1930s windows

[PerpetuallyUnderwhelmed]

Hi. Has anybody restored the original windows in a 1930s house? The originals are still there but need replacing/fixing. We won't do UPVC. Would like to try to replace as sympathetically as possible.

Any experiences or ideas on cost? I've looked at glass encapsulation for the stained glass and is it is extremely expensive....

My mother's house was a 1930s end of terrace with original windows, wood frames with leaded fanlights and side panels to the front door.

We opted for uPVC with wood effect frames and the company made copies of the fanlight and side panel designs that looked really good. I felt that it was as near to the original as I could get in uPVC. A few years later some of the neighbours were starting to copy them!

Original windows are a real pain these days - it's very difficult to make them airtight so dust and cold comes in, you need to paint them regularly (expensive!!) and eventually they start to rot. The house was so much cleaner and less draughty after the new windows. But the old ones did last about 75 years.

Thank you. Did you find the wood effect UPVC looked 'realistic'? I fully understand that they are much more practical! Dare I ask if you know the approximate cost....?

We are definitely thinking we'd have to do it one window at a time, doing the most urgent first.

We have a 1920's house with wooden sash
They are all rotten and desperately need replacing. I did tons of research as I want a wood replacement but I didn't want the upkeep. I found a company that did high end uPVC sash and they are so real looking. We got the worse 2 done so we made sure we were happy before we do the whole house and they are amazing. They are called Heritage Rose. I highly recommend

Thank you! I think practicality and budget might overrule the dream of wooden replacements but I'd really like to compare all options first.

Similar issue faced here.
I know a local stained glass maker that says he can "sandwich " the old glass between new, to make a triple glazed window.
Not sure what the frame would be made of.
I am too scared to ask the cost!!

We replaced victorian sashes with double glazed timber replicas, with the old mouldings replicated so they look exactly the same. They were expensive but they were huge and lots of them and UPVC sash's that size came out the same price or more expensive if they were wood effect. Just wanted to say timber does need maintenance BUT as long as you aren't somewhere exposed its not too bad. Ours is supposed to be painted every 8yrs.

It's about 10 years ago, but about £6,000 for:

• bay windows upstairs and downstairs - 5 panels each
• double-window to small front bedroom
• Front door with two side panels

Also the front door was much more secure than the old wood door, with multi-way bolts.

To me the wood effect was very satisfactory.

Look into someone who does sash restoration. We have some sashes and some stained glass and have had the frames restored and the glass replaced with thin double glazed in some windows. In the stained glass panels we are going to get panels of internal secondary glazing made which we can fit in front of them and remove when we need to clean them. They will for inside the frame so won't be very obvious.

We had our original 1930s sash windows restored, involving removing the sashes, replacing any unsound wood (mostly sills), fitting draught seals, replacing pulleys, cords and other hardware and repainting from bare wood. I think we paid around £9,000 for 15 sash windows, but this was five years ago.

I don't think "Eventually they start to rot" is really an argument against timber windows. Yes, there's some ongoing maintenance, but only touching the paint up every couple of years and probably getting them fully repainted once every 7-10 years, but with that they will last indefinitely. They've already provided 90 years' service!

The one remaining window we didn't have refurbished is the stained glass landing window on the side elevation. We left this when we did the others as we weren't sure if we would have it removed when we extended. It turns out it'll still be there, but difficult to access for maintenance.

For this one window, we've had a quote for a uPVC replacement incorporating the original stained glass encapsulated in new double glazed units. That's going to be £1200. We had another company quote £2500, so shop around and be sure to get detailed specs for work so you know what's included.

Thanks to all. I'm really interested in the glass encapsulation/sandwiching. I couldn't just get rid of all the original stained glass; it's one of the nicest things about the house. Coming from a victorian terrace, I'm very well used to draughts and dust so that is a lesser concern!

The prices don't sound too horrific but we have two really large bays which I think will be the main priority and they have a lot of individual panes.

Are they sash or are they wood surroundings/mullions with crittal windows? We had the latter and couldn't preserve the wood. It would have been a big job to retro fit the wood and modern glazing wasn't suitable.
In the end we replaced with aluminium as close to the crittal originals as we could. It was not cheap £16K but worth it for the look. The difference in the absence of heat loss is obvious.
That said, we didn't have any stain glass. I would preserve a large stain glass window but not the upper part.

They are not sash- they are wood with upper stained glass and more stained glass in and around the front door. I'd really love to keep the stained glass or at least copy it.....

What we have done with our Victorian stained glass is get a new wooden sash frame made and then the stained glass fitted into the new sash with a layer of toughened glass in front of it. (Not a layer either side so not encapsulation). This may be a cheaper solution?

For the non stained glass windows we had some replaced with new double glazed wooden sashes and some restored. I have to say I slightly regret not shelling out and having them all replaced as there is a huge difference.

We had our original 30s stained glass windows traced and are now in UPVC. I’m really pleased with them, they’re beautifully done, yes they are plastic but still look great and characterful and are very practical. The last one we replaced last year was the big 4 pane window half way up the stairs (do you have one of them?), it cost about £2,300 so not cheap.

I have this exact dilemma. I really want to go for encapsulation but have found it difficult to find a company who does it (from a google search)

We had our 1930's feature window on our landing encapsulated. Unfortunately the previous owners had replaced the rest of the windows with copies made up in UPVC .We do still have the original front door and stained glass surround fortunately but haven't encapsulated that.

We had the stained glass renovated by a stained glass specialist who then liaised with a local double glazing supplier to encapsulate it.

Picture shows how it looks. As the rest of the windows were already UPVC we had it done to match but I'm sure other options are available.

Excuse the messy boxes as we are in the middle of having the bathroom done.

@Mrswalliams1

We have a 1920's house with wooden sash They are all rotten and desperately need replacing. I did tons of research as I want a wood replacement but I didn't want the upkeep. I found a company that did high end uPVC sash and they are so real looking. We got the worse 2 done so we made sure we were happy before we do the whole house and they are amazing. They are called Heritage Rose. I highly recommend

Glad to read this as am waiting for my Heritage Roses to be installed! Like you we were not sure and have opted to do some less noticeable windows first.

That looks great! Unfortunately we don't have the single feature window anymore, would love one of those. I will definitely look at Heritage Rose- thanks for the recommendation.

I really need to find someone who will give us a truthful assessment of what is urgent vs what might wait for a while....

I had an original 30s exterior door and got the glass from it encased between two sheets of plain glass and put in the new door. A upvc door in fact. Far as i know it's still in place 6 years later. Cost around 1k all in. The hardest part was finding a door similar enough to fit the glass in without taking any glass from the original or having spaces of plain glass. Has the advantage of being triple glazed.