Bygones
The Cuming family opened Bygones in 1987 in a 1930s cinema on Fore Street. It has a model railway and a First World War trench to explore.
Learn more about Bygones on Google MapsTimber Windows & Doors In St Marychurch
Are the windows above your St Marychurch shop letting the rain into the flat?
Upper-floor sashes over the precinct, and windows and front doors for the stone terraces off Fore Street
Walk down Fore Street and look up. Above the shopfronts, many St Marychurch buildings still have their Victorian upper storeys, and those first and second-floor windows are often the most neglected joinery in the district. Nobody can reach them without a ladder, the flat above may be let separately, and the shop below gets all the attention. Rain gets in at a failed cill, and the plaster inside starts to go. We make and repair timber sash windows for St Marychurch, above the shops and in the quarry workers' terraces nearby, and we make front doors to fit the deep, uneven reveals of the local limestone. The district is a conservation area, so we draw everything to match.
Book A Window Survey In St Marychurch
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
The windows above the shops
Above Fore Street's shopfronts, many St Marychurch buildings still have Victorian upper floors, and their sashes are often the most neglected joinery in the district.
Joinery has been in Luke's life since he was a child, and it's in his family. Bringing a neglected sash back, or making one to match, relies on experience rather than any course. Luke and the team cover the terraces behind the precinct too.
- 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
St Marychurch
Grey stone, deep reveals and a conservation area
St Marychurch was its own urban district until it joined the Borough of Torquay in 1900, and the old town hall at the corner of Manor Road is built in the grey stone its quarries produced. That stone runs through the district. Walls are thick, so window and door frames sit back in deep reveals, and openings are rarely exactly square. A replacement frame made to a standard size and packed out with foam tends to fail at those packers within a few winters.
Torbay Council's St Marychurch conservation area appraisal is frank about how many terraced houses have lost their original sashes and doors to plastic, and how much better the survivors look. Over the shops, the same is true of the upper floors. Small houses here also have small bedrooms, and our page on fitted wardrobes in St Marychurch shows how we make storage fit them.
The Case For It
What good timber joinery does for St Marychurch buildings
Upper floors made weathertight
First and second-floor sashes over the precinct get new cills, bottom rails or whole sashes, stopping water before it reaches the flat.
Frames made to the stone
Each frame is made to the opening we measure, with linings scribed to the reveal instead of padded with filler.
Bedded to let walls dry
Frames go in on breathable bedding rather than hard cement, so moisture in the stone is not trapped against the timber.
Four-panel doors for the terraces
Front doors made to the plain four-panel pattern that suits the quarry workers' houses, with a frame cut to the reveal.
Matched to the row
Where an original sash survives a few doors along, we copy its bars and rails so your house rejoins the street.
Access planned for the precinct
Work above shops is scheduled around trading, with towers placed to keep the pavement open.
Before You Choose
What to ask before replacing windows in St Marychurch
Ask how the maker will deal with the depth of the reveal and the fact that the opening is not square. The answer should be a measured, made-to-fit frame. A standard size with expanding foam round it is a short-term fix in a stone wall.
Ask what bedding they use. Hard cement mortar around a frame in a limestone wall holds water against the timber. A maker who knows these buildings will talk about breathable materials and good drips.
If the window is above a shop, ask who owns it. The flat and the shop may have different leaseholders, and the freeholder may be responsible for the windows. Getting that settled first saves a lot of argument later.
Compared
Fixing upper-floor windows above a St Marychurch shop
For first and second-floor sashes above Fore Street, owners generally weigh up these four routes.
| Splice and repair | New sashes in the old box | New box and sashes | uPVC replacement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best when | Decay is local | Sashes rotten, box sound | Whole window has gone | Hard to justify here |
| Matches the upper storey | Yes | Yes | Copied | No |
| Access needed | Tower, short visit | Tower, short visit | Tower, longer visit | Tower, longer visit |
| Conservation area outlook | Welcomed | Welcomed | Generally fine | Often criticised |
| Disruption to the flat | Least | Low | Some making good | Some making good |
| Relative cost | Lowest | Middle | Higher | Lower, but often refused |
Our Process
Window and door work in St Marychurch, in seven steps
Each St Marychurch window or door job runs through these seven steps, from survey to a check after the first winter.
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Survey with the right access
For upper floors we inspect from a tower or from inside the flat, probing cills and rails and checking for water damage below.
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Measuring the reveal
Every opening is measured at several points, because stone reveals lean and taper.
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Planning check
We tell you whether the conservation area or a listing affects the work, and provide drawings for Torbay Council if needed.
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Timber agreed
Engineered softwood or accoya for sashes, hardwood or accoya for doors, chosen by exposure.
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Made to the opening
Frames, sashes and doors are made from conditioned timber at Barton and test-fitted.
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Painted before fitting
Every face primed and coated, including the parts that will sit against the stone.
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Fitted and checked
Installed on breathable bedding, sealed and adjusted. We come back after a winter to ease anything that has settled.
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 prices in St Marychurch
£1,400 – £9,000
per opening, made and fitted
Terrace sashes are small and sit at the lower end of our per-opening range. Upper-floor work above shops adds access costs. Front doors made to an uneven stone reveal fall in the middle. See our timber windows and doors page for typical figures and timber options.
Guide range only, VAT included. Your figure comes from the measured visit and the drawing you sign off.
What moves the priceTowers above Fore Street
There is no stopping in the precinct, so towers and materials are carried in from the nearest access point, and the work is timed around shop hours.
Terraces off Park Road
Houses on Park Road, Western Road and Lummaton Place are easier to reach, and ground-floor sashes need no scaffold.
Repair or replace
Splicing a cill or a bottom rail costs a fraction of a new sash, so we always price repair first where it makes sense.
Questions
St Marychurch window and door questions
- Do I need permission to replace windows in St Marychurch?
- It depends on the building. Much of St Marychurch is in Torbay Council's conservation area, and the appraisal favours timber over plastic. An unlisted house replacing windows like for like is often permitted, but flats above shops have no householder rights, and listed buildings, such as the group at Park Crescent, need listed building consent. Read the council's St Marychurch conservation area appraisal before ordering.
- Who pays for the windows in a flat above a St Marychurch shop?
- That depends on the leases. Sometimes the freeholder is responsible for windows, sometimes the leaseholder of the flat. Check before ordering, so the right person approves the work.
- Why do window frames rot in St Marychurch's stone walls?
- Mostly because water gets trapped. A frame bedded in hard cement, without a good drip under the cill, stays wet. Breathable bedding and proper detailing let it dry out.
- Can you match the sashes on my St Marychurch terrace?
- Yes. We copy a surviving original from your row, including the glazing bar pattern, so the new window sits comfortably with its neighbours.
- Can a new front door fit a crooked stone opening?
- Yes. We make the frame to the opening as measured and scribe the linings to the stone, then hang the door square within it.
- Can you work above a shop while it is trading?
- Usually. We set up a tower early, keep the pavement and the shop door clear, and finish each window in a day.
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 St Marychurch
Between jobs on Fore Street there are three places in St Marychurch we always recommend.
Babbacombe Cliff Railway and Oddicombe Beach
Opened on 1 April 1926, the cliff railway climbs about 720 feet at roughly 1 in 2.8 between the clifftop and Oddicombe Beach.
Learn more about Babbacombe Cliff Railway and Oddicombe Beach on Google Maps
St Mary the Virgin parish church
A church has stood on this hilltop since Saxon times. Bishop Phillpotts of Exeter is buried near the lychgate of St Mary the Virgin.
Learn more about St Mary the Virgin parish church on Google MapsSt Marychurch On The Map
Coverage
Areas We Cover
St Marychurch is a few minutes from our workshop. We also cover every place listed below.
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
Look up at your windows
Send us a photo of the front, including the upper floors. We will arrange a survey, tell you what is failing and give a price for each opening.