Restoration

Most old joinery is worth keeping. The timber in a 1840s sash is denser than anything you can buy today, and usually only the bottom rail has gone.

Sash windows

We take the sashes out, splice new sections into the rotten parts rather than replace the whole sash, re-cord with waxed hemp, and fit brush seals into the staff and parting beads. A pair of sashes takes about a day and a half in the shop and half a day back on site. Draught sealing alone usually cuts the worst of the rattle and most of the cold.

Doors and stairs

Splitting panels, dropped hinges, worn treads and loose balusters — all repairable. For stairs we prefer to glue and wedge from underneath where the soffit allows, which leaves the visible face untouched.

Matching timber

We keep a stack of reclaimed pitch pine and old oak for exactly this. New timber next to 150-year-old joinery never quite settles, no matter how well it is coloured.