Sustainability is a bit of a dirty word. In a normal conversation, if you mention it, people generally picture a fleet of Teslas and a documentary about bamboo on Netflix. Nobody pictures someone carefully running a chisel down a Victorian sash window frame on a draughty corner street in Leeds. Yet, this very action is one of the most sustainable things you can do. Why?

For one, sash window repairs mean less glass going into landfill. Old-growth timber is the only material used for the original Victorian and Georgian sash windows. This material is no longer sustainable for large-scale production and is nearly indistinguishable from wood used during the first generation of window makers in the UK in the 17th century. Once these frames have been cast into the maw of landfill, it’s game over. For Sash Window Repair, contact sashwindowpreservation.co.uk/services/sash-window-repair/

On the other side of the sustainability equation, manufacturing new windows requires a huge amount of energy. For example, uPVC window frames contain petroleum products and need to be transported, while aluminium ones need to be smelted, rolled into sheets, and transported again. Often, the carbon cost of the manufacturing and transportation of replacement windows is missing from the literature. It probably should be.

Better than that, sash windows can be repaired to be very efficient. It’s a far cry from triple glazing but much better than the cliché of the draughty sash window.

The most sustainable thing you can do is usually keep the thing that already exists.

Your sash windows have lasted you a century and a half. With a bit of care, they’ll last another century and a half.