Large Bay window on a small house.
I seem to be the go-to man in Southwest London for bay windows. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not complaining. Bay windows encompass all aspects of masonry – measuring, setting out, template making, banker-work, carving and fixing. I really enjoy them, and having a low-boredom threshold they don’t take forever either 😉
I’ve done 2 quite different ones recently. The first was for a family who have lived for 2 generations in the same house and in the 1970s had made the decision to sheer off the bay after it developed cracks, and replaced it with this:
Now, the bays on the street for all the houses in the area are large, with 4 carved caps and large over-hanging string-course atop the lintels. A lot of stone (over 1.5 tons) was ordered and we set to work. The stone arrived ‘sawn 6 sides’ which means it arrives square from the supplier, conforming to the dimensions we have specified. Templates were then applied to these capitals (below) to establish the architectural mouldings and the rest of the stone is left for the carving.
This is the same block of stone (below) after the stiff-leaf carving process, all done by hand.
This pallet has a bunch of capitals and pillars ready to go to site.
Sections of string course. Please note all the stone we produce has been done by hand.
The excellent builders who were renovating the rest of the house had built us the retaining octagonal wall and we fixed the sills on, keying them into the brickwork.
The bases were then put on and the pillars on after. This is high-precision building so everything has to be totally plumb and equidistant.
The caps are on along with the final pillars. Although unusual, many bays have a continuation pillar/pilaster above the cap. Every piece of stone is pinned together with stainless threaded bar, epoxy resin and lime mortar.
This my wife’s son Gabriel lowering the large lintel into position using a block and tackle.
This is close to the finish. The mortar is still wet and the stones need a bit of rubbing, but it is structurally sound and self-supporting. Everything has now been keyed-in, pinned and mortared.
And this is the street-view, with the scaffolding in the way of the wonderful carved capitals, plus Ben and Gabriel loitering in the background!
Could you please give me a ball park figure of what it would would cost to install a window like the one in your photo we have the same decorative features above the doorway to our house in Walthamstow the original bay was taken out and now we have a replica of the one in the bottom half of the photo
kind regards David
PS i dont have access to photos but this could be arranged early January with dimensions
Hi David.
I’ve done a few in Walthamstow and they are generally much smaller than this. There is about a ton and a half of stone in this bay alone, before the concrete roof was installed – it is – proportionally – unusually large for a house of this size.
I’m loathe to put prices online as every job is unique. However, if you want to email me the address of the property I can look it up on Streetview and give you a rough estimate.
Thanks
Geraint
Hi I have a poroperty in E7
66a Ramsay E7 9EW
would you be so kind to give me a cost or suggestion if the current bay is salvageable to be repaired
Hi Shafatain
I’ve just had a look on Streetview and both pillars need new bases, pillars and caps. The lintels look okay, but the front section of the string course is shot with bodged repairs and needs replacing. You also look like you could do with a better roof on the bay, but that’s not for me to do.
I’ll email a price to you.
Best, Geraint
Good morning,
I have tacked on to this thread as I too have a house in Walthamstow that has had the bay removed. I would really appreciate you contacting me to get a ball park figure of reinstating. Thanks
Ali
Hi
I have a commercial property above a shop in Wood Green,the window pillars are crumbling water enters from the seams on the first and second floor. Can you have a look and let me know what can be done and for how much?
This looks beautiful. We are buying a house in east London that needs the wooden bay window replacing with something similar to this. How can I email you for a quote?
I’ll email you now so you can reply to me. Thanks for your comment Jennifer.
Hi there,
We are also looking to get our stone square front replaced with a bay window. It would be great to get a quote.
Thanks!
Hi Geraint – I’m based in Essex. Is this somewhere you would cover?
Hi Geraint – I am based in Essex. Is this somewhere you would cover? Thanks
this is exquisite
based in south London se6 – would you cover this area
thanks
timi
Hi Timi – many thanks for your kind comment. I’ll contact you directly via email. Best wishes, Geraint
Such lovely work and the owners must feel incredibly proud..bet neighbour feels as sick as a parrot.
Good morning, I have fill small pillars to restoration, i like to send pictures of it please to you to see if you can give me a quote for
Hi Mauro
Please send pictures and information to geraint@geraintdavies.co.uk and I’ll supply you with an estimate.
Geraint
hi .i love the work it looks fantastic,my name is chris and ive been ask to remove and rebuild ground and first floor victorian bay.all in stone.which lead me to your site.what im looking for is a supplier,
if you could point in the right direction i would be greatful..the job is in east london..
thanks again chris
Hi Chris
Many thanks for your kind words. I’m not a supplier as such – I make the bays and fit them myself. There’s too much that can go wrong with stonework if you’re not familiar with it: https://www.geraintdavies.co.uk/why-you-should-only-ever-choose-stonemasons-to-fix-stone/
If you email me with some details – address, photos etc I can give you an estimate to supply and fit.
Geraint
Stunning recreation. I’ve got a terrace with a bay window which has had the original pediment replaced with a slate pitched roof – a very common alteration to bays. I can’t find any suppliers/manufacturers for the decorative masonry that typically tops these bay, hiding the roof behind. Can you help?
Hi Terry, thanks for your comment. I’ll PM you.
This looks great! Would you be able to give me a rough idea of costing to rebuild a bay window please? The previous owners have removed the pillars and window sill so it’s looking very sorry for itself. Based in SE26. Thanks
Fantastic what you do Geraint…we are up on Merseyside and wondered if you had any contacts near us of people who do similar quality work. We’ve had a shocking experience with a major UPVC firm trying to fit sash windows to our bay and are now considering a full re-build.
Hello, I would need to replace my bay window for a wooden one looking like this in SE London, it would be awesome if we could get a quote.
Hi Eva
I’m afraid I only do stone ones. If you’re still interested let me know.
Thanks
Geraint
Hi Geraint
Please could I also get a rough figure of what it would cost to get a bay window similar to the one you created.
Our original bay had been taken out and replaced with a window similar to that of your second picture.
Thank you
Beautiful work!
Hi Geraint
Please could I also get a rough figure of what it would cost to get a bay window similar to the one you created a bit smaller. We need 2 of them..
Our original bay had been taken out and replaced with a concrete version and we would like to go back to the original stone version. Many thanks. Thomas
Hi Thomas
I have emailed you.
Best wishes
Geraint
Hi do you do projects where the front window needs to be made bigger?
OMG! this work is absolute insane!!!! I love it so so so sos os os os s much <3
Our house in Leyton have an horrible front and I would love to replace the horrible Bay window and the top windows with this!!
Can I have a quote???
Would you also take care of brickwork?
Thanks a lot in advance
Barbara
Hi Barbara
I’ve PM’d you via email.
Best wishes
Geraint
Hi there, I’m looking restore two front bay window surrounds. I don’t have the dimensions but looking for a round about cost of two bay window surrounds?
Hi Geraint
Joining in the voices above – am moving to a property in Leyton that’s had a horrible bodged front job. Please could you PM me to send details for a quote? This is so great.
All the best
Katherine
Hi Geraint,
What a difference a bay makes! I bet you’ve head that before 😀
I’d love a estimate for a job very similar to this on a house in E7. Please could you email so I can send some photos?
Thanks!
He Geraint, also looking for a quote for a complete rebuild of a bay. Can you give any advice on insulating a bay window too?
Not my area I’m afraid. I’m stonework only.
Gerraint,
I love the idea of doing this to my 1930s 2-storey bay window (currently a bow shape). Could you recall the height of ceilings on the house pictured? Mine internally are 8ft, and I’m not sure if that would cause an issue aesthetically.
I’m up in Manchester, do you cover the area or have any traders you’d recommend?
Kind regards,
Alan
No, sorry.
Oh boy am I glad I found your website! Also looking at a price for this. House we’ve just bought looks the same as the before in these pictures, someone ripped out the original and replaced it with a horror show. We’d love to restore it!
I’m afraid I no longer practice. The site is still going as I don’t know how to stop it! I would contact my friends at londonstonemasonry.com
Good luck