Bay and Bow Windows in Leicester and Leicestershire

Why bay and bow windows are specified the way they are

Bays are the most misquoted window in the trade. They get priced as three or four separate units, then the structural support, the sill detail and the roof junction appear as extras once the old frame is out and the wall above it is resting on nothing. We survey the head of the bay before we price it, and the number we give you includes holding the building up.

The specification we fit as standard

Multiple frames joined with structural corner posts and, where the original timber was load bearing, a steel or reinforced jack post system that transfers the load while the window is out. Standard shootbolt locking on every opener, laminated glass on the accessible front pane, and reinforced keeps at the corner posts where the frame is most flexed. A bay has more frame, more corners and more sealing line than any other window in the house, so the quality of the corner detailing decides whether the front room is warm.

• Structural assessment of the bay head included at survey
• Jack posts and propping used where the bay carries load
• Sill, roof junction and making good included in the quoted price
• A bay is quoted as a single job because it is one structural operation. The from price reflects a standard three facet bay in a semi, and the survey gives you a fixed figure for yours.
• There is also a design element that the pricing conversation tends to bury. The bay sets the character of the whole front of the house, so the arrangement of openers, the bar layout in the top lights and the colour all read from the pavement. We work that out on paper at survey rather than discovering it on fitting day.