: Carpentry, Sash Windows
Sash window repair in one of Eastbourne's prestigious houses
Huge, heavy, very fragile, and stuck very firmly shut.
That about summed up the state of the 100 year old window.
9' high x 4' 6" wide it was not a job for one man.
The carpet was a lighter shade of cream.
Most of the furniture was very upmarket antique.
Letters of recommendations from HM
(and I don't mean the record store!) adorned the walls.
This was serious stuff.
It took all day to fine tune this window, and by the time we had finished the sashes glided up and down as smoothly as when they were first installed. The new brass sash catches, sash pulls, d handles, and new Ventlock hardware gleamed. Add to that, the virtually invisible draught proofing
(It was quite amazing what a difference to outside noise reduction it made) and all in all, it was a job well done!
I wonder if there are any knighthoods going?
Labels: Carpentry, Sash Windows
Renew Broken Sash Cords
I have been renewing a lot of sash cords lately. It's a simple process that doesn't need a lot of special tools. In fact in some instances you can get away with using just a hammer and chisel.
There is nothing to be afraid of. The genius of the design of sash windows is that they are infinitely repairable - and with simple tools.
For some reason there has been a spate of clients only wanting the bottom sashes re-corded. To my mind it's false economy because when re-cording the bottom sash, the window is in bits anyway - and it would seem prudent to get both sashes working. But it's suprising to find that many clients don't even realise that both sashes can work. The greatest secret of sash windows is that they can provide the very best ventilation configuration of any window type. Fresh cooler air comes in at the bottom and stale hotter air exits at the top. It works because it obeys the law of physics. No great secret.
If you need a sash window repair - give me a call on 07930 335 937 or use the email link in the right hand side bar.
Labels: Sash Windows
Dressmaker and Curtainmaker in Eastbourne
For anyone who needs clothing or curtains altered give Jill Besey a ring on Eastbourne 729804 or visit her website
http://www.alter2fit.co.uk/She is situated just off Seaside.
Her full details are
Jill Belsey,
The Dress Shed,
43 Bexhill Road,
EastbourneEast Sussex
BN22 7JJ
Tel: (01323) 729804,
Email:
alter2fit@btinternet.comWebsite:
http://www.alter2fit.co.uk/Labels: Miscellaneous, Sash Windows
Guide prices for sash window repairs
The box sash window restoration side of things is now going so well that we're in the process of setting up another business
"Eastbourne Sash Window Restorers" to deal with all the repairs that are flooding in. Here is a rough guide to how inexpensive it can be to return your windows to how they should be.
Re-cordReplacement of sash cords on either bottom sash only or both sashes.From £50.00 bottom sash
From £70.00 Top and bottom sashes
Basic Overhaul and draught proofing
For windows in generally good conditionRemoval of beading, sashes and weights, making minor repairs,Replacing with new sash cord and beading machined and fitted with draught proofing.Windows will still require primer/undercoat/finish coat.From £120.00
General Overhaul and draught proofing
For windows in generally good condition
Removal of beading, sashes and weights, making minor repairs,
Replacing with new sash cord and beading machined and fitted with draught proofing.
Sanding down mainly to remove flaking paint
(On a general overhaul we do not attempt to strip paint work)
Cleaning and priming with acrylic primer/under-coat.
Windows will still need finished paint work.
From £160.00 Depending on size.
Replacement Sasheswhere appropriate - ripping out old aluminium/plastic window
and re-instating with new traditional glazed sashes fitted into the existing box frame,
includes laminated glass, and general overhaul as above
From £425.00 Depending on size.
Bespoke Full Restoration Service
including stripping to bare wood, repair replacement of bad timbers, laminated re-glazing,
new/renovated pulleys and hardware, rebalancing, Simplex hinge fitting, draught proofing, prime/undercoat/finish.POA
Optional extrasSash catchesSash lifts and handlesSecurity stopsLabels: Carpentry, Sash Windows
Why draughtproofing?
Contrary to populist belief, double glazing is not the best way to reduce noise - full stop.
It is just one expensive way to reduce some noise.
If traditional single glazed sash windows are the only barrier between you and the traffic you can tackle a major part of the problem by simply installing draught proofing.
As well as draughts, draught proofing also reduces airborne noises which find their way through the smallest and least noticeable gaps.
The next step is to replace the glass in the sashes.
There are many types of acoustic glass, available in various thicknesses, and designed to control various levels and types of noise.
Developed and tested by the larger glass manufacturers (e.g. Pilkington Glass) the results are often not as impressive in real life situations as they may be on paper.
Sound insulation is probably best achieved via well fitted windows with good draught strips, laminated safety glass 4.4mm or 6.4 mm thick may not be quite as acoustically efficient as the best specialist glass but, at a fraction of the price, it will dramatically assist in overall noise reduction.
For more comprehensive advice on your sash windows call me on 07930 335 937 or email me using the link on the left hand side.
Labels: Carpentry, Sash Windows
Strip putty and paint from a window using steam!
I could not believe what I was seeing and yet there it was right in front of my eyes. With a few quick strokes 30 year old putty and paint literally fell away. I was so disbelieving that I went out to my workshop, grabbed my steam stripper and tried it for myself. It works... in fact is is simplicity itself.
The window I tried it on was an old crittal window complete with age old sun-baked hard putty painted over with dozens of layers of paint. The normal procedure to get the glass out is to hack it out with a hacking knife. It is very labourious, and there is a high risk of breaking the glass.
With steam it took a couple of minutes and the hardest part of the whole job was scratching my nose because I had developed an itch.
If you want to see how easy it is take a look at this
video.Having now tried it on several windows, it is fast becoming my favourite method to get a pane of glass out of sashes I am restoring.
Labels: Miscellaneous, Sash Windows, Video
Sash window usage
This is an article taken from the
Imperial College London web pageit may interest anyone who has traditional sash windows.
PRESS RELEASEScientists formulate a heat wave survival guide
Wednesday 6 August 2003
Scientists from Imperial College London have found a simple solution to city dwellers' despair as temperatures soar during summer heat waves. In a bid to cool down they have to learn how to ventilate and cool rooms by using windows and the building properly.
Dr Gary Hunt of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who is leading research at Imperial on the fluid mechanics of natural ventilation explains:
"Many of us have forgotten how to correctly use the sash windows so carefully installed by the Edwardians and Victorians to maximise airflow.
"If used correctly it is possible to significantly improve comfort in the office or at home without using air conditioning units that place high demands on energy and increase carbon-dioxide emissions."
Using laboratory modelling techniques that accurately replicate the flow of air in small-scale physical models, Dr Hunt and his team are able to measure and clearly visualise how air circulates within rooms and buildings.
"The trick to getting the maximum flow of air through the window is to slide the sashes so the window is open equally at the top and bottom.
"By separating the in-flow and out-flow, cooler incoming air efficiently flushes the warm air out of the room. The warm air inside the room tumbles out of the top opening and the cooler air form the outside comes in through the lower opening," explains Dr Hunt.
By applying mathematical analysis and using small-scale laboratory models, the researchers were also able to calculate the size and placement of windows to maximise ventilation.
"The laboratory modelling technique relies on examining the movement of water through a model typically one twentieth to one hundredth of the building size. At this scale water moves through the model room in the same way as air moves through a real room," said Dr Hunt.
Results show if the windows of a room are too small or their location is not appropriately chosen, hot air, which collects at the ceiling may extend down to the occupied region making the environment unpleasantly hot and muggy.
"Offices typically experience the largest heat gains during the occupied daylight hours, when the need for ventilation is greatest. Minimal gains occur at night when the space is unoccupied.
"Our research shows a good strategy is to leave sash windows in the mid-position overnight - providing it's safe to do so. The cool external air flushes the warm air out of the room and also cools the walls, floor and ceiling. The cool walls then absorb heat the following day and prevent the internal temperatures from rising as high," he added.
Work is now underway at Imperial on a range of problems concerned with the fluid mechanics of airflows in buildings. Projects include modelling airflow in large multi-story buildings, which allows researchers to calculate how to naturally ventilate them effectively.
"The aim of our research is to gain an improved understanding of the physics of airflow in buildings through the use of laboratory and mathematical modelling techniques and to develop simple design guidelines that will help architects create energy efficient buildings of the future," said Dr Hunt.
For further information, please contact:
Judith H Moore
Imperial College London Press Office
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6702
Labels: Carpentry, Sash Windows
Sash window and parquet flooring repairs, plus door hanging, What bliss!
What a wonderful week it's been.
I was originally apprenticed as a carpenter in 1968. Despite having done
sooo many other things in my work life, carpentry remains my favourite thing to do. This week was nearly all about carpentry, with the odd bit of plumbing, and electrical work in and around Eastbourne added to a very full week.
Making box sash windows work properly is really very satisfying.
Yes, I know - it's sad - but I do get a buzz out of sliding sashes up an down!
These particular sashes had been over-painted so many times that the home owners thought the top sashes were fixed. Freeing the sashes from the frames only took a few minutes. Remove the staff bead. Ease out the bottom sash
(the cords were broken). Remove the parting bead. Ease out the top sash (again, the cords were broken). Ease out the pocket pieces, pull out the counter weights. Disassembly is now more or less complete. Now all we have to do is repair, replace, and reassemble. The process can take an hour or two or more - or it can take all day - it just depends on what needs to be done. These particular windows needed a good deal of renovation - but by dusk they were back in full working order with new cords, replacement pulleys, and new brighton catches. If you have sash windows in need of renovation call me on 07930 335 937Labels: Carpentry, Sash Windows
Draughtproofing Sash Windows
Over today and tomorrow (Thu-Fri) I'm re-cording and draughtproofing all the sash windows in a 19th century house (seven in total). It ranks up there with door hanging as one of my favourite jobs to do. I'm using
Mighton products to do the job. I've used other draughtproofing setups before, but this company really impresses. Mighton is a sash window hardware manufacturer. They are so easy to deal with. Order the goods before 16.30 and they arrive next day. Their service has been exemplary. If you have a broadband connection go to their website and have a look at the
Sash Window Television flash videos!!!!
Sash windows have quite a history.
I've copied the following directly from their website for those too lazy to click through to their history page. Enjoy reading and if you want your sash windows overhauled give me a call on 07930 335 937.
The Old Norse had a word for the simple openings in the walls of buildings that let light in and arrows out -vindauga.
It translates as `wind eye' the penalty obviously for anyone peering too long through those draughty slits. Almost 1,000 years later, vindauga had evolved into 'window' and arrow slits into the classic sash window - a simple yet weatherproof closure offering the perfect balance between illumination and ventilation. and for which Mighton Products today specialises in providing a comprehensive range of sash window ironmongery.
But for the skills of London-based master joiner Thomas Kinward, it might have taken longer for the development of the box framed sash window. In 1669 or thereabouts, he was working in the Royal apartments at Whitehall Palace. His employer, Sir Christopher Wren asked him to put 'a line and pulley to the window in ye Queen's Stoole room. 'It was the earliest recorded specification of a fully developed sash window. Whether Kinward thought up the characteristic counter-balancing feature or whether it was Wren himself, is undecided. But for two centuries, the sash window reigned supreme.
By the time Anne was crowned in 1702, the traditional but inconvenient English casement window with leaded lights had all but been abandoned in favour of the sash that became the hallmark of Georgian architecture. Early versions of the sash's classic arrangement of two lights independently held in a box frame, were single hung; the upper light was fixed, only the lower light was able to slide in the frame. By the mid 18th Century double-hung sashes were supreme.
Counter balancing was the hallmark of the era but although `sash' derives from the French word `chassis', the French hadn't figured out the counter-balancing innovation and held the lower sash in place with a swivel block. Each light had its own cord and counter-balance weight or 'mouse' running within the hollow frame of the whole window. Each light could slide independently within the frame yet remain in an open position without props, pegs or wedges.
The early sashes held their small and expensive panes of glass with thick glazing bars. Developments in the manufacture of Crown Glass brought larger panes cut from large glass discs, sometimes up to 3ft in diameter. The thick centre, where the blower's rod was attached and which today is mimicked by the bull's eye panes, was discarded or sold cheaply for use at the back of the house. With larger panes, glazing bars became thinner, more intricately moulded and the classic six-over-six pane design became the norm.
The Victorian passion for things medieval revived Gothic architecture and ostentatious buildings. Mass production made ornamentation cheap and builders added pattern book styles without hesitation. Sash windows became highly decorated with leaded lights, latticework and ornate stone and wood tracery. The Victorians played the field with four, eight or twelve- pane sashes. The finest would have been 16-pane double hung sashes that lent themselves to the larger window openings and bay fronts.
More than any other component, the size, shape and number of windows created the essential style and rhythm of these buildings - both inside and out. Vertically- proportioned sash windows provided comfortable natural lighting conditions and avoided excessive glare. A careful graduation in window size from street level not only intensified the effect of perspective but allowed more light into the more important rooms on lower floors.
Today at Mighton Products we see windows as relevant to the personality of a workman's terrace or the shopkeeper's villa as to the cleric's manse and the gentry's hall. However, the doors and windows that created this architectural impact and historic character are threatened.
Conservationists fear the legacy developed by the proportions, detailing, and materials of windows and doors is being lost by the insensitive replacement with modern designs.
The offenders? Misinformation, financial incentives to modernise old houses and door-to-door sales campaigns by home`improvement' companies.
Mighton Products doesn't denounce all PVCu and aluminium products. The key word is `inappropriate'. Generally new systems do not match the detailing of traditional windows. False glazing bars and stuck-on lead look nothing like the real thing and often are a crude parody. In many cases, simple repairs at relatively low cost will extend the life of a door and window. Local surgery is usually a far better bet than costly wholesale replacement. An overhaul to timber windows coupled with draught proofing, using Mighton Products sash window ironmongery, will provide a better financial return and reduce the old problem of `wind eye' more than double glazing. If you want your sash windows overhauled give Jim a call on 07930 335 937.Labels: Carpentry, Sash Windows
