KEEP ORIGINAL STAINED GLASS IN YOUR NEW WINDOWS

Nothing quite matches the clarity and lustre of real stained glass with sunlight shining through it. Modern stick-on films have their place but tend to be a little dull and lack the depth and texture of real glass.

Many of our customers have beautiful and characterful original leaded and stained glass in their windows and want to keep this. In fact for many, the very reason that they have not changed their windows, despite draughts, high heat loss and peeling paintwork is because they didn't want to lose this attractive feature.

Help is at hand! We can install new, double glazed windows and doors complete with the original stained glass, looking just as lovely as it always did, and in many cases even better!

And, if over the years, some or even all of the coloured glass has disappeared, we can re-create the original designs using the traditional materials and methods to return a window back to its intended appearance.

Or maybe there is a window that’s never had stained glass but which would make a fabulous ‘feature’ of the house – on a staircase or a gable-end for example. We work with stained glass artists to enable them to realise our customers’ vision. Working with traditionally-made, hand-blown cylinder glass, our artists create the pattern or picture from a drawing, sketch or photo. The new panel is encapsulated within a double-glazed unit which protects it and keeps it clean whilst offering the benefits of insulation from cold and draughts.

How to replace windows and keep the original stained glass

We carry out this process in stages...

• First of all we remove the old windows and replace them with high-performance double glazed windows. This allows us to recover the stained glass in its frame so that it is better protected.
• Then the coloured glass panels are removed, carefully cleaned, any broken pieces are repaired or replaced whilst the leading is inspected and repaired where necessary.
• Then the lead is blackened once again before the restored panel is encapsulated as a middle layer within a new double-glazed unit. This is necessary as the leaded glass panel would not provide a hermetic seal and so could not be used as one of the two double-glazing panes.
• Finally, we return to the property and remove the temporary plain double-glazed units and replace them with the encapsulated stained glass units.