Heritage windows
Steel-look aluminium windows in Dorking for 1930s homes and gardens
Black frames, narrow glazing bars and a lot of glass. Steel-look aluminium gives the appearance of the metal windows fitted to many houses of the 1930s, with modern double glazing and without the rust.
Where it suits in and around Dorking
Interwar building in Dorking went into Deepdene Vale, Deepdene Park and the Bradley Farm roads, and in Westhumble most of Pilgrims Way was built before the Second World War. Metal casements were common in that decade. Where a house still has them, or had them until a past replacement, steel-look aluminium puts the line back.
It also works on the garden side of older houses, for kitchen extensions and garden rooms, where a dark slim frame looks deliberate next to brick or render.
What to specify
- Bar pattern: a small-pane grid for 1930s originals, or plain panes for a modern extension.
- Colour: black or very dark grey outside; inside can be white.
- Openers: side-hung casements, with fixed panes either side on wide openings.
Planning
On an ordinary house outside the restricted areas, replacing windows on the rear elevation with steel-look ones normally needs no permission. On the front of a house under an Article 4 direction, or on a listed building, they would need approval and may not get it. Planning in Dorking has the detail.
For a worked example, see steel-look garden windows on a 1930s Westhumble house.
Ask for a survey
Tell us the street and roughly how many windows. A surveyor from the installer will look at the house, check whether anything on it needs planning permission, and quote in writing.