There are countless sash windows out there that are in desperate need of weatherproofing and Mighton Products has all the solutions you’ll need.
If you’re familiar with sash windows of any vintage then you’ll know that they’re often accompanied by an ill wind. Their inherent draughtiness has occasioned the all-too common phenomenon of this class of window being sealed forever shut with a combination of mastic and paint. Mighton Products is, however, on a mission to liberate these windows by supplying tradespeople and homeowners with the latest innovations in draughtproofing hardware, and bring them up to a modern standards of energy efficiency.
Mike Derham and the team at the company he founded are the acknowledged industry experts on all things sash window and that includes weather and draughtproofing. “In older sash windows there are areas that will need to be draughtproofed,” explains the Mighton Products’ Chairman. “With the demands of energy efficiency, and the cost of living, it’s a job that’s more important than ever and we provide a comprehensive weatherproofing range for just that purpose.”
So where to begin? The parting bead runs vertically along the window frame. It separates the two sashes and, given that in older windows it amounts to nothing more than a strip of timber, it rarely presents an effective seal when the window is shut. That means it will need to be removed and replaced with the perfect upgrade on the original – a Mighton Products parting bead with fitted brushpile.
Supplied in 5.5 and 8.5mm brush heights, and three materials – timber, wood plastic composite (WPC) and PVCu, each with a nylon brush, it doesn’t just keep out unwelcome draughts either. It is a testament to the Mighton Products attention to detail that its design features a weathervane construction. Included as standard across its Brushpile range, this fulfils the crucial purpose of shutting out moisture and rain, even in extreme weather conditions.
Parting ways
The parting bead is not the only weak point in a traditional sash window because the staff bead is equally vulnerable to draughty outside intrusion. This internal trim holds the sashes in place, and in older examples is, again, just a piece of timber, with little or no draughtproofing properties. Just as with the parting bead, Mighton’s modern solution is equipped with a nylon brushpile. It’s a component that’s available in a number of sizes and fitted into a plastic brush carrier so it can be easily slid out for painting. Again, the weathervane prevents water ingress, and there’s either a timber or wood plastic composite option.
Continuing our journey through the anatomy of a sash window, the meeting rail is a horizontal bar which features on the top of the bottom sash, and the bottom of the top sash. As the moniker implies the two will then come together when the window is closed. Thanks to the aforementioned parting bead running vertically around the sash there is, however, always going to be a gap between the two meeting rails.
Mighton Products is currently working on some very innovative solution to further address the meeting rail issue. In the current portfolio it can point to a Meeting Rail Brushpile which is applied by an adhesive strip. The two brushpiles one attached to the top sash and the other to the bottom – then interlock creating a weatherproof seal.
At this stage your weatherproofing work is almost done, with only a couple more areas to attend to. One of these is the top of the sash window, which is known as the head and needs to be adequately draughtproofed against the top sash when the window is shut. Mighton Products is a distributor of the market leading solutions from Aquamac and Q-LON. Once a suitable slot has been routed out of the top sash these push-fit Weatherseals can be installed.
Consisting of a polyurethane foam core surrounded by a weather and UV resistant polyethylene film, the deceptively simple but ingenious part of the design is a polypropylene insert. When in place, the Weatherseal forms a compression seal, preventing any elongation or shrinkage.
Now we come to the sides of the sashes, where Carrier Brushpiles are the answer. Available in either a knock-in T Carrier or self-adhesive Flat Carrier version, as the name would suggest the former involves a joiner routing out the necessary slot and then inserting the T Carrier. The Flat Carrier can, by contrast, simply be stuck in place.
Added to all of the above is a product that can be used in a number of sash window components. The Ecobrush is a brushpile that benefits from an extremely powerful 3M grab adhesive and can be used at the meeting rail, the head, or the sill. It’s available in black, white and brown and a number of different widths and brush heights.
Proof positive
Given that Mike Derham is a former joiner it’s not surprising that the company he founded supplies solutions to issues that many of its competitors have not necessarily thought about. A draughtproof box for the sash pulleys is one such example, for example, which again is sealed with Brushpile.
Weatherproofing is a significant part of the Mighton Products business – and it’s easy to see why. Sash windows have a timeless elegance and have been used in UK home construction for centuries. There are countless Georgian, Victorian and 20th century examples in desperate need of renovation to a standard that modern property owners now demand and that means plenty of work for tradespeople into the bargain. Moreover, if a homeowner is already upgrading the glazing to double or even triple glazing then the Mighton Products weatherproofing range becomes an absolute pre-requisite.
For further information on Mighton Products visit Sash & Casement Window Weights, Balances & Hardware | Mighton Products.