draft Sealing sash windows

[ljn]

I have 10 Georgian sash windows in Margate.
I would like to draft seal with a "Ventrola style" system.
I have asked for a quote from Ventrola and from the Sash window Company.

The building is listed. Has anyone draft-sealed windows in a listed building?

Would you look for a local carpenter rather than one of these corporate companies?

Anyone know a good carpenter that does windows in my area?

The wood is in good condition
The paintwork is OK, if a bit lumpy.
The fit and weighting is OK, but not great.

I am going to try to install solar thermal panels on the roof (not visible from outside the property) and would like the miserable £400 grant which the gov. will only hand out if the windows are daft sealed.

 

[another_richard]

D.I.M or Did It Myself and saved 6k.

Total cost for 15 sash windows £600 and two weeks off work.

Suppliers: http://www.reddiseals.com/acatalog/sash_windows.html

And a good router.

 

[Manny]

I had mine done this year. They needed total referb, re-weighting and painting so the draft excluder cost was negligible. Looking at the work that went into it, there's no reason why you can't just use a router to cut a grove in the sash and insert the little draft excluder yourself.

Bear in mind the fact that sealing up all gaps in your house where the air gets in probably isn't a good idea though.

 

[Ian Bond]

You could save yourself some trouble by not bothering to rout out the underside of the lower sash's bottom rail.

I can't see the need if the staff beads are draught stripped. Plus, the groove under the sash rail seems to me to be an extra fiddly bit to paint, as well as perhaps a path for water to get into the timber.

More here...

http://www.owdman.co.uk/joinery/index.html

However, I still draught-stripped my new sash windows anyway, using the reddiseals stuff. But just at the meeting rails, parting bead (timber, not plastic) and the staff bead.

 

[Moneypit]

A slightly different method is offered by Mighton Products which I have used with great success. Brushstrips are housed in plastic holders that fit into routed slots, but in this case the strips are placed down the side edges of the sashes instead of into the parting bead. I put two lengths down each side of the sash, one each side of the cord slot. It's not that easy because there isn't much width to the sash either side of the cord slot. The router cutter provided cuts a T shaped groove and needs a router with a 1/2 collet. The same technique can be used on the outward facing frame of the lower sash meeting rail. Top and bottom draught proofing is best acheived with an adhesive P strip thus not giving problems with potential water ingress or fiddly painting.

Overall, although trickier to do, I prefer this method because it leaves the parting bead alone and is largely invisible.

Mind you, I have only done one window so far, and there are another 28 to do !!!!!

 

[Moneypit]

I remembered that I did take a picture when I did it so here it is -

 

[Ian Bond]

It looks like extra work to me, although I do agree that the draught strips are better hidden than with the staff bead method.

The edges of the sashes facing the pulley stiles should be left as bare timber.

When you are painting sections of the pulley stiles, won't the paint transfer onto the pile and ruin it (and the paint finish)? It seems easier to avoid this with the other method.

A tip if you are using linseed paint. I move the sashes often to stop them sticking. But when I'd finished the final coat, and it had seemingly dried the windows stuck fast in the fully closed position. It took a lot of effort to open them, and this continued for over a week. So I rubbed a little candle wax along the edges of the beading that are in contact with the sashes - problem solved.

Obviously, this can only be done when there are no more coats of paint to do, and the final coat has dried sufficiently.

 

[Feltwell]

I like the edge sealing method, but of course that will only work if the tolerance between the edges of the sash and frame is correct, and the frame and sash are square - which many of my windows aren't!

The edges of many of my sashes are worn, to the point we're I've had to rout them back to a good square edge and then glue strips of timber on (drilling dowels through as well to "stitch" them into the old timber).

One frustration I've found is that whilst you can adjust for the thickness of the bottom sash by moving the staff bead, of course you can't do this on the top sash. Some of my top sashes are just too thin to fit properly - so again, I end up having to rout a piece off the edge and add a new piece of timber to make them fit properly. Victorian quality control was not always great!

Co-incidentally, I've found these are better for compression applications than a brush strip, which is more for a sliding application - which makes you wonder why many suppliers say to use a brush strip routed into the top of the top sash. They do ones without the offset as well.

http://www.reddiseals.com/acatalog/draught_proofing_silplex_bubble_seal_11mm.html