What to do about the windows
What to do about the windows
I was trying to do the right thing and I invited friends of Sarah Beeny, Ventrola in to do an estimate on my sash windows. Sarah had employed Ventrola to renovate the windows in her mansion and they’d turned out to be a very cost effective firm in sorting out her window problems – well she found that.
I however had a bit more of a problem, it seems that Ventrola are now very popular – it seems – as it was around two months before they visited after my initial booking. The chap who visited – a very nice chap indeed – wandered around pushing in his screwdriver into my rotting woodwork and disappeared promising a cost effective solution.
Well I got the quotation and it turns out that cost-effective is upwards of £9k.
I don’t like doing it but I’ve had to make a tough decision.
The bay windows are safe, the rear arched stained glass window is safe. The three seventies UPVC windows in the front have already been priced up for replacement with the highest quality UPVC windows I can find. Similarly the four seventies casement windows in the back of the house they’re all heading for the big skip in the sky, or better still my fire.
This leaves three narrow sash windows on the ground floor with stained glass lights and two on the first floor. These windows are all in the gable end facing the garden.
The two ground floor ones between the chimneys on the ground floor were already up for replacement as they were going to be knocked out to allow the fitting of the French doors to the garden. Essentially though this wouldn’t be too much of a stretch as on closer inspection one of these stained glass sash windows is really a pretty ropey casement window masquerading as a sash window. So, so far so good, only one original sash window to be sacrificed.
The problem though is the two stained glass sash windows on the first floor garden gable end and the single one in the future kitchen garden gable end.
I have had to make a tough decision and have them replaced with the UPVC.
With this all in mind then I invited Moorview Window’s salesperson Jason over on Thursday to price up the additional cost of these three windows.
Jason turned up and we went through all the details on the existing windows he’d quoted for. I now have stainless handles booked in, better window ledges too, a more tasteful privacy glass booked for the bathroom and I feel totally reassured that although I’m pulling out original wooden sashes I’ll be putting in the best UPVC replacement windows I can afford. Jason is a salesperson, but I deal with a lot of salespeople and he’s one that truly does believe in what he’s selling, he’s selling kit that he would have in his own home and he’s selling stuff that he feels is the best you can get.
I’m not happy having to do this, I would have preferred to replace all the nasty casement windows with wooden sash windows, but there’s no way I can afford to do this. I would have loved to have kept every sash window and have them renovated, but again I cannot afford to do this, even using a company that I was sure would be able to do the work cheaply.
I will however do everything I can to salvage the beautiful bays and the lovely arched window. For the moment they work and I can live with them as they are, once I have time and money then perhaps I can consider getting in a skilled carpenter but for the time being I’m going to have replace them with UPVC. Trust me though they will look good and who knows one day in the future I may be able to afford to get them taken out and replaced with wooden units.
Got the quote today though and these thin little windows are going to set me back another £1,600.
This is all getting to be a bit expensive.