A visit
Before, during, and after the day we come.
What to expect when we are in the house, from the survey to the first year after.
Before
A survey first, about forty minutes for an ordinary house, then a written quote by email within a week. When you book, we send the date by email and confirm the time the working day before. If the forecast turns, we move outside work rather than leave you with a sash out in the rain.
Clear a metre in front of each window and take down anything that hangs from the boxes or the shutters. Curtains can stay up if they draw right back.
On the Day
We arrive at eight, put dust sheets down from the door to the window and have the sashes out by nine. Most windows are done on site in a day. Where a sash goes to the workshop for bigger repairs, the opening is closed with a clear sheet on a timber frame, so the room keeps its light and is secure overnight. No window is left open at the end of a day.
Parking in Bath is the hardest part of most jobs. If you have visitor permits, we will need one. Routing for draught proofing makes fine dust, and we vacuum as we go rather than at the end.
Listed Houses
Many of the houses we work in are listed. Repairs that match the old work are usually treated differently from changes, and draught proofing sits somewhere between the two. Whether consent is needed is for your conservation officer to say, not us, and it is worth asking before the work is booked.
We will write a plain description of the work, window by window, for your application. What we will not do is listed on the work and prices page.
Afterwards
Each sash should stay where it is left and slide with one hand. If one creeps or sticks in the first year, write and we come back to set it at no charge. Paint on new putty needs two weeks before it can be washed, and the sashes are best left closed and locked for the first few days while the beads settle.
After that, a window that has been through our hands should need nothing but paint every six or seven years.