Episode one: July 2025
Why sash windows? Because I love them. Which begets a new question doesn’t it? What’s to love about sash windows? I share only my own opinions here, but offer the following considerations for you too, as a home-owner, a historian, a caring community member, or a trade professional:
Wooden sash windows were (and are) an elegant and comprehensive answer to the challenge of air conditioning your home in warmer climates. They are not primitive as some people may have been led to believe and in fact, could be thought of as overbuilt if anything. The first sash windows in America were purportedly built just after 1700 according to JAMES L. GARVIN NEW HAMPSHIRE DIVISION OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES https://share.google/7niXfHJ2zNpI0uLK2. Of course, one would expect a much earlier timeframe in parts of Europe. Today, joineries are still building them new and based predominantly at least, on the very same design parameters, that’s got to say something about their integrity?
In Tasmania Australia, I am working to save old wooden sash windows 70, 120, 170 and sometimes, on rare occasions, over 200 years old. In parts of Europe and the UK I would expect it commonplace for this same work to be done on windows up to 250 years old and beyond. In an age where plastic windows and glass units cannot make the journey beyond an estimated (and proven) 25 years while retaining their original quality and function, the comparison is mind boggling. Old wooden windows are interpreted by many, as insignificant and worthless alas, the opposite is truer. These windows were built without the availability of modern exterior grade glues. Joints had to be strong. They weren’t always good – not by todays machine standards – however, they were quality style joints like bridle, mortise and tenon, dowel, and dovetail, and all designed to be integral. Most importantly, and a big reason why most new wooden windows built today rarely last the distance by comparison, the timber used in their construction was far superior. Old growth forests supplied hardy, strong, straight, and workable timber. This is perhaps the biggest single factor for the performance and longevity of wooden sash windows. Most modern joineries do not understand this factor and are turning out new work, albeit made in ‘the old ways’, which simply don’t last.
Then there’s aesthetics. Everything made three or four centuries ago and beyond, was designed with flair. The visual came first and then, the functionality, not the other way around. I watched Brent Hull of Brent Hull Millworks https://share.google/WjGZyV0H2RKT24kyJ on you tube speaking of the character which windows and doors impart on a building. Sash windows add the warmth and the invitation in, even the tiny little ones including those with multiple ‘lights’ that ironically, didn’t do much for lighting the home. We must be careful, I think, to modernise our homes while protecting that original warmth and character. Throw out the windows and replace them with modern (non) equivalents and you’ll see what I mean, you lose it all. You can drive around any ‘developed’ neighbourhood and see where things are seemingly missing or, where they have apparently gone quite wrong. If old sash windows would bespeak the knowledge, the skill, and the passion of the joiner, and the social standing of the owner at that time, then some of the jerry-rigged like excuses for workmanship we see today – especially around the inclusion of thick and heavy insulated glass units – surely bespeaks the opposite?
Restoration in particular, is expensive, but everything ‘building’ is expensive now. The work I do is laborious by nature – scraping, gluing and clamping, painting, milling and shaping, sometimes cutting out rot, sometimes refitting with old original and thin glass stock (if I have it), glazing in new putty, hand-planning, hand-molding. Period Correct Woodwork (PCW) is of course, the next level again. Although we can still consider RESTORATION the definitive term and RECONSTRUCTION, a necessary subcategory whereby parts or sections are in fact missing, my mind always defaults to the word PRESERVATION when I think about PCW. If you want to get it right, then the premise is simple enough:
“Do it how it was done, with what it was done with”
This means finding old growth wood of the same species, the same age, the same grain pattern and colour and preferably, from the same location – where at all possible. It means, using the same or similar cutting blades in hand-tools from the same era. It means using the same glues, if any, and the same construction methods including any and all finishes like shellac or linseed/milk paint etc. It is no mean feat and honestly, rarely advantageous however, sometimes it is simply the expected way. Akin to antique furniture repair, it’s expensive work by nature. But the hand-nosed edging of an old-growth pine windowsill has a tactile sensation that is timeless. This can never be achieved by machine or today’s shapers. There’s an inherent energy that comes off this work so subtle most builders will never know it.
Working with respect and understanding – an open mind – is a way for us to acknowledge ourselves and our journey so far, as participants in the modern world. No doubt we are requiring certain standards in the way we build and live however, similarly, we have a past that got us here. If we are the guardians of that past, we’d best do right by it. If we throw it away, it is gone forever and along with the proverbial bathwater. Not you, nor I, nor any amount of money, can get it back. Not even by building today in most modern joineries can we bring about the same quality pieces. Using the words “traditional joinery” as part of the sales pitch, does not make it so.
In future editions I will like to share thoughts on retro-fit glazing, repair versus replacement, painting sashes properly, the art of good quality repair, modern versus old methods, and the intricacies of restoration v reconstruction v renovation v refurbishment v replacement and on and on.
But for now, slide the top down and evacuate the hot rising room air, lift the bottom up and allow the cool breeze in, step back and feel free to smile. How cleverly simple? Double-hung sliding sash windows with good pulleys, proper weighting, no paint where it shouldn’t be, good cords or chains, set joints, and these days too – minimal interference draughtproofing, function perfectly, even in our modern world. They’re charming, they’re beautiful, and that – is why I love them.
Johnny – the sash whisperer 😛
http://www.planeandchisel.com.au | johnny.mackay339@gmail.com
| 0409425143 | 62597283
Plane and Chisel 