Paignton Zoo
Herbert Whitley first opened his collection as Primley Zoological Gardens in 1923. The Wild Planet Trust now runs the zoo on about 80 acres of hillside.
Learn more about Paignton Zoo on Google MapsTimber Windows & Doors In Paignton
Is your Paignton house in Polsham, where even front windows need consent?
Sash windows and panelled doors for Old Paignton, Polsham, Roundham and the harbour, made to the original sections
Paignton has four conservation areas, and they do not all work the same way. Polsham carries an Article 4 direction, which removes the usual permitted development rights, so a new front window that would be fine elsewhere needs planning permission there. In Old Paignton, around Winner Street and Church Street, Torbay Council's appraisal singles out plastic windows with thick frames and fake glazing bars as the change that does most harm. Roundham and Paignton Harbour face the sea and the salt, and Churston, the fourth, has an Article 4 direction of its own. We make timber sash windows and front doors for Paignton houses that copy the original meeting rails, horns and bar profiles, and we draw them so the council can see exactly that.
Book A Paignton Window Survey
Tell us roughly what you have in mind and we will arrange a time to come and measure. A photo of the space on your phone is usually enough to start with.
The Joiner Behind It
Sashes made to the original sections
Paignton has four conservation areas, and they don't all work the same way. In some, a new front window needs planning permission and has to match what was there.
Luke has worked at joinery since childhood, and it's in his family. Making a sash to the original sections is careful, patient work that experience teaches. He and the team take the old profiles before they start.
- Custom Joinery Projects
- 300+ Custom Joinery Projects
- Fitted Wardrobes Built
- 100+ Fitted Wardrobes Built
- Kitchens & Fitted Furniture
- 200+ Kitchens & Fitted Furniture
- Measured Design Visit
- Free Measured Design Visit
Paignton
An inland old town and a seaside new one
Before the railway came in 1859, Paignton was a strip of houses along Winner Street and Fisher Street with a cluster round the church and the Bishops' Palace, whose Coverdale Tower still stands. Kirkham House, the late medieval stone house now in English Heritage's care, is a few streets away. Windows in that old core are often set in red breccia or cob, in openings that have been altered more than once. Copying the right pattern means looking at what survives on your house and the ones next to it.
After 1859 the marshy land between the old town and the sea was drained and covered with terraces, Torbay Road among them, and the pier followed in 1879. Those streets face the beach and take the weather that comes with it. Families in the newer parts of town are more often after storage than windows, and our page on fitted wardrobes in Paignton looks at bedrooms in the semis and bungalows.
The Case For It
Timber windows and doors for Paignton's protected streets
Real glazing bars
Bars that actually divide the glass, at the original width, instead of strips stuck to a sealed unit that the Old Paignton appraisal criticises.
Drawings for Polsham applications
Where the Article 4 direction applies, we provide elevations and sections for your planning application to Torbay Council.
Seafront specification
Accoya, sealed joints and stainless fittings for windows and doors facing the sea around Roundham and the harbour.
Openings in old walls
Frames for breccia and cob openings are made to the measured shape and bedded so the wall can still dry out.
Panelled front doors
Doors made to the panel layout and mouldings of the house, with fanlights and frames to match.
Repair where it is enough
Many sashes only need a new cill or bottom rail, new cords and draught seals. We price that before replacement.
Before You Choose
What to ask before ordering windows in Paignton
Ask the maker which conservation area your house is in and what that means. A firm that does not know about the Polsham Article 4 direction may start work that needed permission, and you would be the one dealing with the council.
Ask how the glazing bars will be made. The Old Paignton appraisal is clear about fake bars on thick plastic frames. A timber sash with properly jointed bars, or slim double units with bars bonded in a convincing way, is a very different thing, and the drawings should show which you are getting.
If you are near the seafront, ask what timber and fixings will be used on elevations facing the sea. Standard softwood and plated hinges will not last long around Roundham or the harbour.
Compared
How Paignton's conservation areas affect window choices
This summarises how window replacement usually works across Paignton's four conservation areas and the rest of the town. Always check your own address with the council.
| Polsham | Old Paignton | Roundham and Paignton Harbour | Outside conservation areas | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 4 direction | Yes | No | No | No |
| Front windows on a house | Need planning permission | Usually permitted like for like | Usually permitted like for like | Usually permitted |
| What the council looks for | Original patterns kept | No fake bars or thick frames | Character of the seafront | Building Regulations only |
| Typical exposure | Moderate | Sheltered inland | High, salt air | Varies |
| Timber we often suggest | Engineered softwood or accoya | Engineered softwood | Accoya | Any |
| Listed buildings | Consent needed | Consent needed | Consent needed | Consent needed |
Our Process
Replacing windows in Paignton, start to finish
Our seven steps for Paignton window and door jobs start with working out which rules apply to your street.
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Checking the address
We confirm whether you are in Polsham, Old Paignton, Roundham and the harbour, Churston or none of them.
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Survey and recording
Each window is inspected, and the best surviving sash or door is measured and drawn full size.
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Applications if needed
For Polsham, listed buildings or flats, we prepare drawings for Torbay Council.
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Specification
Timber, glass and ironmongery chosen per elevation, with accoya for anything facing the sea.
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Making
Sashes, frames and doors are made from conditioned timber at our Barton workshop.
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Painting
Primed and painted on all faces before leaving the workshop.
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Fitting
One opening at a time, sealed and adjusted the same day. We come back after a winter to check every window.
Reassurance
What We Stand Behind
- Timber moved before it was cut
- Boards come into the workshop and sit there before anything is machined. Cutting a wide oak panel on the day it arrives is how you end up with a door that has cupped by Easter. In a bay where spring humidity runs high, that waiting period is not optional.
- Scribed to your walls, not shimmed to them
- Older Torquay walls are rarely square and almost never plumb. Every fitted piece is scribed to the actual surface on site. If you can see daylight behind a filler strip, the job was measured once and hoped over.
- Ironmongery rated for the job it is doing
- A drawer in a holiday flat gets pulled open forty times a week in August. We fit runners and hinges specified for that, and we tell you which ones we used, so in eight years you can buy the same part rather than replacing a whole unit.
- If it moves, we come back
- Solid timber is a material that responds to the room it lives in, and occasionally something needs easing in its first year. That visit is part of the job, not a callout. Say so and we will book it.
Budget
Window and door costs in Paignton
£1,400 – £9,000
per opening, made and fitted
A standard sash in engineered softwood sits in the lower half of our per-opening range. Accoya sashes facing the sea, and doors with fanlights, sit higher. Polsham applications and listed buildings add drawing time. Our windows and doors page has more on timber choices.
Guide range only, VAT included. Your figure comes from the measured visit and the drawing you sign off.
What moves the priceOld walls on Winner Street
Breccia and cob openings around Winner Street and Church Street are irregular, so frames take longer to make and fit.
Seafront exposure
Accoya and stainless fittings for windows on Torbay Road and around the harbour cost more but last far longer.
Planning drawings
Drawings for an application in Polsham or for a listed building are priced as a separate item.
Questions
Paignton window and door questions
- Do I need permission to replace windows in Paignton?
- It depends where you are. Planning here is handled by Torbay Council, and the town's four conservation areas are Old Paignton, Polsham, Churston, and Roundham and Paignton Harbour. Polsham and Churston both have Article 4 directions, so new front windows there need planning permission. Listed buildings always need listed building consent, and flats lack householder rights. The council's Old Paignton Conservation Area Appraisal shows the standard it expects.
- What does the Article 4 direction in Polsham mean for my windows?
- It removes the permitted development rights that would normally let you replace windows on the front of a house. You need planning permission, and a timber design matching the original is far more likely to be approved.
- Are stick-on glazing bars acceptable in Old Paignton?
- The council's appraisal identifies plastic windows with thick frames and fake bars as harmful. Timber sashes with real or convincingly bonded bars are what it wants to see.
- How do I protect windows near Paignton seafront?
- Use accoya or a durable hardwood, seal every joint, fit stainless or bronze hardware and repaint the sea-facing side a little more often than the rest.
- Can you make a door for a house in the old town?
- Yes. We copy the panel layout and mouldings of the original or a neighbouring door, and make the frame to fit the measured opening.
- Can you just repair my Paignton sashes?
- Often. New cills, spliced bottom rails, fresh cords and draught seals can bring a tired sash back to good working order for much less than a new one.
Feedback
What Customers Say
Rated 5 out of 5
“Our bedroom is in one of the old Warberries villas and the back wall bows by about an inch and a half across four metres. Two national firms measured it, quoted, then went quiet. These came, measured, and said it needed scribing rather than filling. The wardrobes go right into the corner and there is no gap anywhere. My husband keeps running his hand down the join.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“We run a bar on the harbourside and needed the counter and back fittings replaced without losing a summer weekend. They built the lot off site, came in on a Sunday night and had us trading by Tuesday lunchtime. Knowing the whole thing was made before they ever shut our doors is what sold it.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“Sash windows on the front elevation, and we are in a conservation area so it had to be timber and it had to match. They took a profile off the original, made new boxes in accoya, and the planning side went through without a query. From the pavement you genuinely cannot tell which is which.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“Two alcoves either side of the chimney, and they turned out to be 40mm different in width, which explains why the flat-pack ones we tried first never sat right. Made as a pair but to two different sets of measurements. Small thing, but it is the difference between looking fitted and looking bought.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“We let our place out over the season so everything gets hammered. I asked them to over-specify the drawer runners and they did, and told me exactly which ones so I can order spares. Three summers in, nothing has sagged. The last kitchen we had did not last two.”
Local
What To Do In Paignton
Paignton has more to offer than the beach. These three are worth a visit on any day.
Dartmouth Steam Railway
Steam trains run 6.7 miles from Paignton to Kingswear, calling at Goodrington, Churston and the Greenway halt before following the Dart.
Learn more about Dartmouth Steam Railway on Google Maps
Oldway Mansion
Paris Singer remodelled Oldway Mansion between 1904 and 1907, with Versailles in mind and a marble staircase with bronze balusters.
Learn more about Oldway Mansion on Google MapsPaignton On The Map
Coverage
Areas We Cover
We work in Paignton and across Torbay. These are all the places we cover.
Across Torquay
- Wellswood
- The Warberries
- The Lincombes
- Chelston
- Babbacombe
- St Marychurch
- Cockington
- Shiphay
- Torre
- Ellacombe
- Livermead
- Maidencombe
And across South Devon
Or go straight to a service
Check your street, then call us
Tell us your address and send a photo of the front. We will tell you which rules apply, survey the windows and price each one.