Fitting sash windows in a Georgian townhouse in Bath
Posted by Bath Bespoke on 18 April 2017
Creating and restoring sash windows is one of our favourite projects at Bath Bespoke. We have a specialised team who’ve trained for years in restoring heritage joinery, and I think this really shows in the quality of our work. As the majority of the team have grown up around Bath, our work is heavily influenced by the beauty of the city and its Georgian design. It’s because of this that we’ve collected one of the largest collections of period moulding. This enables us to re-create and restore all styles of sash windows to their original former glory—exactly how the original architect of your home intended.
Georgian Townhouse
We’ve recently finished a restoration project in the heart of the city. This beautiful Georgian townhouse stands four stories high, with wonderfully tall ceilings, original plaster work and floorboards. When we were contacted, we were asked to take a look at the sash windows in the ground floor living room. The room featured a classic fire place, with detailed coving around the ceiling. The sash windows were in need of restoration and draught-proofing.
Draught proofing
Draught proofing is the best improvement in thermal efficiency for sliding sash windows. The mechanics of a sash window dictate that gaps must exist between the sashes and the window parts, in order to allow them to move up and down. When they were initially built, there was nothing to fill those gaps so original windows were draughty, rattled and were sometimes badly fitting. Draught proofing involves discretely installing sophisticated brushes and seals into the window box and the sashes.
Original beadings
To start with, we removed the existing sashes. We removed the four inner staff beadings, which enabled us to lift out the lower sliding sash. The two vertical parting beads were removed followed by the upper sliding sash. Any rot issues were repaired. The boxes were then sanded and cleaned.
We do things a little differently to most of our competitors. As we are a fully operational joinery with a vast range of period moulding cutters, we’re able to manufacture all of our own beads. These beads matched the originals exactly, keeping the character of the property.
Next we routed a groove out along the central length of the top rail of the upper sash. The draught-proof carrier was placed within the groove and hard wearing weatherproof brushes were slid into the carrier. This same process was repeated on the lower sash. These brushes provided a seal between the upper sash and the top of the sash box, eliminating any draughts when the window was closed.
After we gave the sashes and boxes a gleam of new micro-porous paint. The result was windows that were dramatically more thermally and acoustically efficient. We also crafted and fitted these bespoke white shutters which added a classical touch to this transitional design.
New project?
Find out more about our sash window services, and contact us if you’ve got any questions or an upcoming project that we can help with.