Window Repair in Wellington

That distinction matters more than any other decision on this website. A window repair usually costs a fraction of a replacement, and in Wellington a very large share of the joinery people are told to rip out has decades left in it. There are thousands of villas and bungalows still carrying their original single glazed sashes here, and the timber in those sashes is denser than anything sold today.

What actually fails on a Wellington window

After a couple of thousand callouts the pattern is consistent. Six faults account for the overwhelming majority of what we are asked to look at, and only one of them involves the glass.

Friction stays and hinges

The stay is the hinged steel arm that carries an awning or casement sash and gives it the friction to hold open. When it corrodes or bends, the sash swings, drops or fouls the frame. Replacements are stocked in common sizes and the swap takes minutes per window. Within reach of the water at Island Bay, Lyall Bay, Seatoun and the Petone foreshore we fit 316 marine grade stainless as standard, because ordinary stays pit within a few years in salt air.

Perished rubbers and weather seals

The glazing wedge holds the glass and the weather seal is what the sash compresses against. Both harden, shrink and take a permanent set. Once that happens there is a continuous air path around the sash even with the handle locked down. Re rubbering is the cheapest item we sell and it changes how a room feels the same evening.

Blocked drainage

Aluminium windows are designed to let a little water in and drain it back out through slots in the bottom of the frame. Block those with dirt, paint or dead insects and the water backs up over the internal sill. A good share of the leaking window callouts we attend are this, not a failed seal, and clearing them takes minutes.

Snapped sash cords

On a timber double hung window the sash hangs on cords running over pulleys to cast iron weights inside the box frame. When a cord snaps the sash drops and stays down. Nothing is broken, it is disconnected. New cord, the weight rebalanced, and it works as it did when the house was built.

Rot in the sill and bottom rail

Timber joinery rots from the bottom because the sill holds water and the head sheds it. The rest of the frame is usually sound. We cut back to solid wood and scarf in new timber shaped to the original profile, which costs a fraction of replacing the joinery and keeps the original glass.

Dropped and racked sashes

A sash that catches at one corner or leaves a wedge shaped gap has almost never warped. It has dropped on worn hardware. Replacing the hinges, stays or rollers and rehanging it square closes the gap and usually fixes the lock at the same time.

How we work out what is wrong

Nearly every bad window repair we get called out to undo started with a guess. The most common is a bead of silicone run around the outside of a frame that leaks, which seals the drainage path and traps the water inside the wall.

Water testing, from the bottom up

Where there is a leak we wet the window in stages, starting at the sill and working up, masking off what has already been ruled out. It takes longer than looking at it and guessing, and it is the reason the repair holds.

Testing the lock with the sash open

If a latch throws cleanly in the air, the mechanism is fine and the problem is where the sash sits. If it binds with the sash out of the way, the lock has failed. That five second test decides whether the job is a lock replacement or a hardware and alignment fix, and the two cost very different amounts.

Probing timber before quoting it

Paint holds a shell over wood that has gone soft behind it, so a patch that looks 100mm across is often twice that. We probe the whole sill and up the jambs before quoting, so the price does not move once the window is open.

When we tell you to replace instead

We would rather do the smaller job properly than sell the bigger one, but there is a point where repair stops being the right answer and we will say so on the quote.

Aluminium that is pitting right through the extrusion. Timber that is soft through the full section rather than just at the face. Corner joints opened so far the frame is no longer square. uPVC gone chalky and brittle enough to crack when you screw into it. In those cases you get the replacement price alongside the repair price and the reasoning behind it, and you decide.

Window Repair at a glance

Hardware

Friction stays, hinges, handles, catches, restrictors, rollers

Seals

Glazing wedge and weather seal, replaced in place on most windows

Timber

Scarf repair, bottom rail and full sill replacement, reglazing

Drainage

Slots cleared and water tested on every visit

Coastal spec

316 marine grade stainless within about 500m of the water

Diagnosis

Staged water testing before anything is sealed

Typical visit

Most repairs finished in a single visit