We’re looking at buying a Victorian house, but its got about 7 sash windows that need repairing soon.

Does anyone have any idea how much this is going to cost – I know its a bit how long is a piece of string.

Thanks

Completely piece of string territory. What work needs doing?

If they need replacing and you aren’t in a conservation area, replace with sash-effect double glazing – it will cost about a quarter of the cost to replace with real wood sashes.

I don’t think its in a conservation area, we’re in the east mids. I’m not exactly sure what needs doing, just the seller said that we’d probably want to get them done soon – I think its mainly replacing bits of rotting frame – so hopefully they wouldn’t need full replacement.

I was just trying to get an idea if its 1k – 5k – 10k+.

Hopefully something to use to get the vendor down on price

Replace with PVC and lose a chunk of value – about as much as it costs to replace with real wood.

A large double sash 3m x 3 m with 4 sashes including new case was over £2000 a good few years ago supply and fit – but it is conservation standard and double glazed

If its just the sahshes but the cases are good then a couple of hundred each sash – so to budget £5000 for the windows would be around ballpark but could be more

I had 7 rotten cills, around 4 windows glass broken and replaced with ‘new’ pilkington non-safety glass, around 4 bars replaced and draft excluders added to all windows (9 in total), cost me around 4K took, 2 weeks by Ventrolla, worth every penny,

put plastic in and you will de-value your house, plus they look crap,

i paint once every 2 yrs, its a chore but at least they look right,

Replace with PVC and lose a chunk of value – about as much as it costs to replace with real wood.

Well that could happen I agree, but if all other properties in the immediate area are already uPVC then it wouldn’t effect the price at all.

I’m with you on this one skiboy

I’m not tempted to go down the pvc root as its a nicely restored semi and wooden ones would look better

I was looking at the same a while back

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ot-timber-window-frame-dullness-single-or-double-glaze

try Kierson http://www.kierson.co.uk I think they are in Retford, North Notts.

we still haven’t got round to sorting ours though.. 😳

Try and find a local joiner/cabinet maker who can cut out the bits that need replacing and sleeve in new stuff.

If you ask around you might find a proper timber yard locally who can recommend a joinery firm who can reccomend an old bloke etc.

We had a chap do ours about 20 years ago and everything’s still solid.

Oh, and if the difference in cost between a nice looking repair that means the windows won’t open, and one that means they will is a lot – nail them shut.

Plastic pvc sashes are exspensive but worth it no draughts, open perfect and maintenance free the initial cost will be a lot but with the time saved over years of work in re-painting and repairs they will pay for themselves. Also will increase security and make it warmer.

StuF,

Don’t fall for the old lines about plastic windows, my sashes are 96yrs old this year it only takes a few weekends of hard graft to paint them every two years, they all open and are perfectly balanced, look great, don’t have drafts (if you fit draft excluders or get ventrolla to do it), it only takes me 2 minutes to take them out as the left bead and the cords are detachable ( i don’t even need the misses to hold them while i do it) and will give me another 100 yrs of service virtually FOC,

I look forward to the day all the upvc windows start to fail and crack or yellow and go brittle,

plastic+rubber+wind+rain+snow+sun+time= massive fail

go cheap pay twice,

the thing that really bugs me about plastic windows is how cheap and easy they are to produce with no skill base required they are nearly always installed by idiots who fill all the gaps with cheap easy to use filler but yet you pay such a high premium ???,

and before anybody starts, one of my mates has a company that manufactures and fits these monstrosities
and they are assembled in a barn on a dirty farm, he sells a lot and makes a lot of money.

Tony – uPVC lasts 25 years

WE moved in a year ago and had 12 sash windows done. Cost about 1.5k per window (think of the fleet of bikes I could have had 😥 ).

We got a local builder in conjunction with a joiner to do the work. It was a lot of money so we looked at some previous work, went to visit the guy in the workshop, looked at the windows before painting and specced our own choice of glass from Pilkington.

They are absolutely fantastic, much warmer and quieter than before.

We didn’t look at non opening with this particular company but we considered it as we have 4 sashes in the lounge and main bedroom as they surround a bay.

If you get then properly sprayed when manufactured then you’ll get a good life out of them. Everest (avoid like the plague) give a 10 year guarantee but if you clean them, and repair small damage early you won’t need to do much for a very long time.

We looked at refurbishment of the wood and it was around £400 per window.

@TJ – and costs about a quarter of replacement hardwood sashes. Perhaps if you plan on living in the house for 25+ years there would be an argument to spend the extra but otherwise uPVC is a worthwhile consideration on many properties.

Ohh, and the extension we built 2 years ago is framed with lots of European oak over six windows and double doors so I am not particularly fond of uPVC – just giving an opinion on the OP question.

What BigJohn said. IME sliding sash windows are rarely so bad that they need replacing. Cutting out the odd bit of rot and scarfing with new timber, maybe new staff beads and parting beads, plus burning off a 100 years of paint coats, is generally all they need. Even just the cill can be replaced at a much lower cost than a whole new window. Although repairing cills by scarfing and/or 2 pack is particularly straightforward.

I got a local joiner to sort my windows. Did a great job, they look ten times better than PVC and it didn’t cost anything like as much as I was expecting.

MF – putting uPVC in your house also means it value is less than if you use wood sash and case on a house that was originally built with them

I responded to that comment ages ago. I am not a uPVC fan, just pointing out that it could be a consideration.

Wooden sash windows will last a very long time if they are looked after and free from sources of rot.

My folks have a house which dates from the 17th century in Orkney which still has some of its original wooden sash and case windows. My place in Kirkwall is earlier still and has windows which may be older.