Sash windows for Billingshurst's railway-era villas
Also for the Georgian fronts of the old village, and older houses in Five Oaks, Kirdford and Wisborough Green
Where the sashes are in Billingshurst
The parish design statement traces most of Billingshurst's Victorian and Edwardian houses to the years after the railway arrived in 1859: villas and cottages on Station Road and Brookers Road, along West Street and Newbridge Road, down Lower Station Road, Chestnut Road and Daux Road, and in the ribbon of houses on East Street. Those are the houses where vertical sliding sashes are most often the original pattern.
In the old village, sashes belong to the larger houses. The 2018 conservation area appraisal says they appear on bigger buildings from the eighteenth century up to the early 1900s, while the cottages mostly have casements. Putting a sash into a cottage that never had one looks as wrong as putting a casement into a Georgian front.
Two ways to have a sash
uPVC vertical sliding sash
Both sashes slide, held by balances hidden in the frame. They tilt inwards so you can clean the outside glass from the room, which matters on the upper floor of a three-storey villa.
White suits most of the brick villas near the station. A heritage colour such as cream or a soft grey, or a woodgrain finish, suits houses where the old paint was never white. Horns, run-through bars and a deep bottom rail make the difference between a sash that passes for timber across the street and one that does not.
Painted timber box sash
A traditional weighted or spring-balanced sash in a timber box frame, made to the size of the opening. We recommend timber where planning needs it: on listed buildings, and where the conservation officer asks for it in the conservation area.
For a box sash made in joinery for one Billingshurst opening:
Timber sash from £2,650 installed.
Paint on new timber wants renewing roughly three years after fitting, and from then on as it weathers. That job falls to the owner; the installer does not come back to paint.
Getting the bars right
Billingshurst's railway-era houses mostly have two-over-two or one-over-one sashes. Georgian houses in the village centre are more likely to have six-over-six. The parish design statement asks that Georgian bars and sash windows are replaced in the same style, and that window colours stay white or a warm natural shade.
Look at the house next door if yours has already lost its originals. In a pair of semis built together, the neighbour's windows are often the best record of what yours once had.
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.
For first-floor sashes on a Billingshurst villa, the fitters normally work off a wheeled tower set up on the path. Where a tower is needed, this may add around £150.
Signs your Billingshurst sashes are past saving
A sash that rattles or sticks is not a lost cause. Broken cords, a painted-shut staff bead or a cracked pane are all ordinary repairs. Replacement starts to make sense when the bottom rail and sill have gone soft with rot, when the box linings have split away from the wall, or when an earlier replacement has left you with a top-hung plastic window where a sash used to be, which happened on plenty of railway-era houses in the 1980s.
On West Street, where the design statement notes sash windows alongside decorative brickwork and painted bargeboards, getting the sash back often does more for the house than any other single change. The bargeboards and brick detailing frame the windows, so a window with the wrong proportions stands out more there than on a plain wall.
Sash window questions
Do new sash windows meet the current energy rules?
Yes. Under Approved Document L, in force since June 2022, each replacement window in England has to lose heat no faster than 1.4 W/m²K, frame and glass taken together, unless it carries a band B energy label. Double-glazed uPVC sashes meet that as standard, and so do timber box sashes made with slim double-glazed units.
Do new sashes still run on cords and weights?
In uPVC, the sashes are carried on spiral balances concealed in the sides of the frame. A timber box sash can be made with traditional cords, pulleys and iron weights in the box, or with springs; on a listed house the council often expects weights.
Can a sash be stopped from opening too far?
Yes. Restrictor catches hold the lower sash at a small opening, which suits bedrooms and landings. They release for cleaning, and an upstairs escape window must still open fully when needed.
Not sure if your sashes can be saved?
Ask on the home visit. If the boxes are sound and only the cords or glass have gone, you will be told so.
Sashes with a bay
Many villas from the 1890s and 1900s pair upstairs sashes with a canted bay below. The bay is a separate job with its own structure, so it is worth reading about before the visit.
Bay windowsSash jobs with a price on them
Billingshurst's price list includes a railway-era semi with woodgrain sashes, an Edwardian villa with sashes and a bay, and a Georgian front with timber box sashes.
Window prices in Billingshurst