wrote:

We have a flat in North London with metal framed windows. The block was
built in the 1960s sometime and the windows are beginning (?!) to show
their age.

We would like to refurbish (or maybe replace) the windows while
retaining their character, modern UPVC framed windows would look
horrible (some adjacent flats have them and they *do* look horrible).

Can anyone recommend a supplier/builder/specialist or whatever who
could either actually do the work or alternatively supply hardware so
that we could do it ourselves?

It's a duplex flat with french doors onto a balcony downstairs plus a
separate floor to ceiling window downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs
with large windows. The existing opening windows are the swivel type.

The existing frames are not badly corroded but have got distorted in a
couple of places so they don't close perfectly.


Steel windows can be repaired like car bodywork, using car body filler
for repairs, and car spray paints, which last far longer than
household gloss.

Thermally they're a nightmare, and secondary glazing is very much the
way to go if you retain them.


NT