Sash windows in Steyning: uPVC sashes for villas, timber for listed fronts
Sashes in Steyning belong to two kinds of house: the larger Georgian fronts on the High Street and Church Street, and the Victorian villas that went up near the station after 1861.
The railway reached Steyning in 1861 and closed in 1966; its line is now the Downs Link path. The houses it brought, on Station Road and Southdown Terrace, are the town's only real cluster of late Victorian housing. The council's appraisal describes semi-detached villas with gables, bargeboards, polygonal bays and four-pane sashes. Those are the houses that most often come to us for sashes.
uPVC sliding sash
A uPVC vertical sliding sash moves up and down on the same principle as the old box sash, with the meeting rail in the same place. In a cream or woodgrain finish, with run-through horns and the bar layout of the windows it replaces, it is hard to tell from painted timber at pavement distance. It costs a little over half what a timber sash does and needs no painting.
Timber box sash
A new timber box sash is from £2,650 installed per window. We recommend it where the house is listed, because listed building consent will normally expect timber, and where a conservation officer has asked for it. Plan on repainting it about three years after it goes in, and regularly from then on. On a listed front, ask about repair before replacement: the council's management plan for Steyning puts repair first.
Bars and horns
Look at the old sash before you order. A four-pane sash has one vertical bar in each half. Georgian fronts usually have more panes and no horns. Getting this wrong is the commonest mistake on a period front, and it is easy to avoid.
Illustrative example of a typical job of this kind
Five heritage uPVC sashes on a Station Road villa
A late Victorian semi-detached villa of the railway-suburb kind, built after the line opened in 1861, with gables and four-pane sashes. Not listed.
Five uPVC vertical sliding sashes, about 900 by 1800 mm: four on the front, two up and two down, and one on the side wall by the stairs
Cream woodgrain finish with run-through horns and a single vertical bar in each sash to match the four-pane originals
Scaffold for the upper floor
Typically £9,400 to £13,400, supplied and fitted, including VAT.
The polygonal bay on many of these villas is priced separately after a survey, because bay support and sills vary from house to house.
