The windows are large; around 2.5 meters wide and nearly 4 meters tall. They’re also tricky to access; the sills are around 6 meters up from the pavement outside and 2 meters up from the internal walkway. So scaffolding inside and outside was the first thing to get organised.

From the scaffolding, we could make a good assessment of the windows condition. The sills looked worse for ware, along with some of the sash bottom rails. The glazing putty needed fairly extensive replacement and there were some concerns about the structural stability of the windows in the openings.

We kicked the work off by addressing the structural issues first. The windows couldn’t fall outward as they are fitted behind the brickwork, but with no masonry or decorative finishes holding the windows from leaning in, they had very slowly been making their way backwards over the years

To clear some room, we removed any remedial pointing between the frames and masonry, leaving only the original lime pointing. We could now see that the windows were held in place using cut nails, fitted into timber grounds in joints between the bricks. Over time, several of the nails and timber grounds had rotted so we needed to push the frames back into their original position, re-fix them and repoint to the brickwork.

Fortunately, there was a wall opposite the windows forming a vaulted corridor. We were able to use the wall to fit props and persuade the frames to move tight against the original lime pointing. We were then able to fix the frames firmly into the brickwork.

To finish, we used lime to point up the gaps.

As the external fit of the window was very good, just needed to focus our attention on some minor repairs to the sash first, in Accoya.

With the sash repaired, we could make any repairs to the frame. These needed to be in Oak. We used reclaimed English oak, salvaged from a job just down the road in Bisham; as local as we could get. You can see the colour difference in the wood, but the new will age back towards the original’s colour and importantly, it’ll move and act in the same way as the original oak.

We got the rebate as nicely tuned to the sash as possible before refitting some top quality forged hardware to ensure the window closes tightly and consistently for years to come.

This is a fairly quick and easy repair as the rot hadn’t spread too far along the sill.

We started with a perfect cut to the existing sill, back to good wood. Then, using hand tools, made a joint for the new Accoya piece of sill to be joined onto the original.

We finished with a coat of paint and sealed around the masonry, ready for the decorator to work his magic.

We replaced the frame with a new pressure treated pine one, matched exactly to the originals dimensions so it fitted exactly with the existing conservatory. We then fitted a new double glazed unit as the existing one had blown. We opted for the latest super-insulating, argon filled energy glass.

After carefully removing the frame and any loose glass, the previous repair could be seen in 6mm hardwood ply, bedded on instant grip adhesive. The repair itself had actually lasted quite well but the rot was being caused by rain water making it’s way behind loose putty-work. Therefore, it wasn’t really addressing the root of the problem.

We replaced the bottom rail and large sections of the stiles in Accoya, rebuilding the original mortise and tenon joints. Whilst there, we also replaced any glazing bars that were beyond repair. To finish, we re-bedded the glass on putty and re-puttied any loose areas to keep the rain out in future, before priming and sealing everything.

WhatsApp has become our go-to tool for this; it’s easy, quick and almost ubiquitous. So, we thought why not allow the good folk of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and surrounding areas contact us via WhatsApp straight off the website!?

And why wouldn’t you want to chat with us. Colin’s quite the raconteur when he gets going!

The observant amongst you will notice our website now has a big green WhatsApp button on each page. No doubt you’ll have some questions about how to use it.

If you’re on a PC, Laptop or tablet, (you might want your mobile phone’s camera to hand to take photos of windows, doors, exterior joinery etc) click on the button and follow the 3 easy-peasy steps.

If you’re viewing the website on your phone, well that’s even easier-peasier. Head to the Contact Us page and just click the WhatsApp button. Like magic, you’re chatting with us.

You can of course still contact us via email or on the “dog and bone” in exactly the same way as before. If you email, just remember to include your phone number as it’s helpful to talk things over.

After removing the fixed sidelights, it also became clear the Mullion was also kept damp and had started to rot into the sill.

We began be replacing the tenons of the mullions and jams.

Next, we moved onto the side lights and doors themselves. After ensuring everything opened and closed correctly, we re-puttied were necessary before giving everything a coat of breathable primer.

An honorable mention goes to the owners of the property who kept us fueled with a fine selection of biscuits! For those who haven’t tried the traditional way of enjoying a TimTam, you don’t know what you’re missing!

To replace the sill requires 7 precise measurements to be taken in a very specific way. A new sill can then be made which will fit perfectly. We opted for Accoya acetylated pine for this sill, for its dimensional stability and supreme 50+ year rot resistance.

With the new sill in place, we check the sashes open and close perfectly.

We removed the sill from the previous repair which had been glued and screwed in place. The previous repair re-used the original oak sill but the frame behind had rotten to the point where it would no longer support the sill. The oak sill was still in great condition, so we tidied it up to re-fit later.

We traced the rotten timber up the frame to good timber so that we could form joints for the repairs that would be carried out in Accoya. Using most of the clamps we had, the glue up for this job was worth a photo.

While the glue set, we go to work on the sashes, repairing the bottom rails and stiles and re-glazing and puttying where needed.

We try to identify the root cause of rot to windows where possible. In this case, the home owner had already identified and fixed a leaking gutter joint and had also noted the wooden lintel above the window was allowing rain into the brick work. We finished the window repairs by forming an Accoya drip the would keep rain off the timber lintel and help direct driving rain away from the window beneath.

Also clearing away some of the render, it became clear that the original porch had been replaced at some point with one of a shallower pitch. As a result, the rafters met the wall below the timber ground which had provided a good fixing point for the top of the original rafters. The timber ground itself had rotten fairly badly so there was very little holding the porch back against the wall.

Rather than replace all of the rafters or move the timber ground down a course and risk disturbing the gallows brackets and soft red rubber bricks, we chose to fix sprockets to the top of the rafters and then fix those to a replacement timber ground. The ground was dovetailed and chemically anchored into the wall.

As the sprockets were fixed back to the ground, the whole porch started to pull back against the wall into position.

After replacing a few broken tiles with reclaimed ones, we re-rendered and pebble dashed the wall, ready for the decorators to finish their work.