A double-hung sash window that drops, sticks, rattles or has gone soft at the bottom is nearly always worth saving. We restore them part by part, the way it came down the family from Bob Moodie: new cords on the weights, sashes cut free and eased, rotten rails spliced, glass re-puttied, and a new sash made to the old profile when one is past saving.
A sash window is a simple machine: two sashes, two pairs of weights, cords over pulleys and beads that keep it all in line. When one part fails, the rest usually still has plenty of life in it.
A cord has snapped or stretched and the weight is sitting at the bottom of the box. We open the pocket, tie new cord to the weight and set the length so the sash holds wherever you leave it.
Usually decades of paint across the joins, sometimes a sash that has swollen. We cut the paint line rather than force it, then plane back the tight edges so it slides the full height.
The parting bead between the sashes wears thin and the staff beads work loose. New beads, fitted close, and the sashes run quietly without binding.
Water sits on the lower rail and the sill below it. We cut back to sound timber and splice new timber into the same profile, so the repair can’t be picked once it is painted.
Old putty dries out and falls away, then the glass moves. We rake it out, re-bed the pane or fit new glass, and re-putty ready for paint.
A missing or worn sash fastener, or meeting rails that no longer line up. We line the sashes up and fit a fastener that pulls them together and holds.
Staff beads are prised off so they can go back on, the lower sash comes out, then the parting bead and the top sash.
Each weight is checked, re-corded and the pulleys freed, so both sashes will balance.
Rot cut back and spliced on the same profile, glass re-bedded and re-puttied, every new face primed.
Sashes back in and balanced, beads refitted snug, then painted to match the rest of the house.
The box frame is the hardest part of a sash window to replace, and in most older Geelong homes it is still sound. So the question is usually about one sash, not the whole window. If the joints of a sash have rotted through, we have a new one made to the old profile and hang it in the original frame, with the opening covered while it is made. If the frame itself has gone, we will say so plainly and talk you through window replacement.
A sash too rotten to splice was taken out and sent to a joinery, the opening covered in the meantime, then the new sash hung in the old frame and the weatherboards around it replaced. 2025.
One sash re-glazed with frosted glass and another replaced with a new frosted sash, with the timber beads painted. 2023.
Windows that had been painted closed were cut free and opening again, in the same visit as realigning two sets of French doors. 2022.
Prompt, great communication and a terrific job. Have used JF Maintenance for lots of work over the years and would recommend.
Michael worked with our budget and we were so impressed by their diligence and workmanship. They did not cut corners but went the extra mile. So impressed we engaged them again at another property.
Beyond our expectations, and it was great to work with people who could turn our ideas into something better than we imagined. Couldn't recommend them highly enough.
Sash work often turns up one of these.
Sash windows turn up most in Geelong’s older suburbs and the old coastal towns, and we repair them across Geelong, the Surf Coast, the Bellarine and Golden Plains. Pick your town to see everything else we do there.
Send us a photo of it, inside and out, and we will tell you what it needs and give you a free estimate.
