Hardwood windows, made to your opening — not to the nearest standard size

Properly specified and maintained hardwood joinery has a realistic service life of 60 years or more. The timber is rarely what fails — it is the finish and the seals, and both are renewable. That is the fundamental advantage over uPVC, where a failed unit or a distorted frame means the whole window goes.

Yes, comfortably. Timber is a natural insulator with far lower conductivity than aluminium or steel. A standard hardwood double-glazed window achieves around 1.2–1.4 W/m²K whole-window, against a 1.4 requirement for replacements. Triple glazing in a deeper section will reach roughly 0.8.

Usually, yes — using slim-profile sealed units as narrow as 11mm, which fit within traditional glazing bar sections without fattening them. Conservation officers vary, so we specify from the outset to whatever the local authority has stated and provide section drawings for the application.

We repair wherever repair is the right answer. Rot is normally localised in a cill or the bottom of a stile, and splicing in new hardwood is typically a third of the cost of replacement. We will tell you honestly at survey which way the economics fall.

Yes. That is most of what we do. We record the existing sections at survey, reproduce the mouldings and sightlines, and match the finish. On listed buildings we will produce like-for-like profile drawings for the consent application.

Yes. Multi-point locking, laminated glass options and key-locking handles are all available, and a solid hardwood frame is considerably harder to attack than a hollow plastic one. We can specify to PAS 24 where a planning condition or insurer requires it.

Far less than people expect. Wash the frames twice a year, inspect the finish annually, and expect to recoat exposed elevations every eight to ten years. Sheltered elevations often go considerably longer. Modern micro-porous coatings are a different product entirely from the gloss paints that gave timber its reputation.

It depends on the finish. For painted work, Idigbo and Accoya are excellent — stable, even-grained and superb paint substrates. For a stained or oiled finish where the grain is meant to show, European oak and Sapele are the usual choices. We will recommend a species at survey based on your finish and exposure.

Accoya is timber that has been acetylated — chemically modified so it no longer absorbs water. It barely moves, does not rot, and carries a 50-year above-ground warranty. It is the single best paint substrate available. For exposed elevations and coastal sites the premium usually pays for itself.

The guide price tool gives you an indicative range in a couple of minutes. If that range works, we book a free survey — measurements, profiles, exposure, access — and issue a fixed written quotation with a drawing. Nothing is manufactured until you have approved that drawing.