Unblock painted-shut sashes.

Scoring the paint, freeing the sash

A sash that won't open is usually held shut by paint, not damage. Decades of repainting without cutting back the joint and the sash welds itself to the staff bead, the parting bead and sometimes the cill. We score the painted joint with a sash knife along every line where the moving sash meets the box — staff bead, parting bead, head reveal, cill. Once the joint is released, gentle leverage from a putty knife and timber wedges lifts the sash clear without splitting the timber or stressing the glass.

While the window's open, we service the box

Once the sash is out, cords and pulleys are usually the next thing to fail — a window painted shut for forty years almost always has cords painted in, frayed at the pulley, or already snapped behind the bead. We replace all four cords as a set, service the pulleys, and clean the runners so the new slide isn't undone by friction. A few extra minutes with the sash already out; it saves a second visit later.

We don't force stuck sashes. Where the cause turns out to be swollen timber, rot in the cill or a broken parting bead rather than paint, that's a different scope — picked up on the free survey before any tools come out.