talk to me about refurbishing sashes and then decorating them please

[NannyPlumForPrimeMinister]

We have just moved into a new property and are in the process of getting quotes for refurbing the sashes. (and there are a lot of them).

One of my concerns is the decorating afterwards. Some areas of the house are a high 3 stories. We won't be able to afford to do all the windows at once, just a couple each time.

For the decorating if we don't have the Ventrolla type system and get a joiner to do it instead will we need to get scaffolding to do the painting? My concern is the additional cost of this especially if we need to get it repeatedly. Would it be worth paying the extra for the Ventrolla type system so we could take them out?

Has anyone decorated them themselves afterwards of got a decorator?
How sanded back are they when they finish refurbing- is there still a lot of sanding to do yourself or are they fairly sanded back all over?

What sort of paint did you use?

So confused

We had ours replaced and painted. Light sanding required and we've used dulux trade weather shield which is guaranteed for 8years.

Decorator happy to use a ladder.

I'm in a rush but hope this helps!

We did our windows ourselves, as my FIL is a joiner. We painted them all while they were out with weather shield. No scaffolding needed, and our top windows are three stories up. So if you can get a friendly joiner I'd recommend that as a cost effective alternative.

No idea what Ventrolla is but I'm guessing my FIL wouldn't approve if we went near it :D

Hi guys I'm looking to do this too
How much did you pay to have yours replaced
Have about 6-7 to do and really want to keep old boxes it reduce drafts and noise!
Not sure about cost effective way of doing this

Should I just get a joiner to replace or large company
What is the ventrolla system
Does anyone know anyone near Birmingham

Ventrolla are a company that do it. They have a patented system where one of the side beads is removable and the cord sash can be disconnected at a clip so you can lift the window out of the frame for painting etc.

A local joiner said it wasn't really necessary and made the good point about what do you do with the gaping hole while you wait for the paint to dry.

I also have some reservations about how easy it would be to manhandle them back in afterwards.

I am trying to work out via google whether you can paint them all from the inside after they are fixed by sliding various bits up and down and it seems they can. I don't know whether a decorator would be happy doing that though.

I don't know how much of a pigs ear I would make of painting them myself.

I am waiting for a couple of local joiner/refurber company quotes and I imagine they will be cheaper but can't decide whether the extra money to be able to take them out the frame is more sensible in the long run.

No my FIL would not approve

Yes, you can paint them by sliding up and down, in the same way that you clean them (no one can get to our rear windows so I have to do them myself). It's a faff, and you want a sunny day/s, because you have to wait for it to dry before sliding up to do the next bit.

If your joiner is friendly and you can paint them while he has them out of the box for refurb, then it's actually really simple - cover the glass with newspaper, and use Frog tape to hold it down (best masking tape there is). You could only do the outside and then do the inside once they're back on?

We did a ventronella type thing ourselves. The sashes we painted before we out them back in. The outside frame we could do ok by leaning out the window. The parting bead we did before we put it in and the staff beads we painted once the sashes were back in the frames.

It took a lot longer waiting for the paint to dry before being able to put it all back together though.

Our builder told us we should have used uPVC parting beads, but we were going through a puritanical phase of renovating ;)

We bought all our bits and bobs from a company called reddiseals, who gave us useful information also.