We’d like to start this post by thanking the homeowners for giving us the opportunity to work on this window. We regularly get to work on historic and unique pieces of joinery but not very often is it as challenging and requiring of an owner’s trust as this example.

Curves present a challenge to the joiner in that in order to join the curves, you need to be able to cut repeatably and accurately using machinery designed to cut straight lines. To carry out a repair, you also need to consider the inevitable settlement and wear and tear of the 100+ year old windows.

We started this repair with an investigation of the design, assembly and condition. Almost every cut needs some sort of jig, fixture or modification making so setting out the exact scope of the work helps keep control of the budget.

We identified some areas of the sill that didn’t need replacing as their condition was excellent. We also settled on a plan for repairing the sashes and sections of sill that did need attention.

It soon became apparent that the sashes themselves were in bad condition. As the property isn’t listed, we took the opportunity to improve on a few things that the homeowner had mentioned. First was the warmth in the room and the second was the seemingly low light levels.

After replacing the sills in Accoya, we made new sashes in joinery quality pressure treated pine. We fitted the latest argon filled double glazing with aged leadwork and welded joints to maintain the style of the originals, but opted for slightly thinner leadwork. This small detail, whilst seemingly insignificant, gives a much clearer view of the garden and the impression of much more light coming through the window.

The glass was original to these 1920s windows and was manufactured using the drawing process which gives the tell-tale vertical ripples in the reflection. As the rest of the glass was original too, using float glass for the replacements would have been quite obvious so we sourced some drawn glass, which is still manufactured in France and Germany.

The putty, being 100 years old or so, had dried to a hard layer, firmly attached to the rebate of the sash. We have a number of different methods to quickly remove old putty without damaging the timber of the sash. This ensures the new glass gets a good bed of new putty and enough depth on the face.

The timber available during the 20s was typically slow grown and therefore is much more rot resistant and stable than the equivalents we see today. It’s therefore a good idea where possible to retain as much of that original timber as we can. Here, we were able to localise the repair only to the corner of the sill and bottom area of the weight box planks using Accoya with a minimum rot resistance of 50 years.

To complete the repair and ensure a long life for the window, we made a small repair to the bottom sash which also needed a little TLC.

With some master bricklayers on the case with the wall, we were given the task of repairing the porch. Made from a mix of oak and elm rounds, the original would have been made using the scribe rule method to align the joinery.

We wanted to keep as much of the original timber as possible so we set about repairing the joints which had snapped in the accident.

Templates were employed to give the correct orientation and alignment for the tenons. After that, it was just a case of blending the existing into the original a little more before reassembling on site.

Although a relatively straightforward job, the devil is in the details. With this style of beading where the bottom bead is larger and forms a drip, it’s essential to get the vertical beads just right. The Georgian style glazing bars add another detail in that the choice of pin length for fixed is critical.

With so many cuts to make, it’s important to get all these details ironed out so you can get in a rhythm and be productive.

Getting an old window out cleanly on an older building without damaging soft brickwork or delicate lime plaster can be a bit of an art-form at times and needs to be done with great care.  On a side note, if the window is original, then it’s worth knowing that it was common practice to build the window into the wall. It’s important to consider how the brickwork above will be supported when the window is removed.

No matter how many times you measure, it’s always a tense moment when you arrive to fit a window and double-check your measurements. We could see that this window was going to go in just perfectly, snug enough with the brickwork and with nice even reveals to the inside linings.

With the window in, functioning and sealed up against the masonry, the cottage will keep its character without the hassle and discomfort of a rotten, patched up window at the front.

There were a few units in the casements that had blown; simply a matter of measuring height and width then working out what the thickness is.

One of the arched units had blown too. This was more involved in that it needed to be removed, templated and then re-fitted while the template went to the glass manufacturer. As I mentioned, this window is on the larger side and on removing the arched unit, we found whoever had fitted it had really gone to town due to the weight of it. We made the decision not refit the unit while the replacement was being made, instead taking the safer option to shutter the window up and weather proof it.

We started with the repairs to the long drip beneath the arch. The drip was formed by an extra deep head on the casement windows so it was necessary to machine this back to good wood using a template, then form a groove for a tongue on the new Accoya drip to join into.

We started by repairing the damaged stile on the first sash before carefully and methodically freeing the remaining sashes from the bay.

With equal care, we removed and cleaned the hinges and tidied everything up before reassembling and getting everything working perfectly with the existing catches.