sash Windows

[Swex]

Just a quick straw pile/helpful hints moment. Need desperately to do the windows in our house (old crumbling money pit).

Do people rate ventrolla? Or a local joiner? Or Anglian and do the whole thing new from scratch with double glazed sash windows?

Thanks in advance!

I think you can get them restored but it is very expensive to do. I know my sil had it done quite a number of years ago

We used a local joinery co last year (Wilts/Dorset border). This was just for the lower two floors of the front elevation and we paid around 10k for seven hardwood DG sash windows with acoustic glazing - our old windows were too rotten to save.

Only issue we had was a misunderstanding over FENSA certs - our joiner said he wasn't FENSA registered, which we thought was OK as we were having lots of other building regs work done and believed the windows were covered by this, and our final sign off (by our independent building inspector) was pretty vague in what exactly was covered.

When we came to sell, our buyer's solicitor/lender queried whether the windows were in fact covered and disputed the fact the final certificate didn't specifically refer to them. No probs you'd think as we could get indemnity insurance - but as the installation was less than one year old we had huge issues finding specialist insurance which was way more expensive than bog standard indemnity

Otherwise we were extremely happy with the quality of the work.

Ventrolla are very good, a local joiner will probably be cheaper. Stay clear of Anglian at all costs. I'd try and repair as likely to be cheaper. You can get the draft stripped at the same time to help improve their thermal efficiency.

I love sash windows!!

Where are you based?

We had a local independent chap (ex-Ventrolla I think) do the refurb on our wooden sash windows. They are double-glazed, but about 30 years old so very thin double glazing. The problem was there was no draft-proofing and they rattled like crazy.

He took each one out, routed around all the edges and put draft-proofing strips in and replaced the catch and threads for the weights. It was about 450 each window I think. Would have been lots more for plastic windows, goodness knows how much it would have been for wooden sashes.

We are very pleased with the result, but it isn't as sound-proof as uPVC windows and there is a slight chill near the window on cold days. If you have really old wood, with thin single-pane glass, it won't be the same result as a new window. But then it won't be anywhere near the cost either....

We did one window first, and left it a few months to see how it fared in the colder weather before we decided to do the rest. That way we didn't spend a fortune on something before knowing what the result would be.

Ventrolla were awful with us. We have a local guy who is amazing. Pm me if you're in Scotland.

Never Anglian, ever.

Thank you all! Sorry for delay. We are down in Devon so Scotland won't work. Ok. Avoid Anglian and I will prove ventrolla and local I reckon. Can't afford new ones!