Before we arrive
We bring dust sheets and floor protection. You clear a metre in front of each window, take down curtains and blinds, and move anything fragile off the sills.
The day before
Clear a metre in front of each window we are working on. Move furniture back, and take pictures, mirrors and anything breakable off the walls and surfaces nearby. Take down curtains, nets and blinds, and their poles or tracks if they sit close to the window. Move anything fragile off the sills.
If you have alarm sensors fitted to the windows, have them removed or disabled, because the sashes come out and the sensors can be damaged. Move or cover soft furnishings you would rather keep away from dust; we sheet everything, but a sofa moved into another room is safer still.
If the house is let, tell your tenants and anyone holding keys when we are coming, and make sure we can reach every room on the list. If something changes and you cannot give us access, tell us as early as you can, so we can rearrange.
Outside, move cars, planters and garden furniture away from the windows we are working on, in case of falling debris and to give us room to load and unload.
On the day
We arrive at the time agreed, lay dust sheets and floor protection, and walk round with you before anything comes apart. It helps if you can point out anything that has changed since the survey, and tell us about any room you need back first.
We work room by room, so the rest of the house stays usable. When a sash comes out, any repairs we find are quoted before we do them, so nothing is added without your agreement.
Expect some noise when old paint and putty come off, and some smell from primers, paints, solvents and adhesives. If anyone in the house has breathing difficulties or is sensitive to fumes, tell us before the day so we can plan around it. Expect, too, that a kitchen worktop, a tap or a phone point near a window may be out of use for a while.
Someone should be reachable during the day in case a question comes up.
Working from inside on sash windows
Most restoration and all draught-proofing of sash windows is done from inside the room. The staff beads come off, the lower sash lifts out, the parting beads come out and the upper sash follows. Everything we need to repair, re-cord, seal and reglaze is then within reach, on a protected surface in your room.
This is why most sash window jobs need no scaffolding, and why the house stays usable while we are there. It also means the work depends on room to move: a clear metre in front of the window, the sills cleared, curtains and blinds down.
While a window is apart the opening is open to the weather and to the street. We agree with you how each opening is secured at the end of the day.
Some work does need access from outside: external painting on upper floors, for example, or a cill that has to be renewed from the face of the building. If yours does, the quotation says so and explains how we will reach it.
Paint, dust and drying times
Taking a sash window apart is dusty work. Old paint is scraped back, putty is cut out, and grooves are routed for draught-proofing seals. We sheet floors and furniture and clean up as we go, but fine dust travels, so expect some on surfaces in the rooms we work in and close any doors you can.
New paint and fresh putty need time. A hand-painted finish takes longer to harden fully than it takes to feel dry, and putty needs longer still before it can be painted over. Until then, open and close freshly painted sashes gently, and keep curtains, blinds and furniture off new paint. We tell you on the day how long to leave each window, for the paint and putty we have used.
If you would rather have your own decorator finish the windows, we leave them primed and ready for painting, and tell you when the putty will take paint. Keep the rooms ventilated while paint and adhesives cure, and put furnishings back only once the surfaces are dry.
Pets and children
A window with its sashes out is an open hole in the wall, and on an upper floor it is a real danger. While we are working, keep children and pets out of the rooms we are in, and away from any window that is apart. If that is difficult in your house, tell us and we will plan the order of rooms around it.
Tools, blades, glass and offcuts are part of the work, and so are primers, paints, solvents and adhesives with strong smells. We keep them in the room we are working in, but small children and curious animals find their way to things.
Cats are the usual worry: they are drawn to an open window and they are quick. Keep them shut in another room, or out of the house, while a window in their part of it is open. Dogs that dislike strangers are often happier elsewhere for the day.
Tell us about any pets when you book, so the team knows in advance.
After we leave
Before we go, every window is opened, closed and checked with you. We show you how the sashes should run, how the catches work and, if we have fitted draught-proofing, what the seals look like when they are doing their job. Any aftercare is set out on the day.
Then give the paint time. Rehang curtains and blinds once the paint is hard, and put furniture back once surfaces are dry. If you are decorating yourself, wait until the putty has hardened before painting over it.
From then on, the windows need what any timber window needs: a look at the paint and putty each year, especially on the bottom rails and cills, and a repaint before the paint fails rather than after. Keep the sash runs clean and free of paint. Our page on painting and finishing explains why.
If a sash starts to stick, a cord breaks or something does not seem right, call us. For aftercare, call 020 7164 6305, or WhatsApp on the same number. Draught-proofing carries a five-year guarantee, provided the seals have not been damaged by a third party, adjusted or tampered with; the guarantee on other work is set out in your quotation.
Book a survey
Send us photographs of your windows and we'll tell you what needs doing and what doesn't, with a written quotation. The digital survey is free.