Rotten sills and sashes on a period home almost never need a new window. We rebuild decayed heritage timber in place, keeping the original joinery, the original glass and the original profiles — at a fraction of the cost of replacement.
Melbourne Building Repairs restores timber windows and doors on Victorian, Edwardian, Federation and interwar properties across metropolitan Melbourne: double-hung sashes, casements, French doors, entry doors and sidelights.
The timber in a period window is usually old-growth, tight-grained and far more durable than anything you can buy today. What looks like a terminal case of rot is very often a sound frame with a decayed bottom rail or sill horn — twenty per cent of the window failing and taking the blame for the rest.
Replacing it swaps a hundred-year-old joinery detail for a modern profile, and the difference in sightlines and proportion is obvious from the street. If your property sits in a heritage overlay, retaining and repairing original joinery is also usually far simpler than replacing it, which can require a planning permit. It is worth checking with your council before anyone quotes you a replacement window.
We use the iQuip Timbabuild epoxy system, which is designed for exactly this work: rebuilding structural sections of decayed joinery without removing the window.
Working time is around 30 minutes and the filler cures in roughly four hours, so most single-window repairs are completed in a day.
A double-hung window that will not stay up, will not open, or drops when you let go is a mechanism problem, not a timber problem. We replace sash cords, weights and pulleys, and renew parting beads and staff beads so the sashes run properly and seal when closed. Windows that have been painted shut for decades can usually be freed and made to work again.
We re-putty and reglaze timber sashes, including Georgian bars and leaded lights. Perished putty is one of the main reasons window timber rots in the first place: once the seal fails, water sits in the rebate and the bottom rail goes from the inside out. Original glass is retained wherever it can be safely removed and refitted.
Where a section is too far gone for epoxy — or where a member has lost its structural integrity entirely — we splice in new timber milled to the existing profile, or rebuild the sash. Epoxy is the right answer for most decay, but not for all of it, and we will tell you which one you are looking at.
The fittings matter as much as the timber. Where the original ironmongery survives we restore and refit it; where it is missing we match the period detail — monkey tail and teardrop handles, peg stays, sash lifts, sash fasteners and pulls — so the finished window reads as original rather than renovated.
We will tell you honestly which category your window falls into after looking at it. Inspections and quotes are free.
In most cases, yes. Decay in a heritage window is usually confined to the sill, the bottom rail or one stile, while the rest of the frame is still sound old-growth timber. The decayed section is cut out, the surrounding timber is stabilised with an epoxy primer, and the missing profile is rebuilt with a high-build epoxy filler. Replacing the whole window is rarely necessary and is almost always more expensive.
Timbabuild EHB60 builds up to 60 mm deep in a single application, and deeper again using inserts. That covers the great majority of window and door decay, including full sill sections and bottom rails.
Once cured it behaves like wood: it can be sanded, planed, drilled and painted, and it holds fixings. It does not shrink, slump or crack, and it is water-resistant, which is more than can be said for standard timber putty or builder's filler. What it will not do is replace a structural member that has lost its integrity along its full length — that needs new timber, and we will say so.
No. The filler is shaped back to the original profile before it cures and sanded flush afterwards, so a painted finish hides the join completely. On stained or clear-finished timber it is a different conversation, and we would talk you through the options first.
Yes. That is normally broken or missing sash cords, seized pulleys, and decades of paint bridging the sashes to the frame. The sashes are freed, the cords and weights renewed, the pulleys serviced or replaced, and the beads reinstated so the window runs and seals as it was built to.
Yes — French doors, entry doors, thresholds and sidelights are repaired using the same approach. Door bottoms and thresholds take the worst of the weather and are among the most common epoxy rebuilds we do.
Repairing and retaining original joinery is generally much simpler than replacing it, and replacement is what tends to trigger a planning permit in a heritage overlay. Requirements vary between councils, so check with yours or with your heritage adviser before committing to anything.
It depends on how many windows, how far the decay has gone, and whether mechanism and glazing work is needed alongside the timber repair. Every job is priced after an inspection, and inspections and quotes are free.
Call 0468 800 300, or send photos through our free online repair quote form — a wide shot of the window plus a close-up of the decayed section is usually enough for us to tell you whether it is repairable. We are fully insured and our work is backed by a written workmanship warranty.
We also carry out HeliFix crack stitching, brick repointing and lintel replacement on period properties — see all our building repair services.
