Sash window repairs and restoration in Balham and Tooting
We restore, repair and draught-proof timber sash windows in Balham and Tooting and in Tooting Bec, Nightingale Lane and the Heaver estate. Most of the houses are late-Victorian and Edwardian terraces with bay windows. Wandsworth Council has several conservation areas here, and parts of the area, including the Heaver Estate, are covered by Article 4 directions.
Balham and Tooting's windows
Balham and Tooting were built out quickly once the railway and trams arrived, and the houses follow builders' patterns: two-storey terraces with a bay to the front, sometimes rising through both floors. The sashes are two-over-two or one-over-one in plate glass, with horns, and many Edwardian houses have small-paned upper sashes over a single lower pane. The Heaver estate, between Balham and Tooting Bec, has larger houses with elaborate bays and gables. Bay windows are the usual trouble: narrow side sashes that have dropped, and cills rotted by water running off the bay roof. Coloured glass survives in the upper lights and doors of many Edwardian houses, and we work around it.
What matters most in Balham and Tooting
Balham and Tooting's terraces were built with a bay at the front, and the bay is where the trouble starts. Its narrow side sashes drop once their cords give way, and the cills below rot from the water running off the bay roof. Restoration handles both: fresh cords and rebalancing for the side sashes, and new timber spliced into the failed cills.
The bay roof keeps shedding water whatever the repair, so good painting on the cill and lower rails is what makes it last. That matters more where an Article 4 direction applies, because replacing a street-facing window can then need planning permission, so keeping the originals working is the simpler route. Many Edwardian houses also have coloured glass in the upper lights and doors, and that is protected throughout.
What we do in Balham and Tooting
Conservation in Balham and Tooting
Conservation areas here include the Heaver Estate, Nightingale Lane and Old Devonshire Road, and parts of the area are covered by Article 4 directions. Our guide to conservation areas and Article 4 directions explains how it works. Check your own address on Wandsworth Council's conservation area and Article 4 map, and we will go through what your windows need at the survey. Where an application does need drawings, we can prepare them. That is separate work and we quote for it.
Common questions
My house is on the Heaver estate. Can I replace the windows?01
Check your address first, because parts of the area are covered by Article 4 directions, and where one applies, replacing a street-facing window can need planning permission. Repair, re-cording and draught-proofing need none. Where a sash really is past saving, we make a matching replacement. Where an application needs drawings, we can prepare them. That is separate work and we quote for it. We also advise on slimline double glazing in the existing sashes.
Can you fix the side sashes in my bay window?02
Yes. The narrow side sashes in a bay run on the same weights and pulleys as the front, in a tighter box, and they are often the first to fail. We re-cord, rebalance and repair the cill beneath, which on a bay usually takes the worst of the weather. If the bay roof itself is letting water in, we tell you, so it can be put right before the cill is repaired.
Do you cover all of Balham and Tooting?03
Yes: Balham, Tooting, Tooting Bec, Upper Tooting, the Heaver estate, Nightingale Lane and Old Devonshire Road, and on toward Streatham and Clapham South. Send photographs for a free digital survey and we confirm on site before work starts.
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.
Free digital survey with written quotation