A short defence of original sash windows

Every few months a seller asks us, gently, whether they should replace the sash windows before viewings begin. The answer, almost always, is no.

A good original sash window is a piece of joinery that has already lasted a hundred and fifty years. It was made by hand, from slow-grown timber that is no longer commercially available, to a profile that catches light along the glazing bar in a way no extruded replacement ever will.

Yes, they rattle. A length of brush seal fixes that for the price of a sandwich. Yes, they leak a little heat. Secondary glazing — discreet, removable, invisible from the street — fixes most of it without touching the original frame.

The buyer who minds the draught is not the buyer for the house. The buyer who minds the window being gone is the one you have been waiting for.

Replace them and you have saved a few pounds a winter and erased a hundred and fifty years of character in an afternoon. Keep them, mend them, and you are selling the real thing. We have never once regretted the advice.