Canted bay windows on Billingshurst villas
West Street, Newbridge Road, East Street and the roads off Lower Station Road
The villas with bays
The design statement picks out Victorian and Edwardian villas as the main houses of West Street and Newbridge Road, and of Lower Station Road, Chestnut Road and Daux Road. Plenty of them have a ground-floor canted bay: a flat front window with two angled side windows, standing on a brick base and often under a small lead or tiled roof.
A bay takes the weight of the roof above it through its frames and corner posts, so replacing one is more than three windows side by side. The old frames come out, the head is supported, and the new bay goes in with structural corner posts where needed.
Choosing a bay
uPVC flush canted bay
Three flush casements or sashes joined at the angles. Match the upper windows: if the first floor has sashes, the bay usually had sashes too, and a bay of casements under a row of sashes looks out of step.
Slimline aluminium canted bay
Thinner corner posts and more glass, in any colour. It suits a 1930s house with a bay more than a Victorian villa, where the heavier sash proportions are part of the look.
Before the visit
Inside, many villa bays have a deep timber board along the sill and a curtain pole or blinds fixed into the reveal. Poles and blinds need to come down before the fitting day. The sill board can usually be kept and refinished, or replaced with a new one if it has split or been cut about by earlier work.
Look at the bay roof and the brick base from outside. Cracks in the base, a sagging bay roof or damp under the sill are worth pointing out on the visit, because they change what has to be done.
Bays on listed buildings and some in the conservation area are best kept and repaired. Depending on the building (listed, conservation area, Article 4), there can be rules on the glass you're allowed and on the exact glazing-bar layout. Check with the council; Billingshurst Windows can help with that process.
East Street bays and their gables
On East Street the parish design statement picks out bay windows topped with small pitched gables and painted bargeboards, often on painted brick or with tile hanging above. Those gables are part of the bay's structure. They sit on the bay's head, so when the frames come out the gable has to be propped until the new frame and posts are in.
The bargeboards and the boxed head of the bay are usually timber, and many have had decades of paint. If they are sound, they stay, and the new bay is fitted beneath them. If the head is rotten, the visit notes it and the quotation shows the repair separately, so you can see what the bay costs and what the timber work costs.
On the fitting day
A bay is normally one long day for two fitters. The front room is cleared back from the window and dust sheets go down. Props go in under the bay head, each old frame is cut free in turn, and the new bay is set on the brick base, fixed and sealed. By the evening the room is closed up again, with the inside trims fitted and the outside sealed.
If the bay sits under a first-floor window that is being replaced too, the upstairs work is usually done from a tower on the same visit.
Asked about bays on the visit
Will the roof over the bay need taking off?
Rarely. The roof and head are propped while the frames are changed, and they stay in place. They are only rebuilt if they are rotten or sagging, and that would be priced separately.
Can a bay be changed from sashes to casements?
It can, but on a villa with sashes upstairs the bay looks best with sashes too. In the conservation area, keeping the original pattern is what the council's appraisal asks for.
Will the bay be warmer afterwards?
Yes. Old single-glazed bays lose a lot of heat through the glass and the gaps around the frames. A new bay has to meet the same energy rules as any replacement window, and its posts and joints are sealed.
Have the bay looked at properly
The visit covers the frames, the corner posts and the base, and you get a quotation for the whole bay.
A bay job priced
The Edwardian villa on the prices page has five sashes and a canted bay, priced together as one job. Your own quotation will list the bay as a single item, with any timber repair to its head or bargeboards shown on a separate line, so the two costs are never blurred together.
Window prices in Billingshurst