Old Versus New
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s lots of home owners ripped out their sash windows and old wooden front doors faster than you can say "oops", in favour of more modern wood or aluminium replacements. In most cases removing the characterful look of the property, many a skip has seen the sheer waste of historic lead lite windows and beautiful wooden front doors that gave the property its own identity. These once skipped items can now be found in reclamation yards and antique shops up and down the country and are sold at a premium. Many People today are lured by the prospect of replacing their old wooden windows, doors and frames for so called maintenance free UPVC Double Glazed Replacements. items that have gone on to prove to be far from maintenance free, and in one instance a customer who had a snapped window locking mechanism that could not be freed, this resulted in the window needing to be replaced.
Why Replace, Why not Repair?
We have to thank the designers, builders and architects of the past for giving britains buildings their wonderful character and features.
I love woodworking and the prospect of saving Historic Windows and Doors, so with this in mind its my opinion that replacing them does not have to be the only route. After all the reason they have lasted so long is a testament to the quality of the timber and the construction techniques they used , timber selection was also a very important part of the process. Its because of this the timber windows and doors of yesteryear where built to provide longevity, it would be intresting to see if a UPVC Window or Door will last a century or so - i very much doubt it. Please dont get me wrong im not knocking UPVC products they have their benefits too and i do fit them when requested, but in an older period property why not consider a programme of repairs to your existing wooden windows & doors as a option.
In many cases this type of detailed renovation work can actually add value to your property with many prospective home buyers looking for character and original feature.
The Process
Repairs can be undertaken to suit all budgets and traditional joinery techniques are used, removal of damaged or rotten wood then splicing or scalf jointing the original sections using selected seasoned timber for the repairs. The use of fillers is kept to an absolute minimum, i only use fillers to fill nail head holes or small blemishes my repairs use only timber and not huge lumps of resin fillers. Where the window or door is truly beyond repair we can manufacture Hand Made replacement that are constructed from the same species of timber. The following photos are examples of a replacement casement window and sash window repair.
