Sash Window Restoration – Grade II* Listed Building

Listed buildings are often beautiful, interesting and full of wonderful original features that you want to maintain and admire. They can also pose many complications with the restrictions set by listed building guidelines. Croft View Construction have highly skilled tradesmen and knowledge which enables us to sympathetically restore features to their original beauty, as well as gaining full functionality which may have been hampered over the years. The restoration of original sash windows on this property required the work to not only be highly skilled in order to restore the original frames, but we also needed to ensure that the windows were highly functional for the Cumbrian weather that would be thrown at them for the next 100 years.

The Brief

Croft View Construction were appointed to repair and restore a large number of original sash windows on a grade II* listed mansion house, working alongside English Heritage.

In the Beginning

For each individual window we remove the original sash window from the building and cut out any rotten timber. The removal of the window involves removing the staff beeds and parting beeds, removing the sashes individually and detaching the lead weights. We cut out the sill and pulley styles to a maximum of one meter up the window (these windows are each over 2.4 meters high). We board up each opening and paint the boards grey so the gap doesn’t look too obtrusive, and we ensure the building is still weather tight while the frame is restored. We then take it back to our workshop for further restoration.

The Ongoing Project

We got identical sills, pulley styles, parting beads and staff beads specially made to match the original ones. We fit the sills and spliced the pulley styles in.

In the workshop we de glaze the sashes. Some of this glass is heritage glass which we need to keep and re use where possible. If the sashes are salvageable we will restore the original, but in some cases this is not possible, in which case we have identical frames made out of accoya.

Once this is done everything is primed and the sashes are re glazed. We re glaze using the time honoured technique of putty pointing and then return the window to the estate.

The Finish

Each window is re hung using the original lead weights and new ironmongery is fitted. This consists of sash fasteners and lifts. They are painted a cream to match the original colour.

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