Restoring Victorian sash windows

[Gryffindor]

Afternoon All, hoping for some guidance on this one please.

I am a buying a lovely little 3 bed Victorian terrace house. A previous owner, in all their wisdom, has totally stripped out ALL original features including (wait for it) the two front upstairs sash windows. They have been replaced with one small-ish horizontal uPVC window. The front of the house is rendered.

I would like to reverse this work and take out the one window, replacing it with two sash windows (as it would have originally have looked) and bricking up and re-rendering the front.

Does anybody have any experience with this, how much it might cost and how practical it would be please? Assuming it is not TOO expensive I think it would add financial value in an area where original features are quite highly prized. It's an "up and coming" part of east London where properties haven't been very well looked after but new people to the area are moving in with their Farrow and Ball at the ready!

It's obviously not a common change made to period properties so I haven't been able to find anything out online.

I would caution that sash windows are very, very inefficient heat wise. We have bought a house with the original windows but would happily replace them with PVC having experienced the cold this last week! If you go for sash perhaps consider double glazed ones?

Good afternoon, Gryffindor

Sad to hear about your previous owner's insight, but glad to hear you plan on reversing. Interesting you mention adding financial value. English Heritage surveyed estate agents recently, with 80% of the respondents saying that sash windows and original features added financial value to the home. 78% added that these features helped to sell on a home. Sadly, it's erroneous to say that sash windows are inefficient without double glazing. Professionally draft proofing sash windows through restoration is possible. However, you can have new box sash windows made. You may well need the boxes as they could have been removed to install the plastic. New boxes mean weights of lead, cords, etc, which for refurbishing sash windows is just weight added. For you, brand new period replica sashes, fully draft proofed with double glazing, all working within a sash box, and fitted may cost you 800£ a window. For the brick building work, not sure here. Sorry. Hope this helps. Try www.joineryworkshop.com. They have a branch in London and can give you much better advice.

Hope this helps.

William

Thank ou so much all for your help and links. The joinery workshop is a smashing find.

I think it will be a while but I promise to come and update with photos and prices!

We replaced two horrible 70s windows with double glazed hardwood sashes a few years ago, I think it cost about £1000 each but they are quite large windows. They made a massive difference to the warmth and soundproofing of the rooms (but then the previous windows were single glazed) and suited the house much better. We've just sold the house and the agents who valued all said the windows were an attractive feature which buyers were looking for (we're not in London but in a fairly up and coming area). I would definitely do it again.

If you're looking to put other period features back, eg fireplaces etc, then you might want to take some trips out of the city to source them from reclamation yards - when we looked round some places in London we couldn't believe the price for things we'd picked up relatively cheaply in Wales and the Midlands.

If you are looking for another company to compare prices, we used this www.andrewjaynes.co.uk/sw_double.php company when replacing our old draughty sashes, very imformative site, love our new non-draughty sashes!