The Sashie Files, Part 3: Why We Make Our Own Draught Seal Beading for Sash Windows

At the end of Part 2 we promised a look at what surprised Matt most when he swapped UK sash windows for Australian ones. Arriving in 2005 came with plenty of surprises, including just how cold a Sydney winter really gets in a weatherboard cottage with no heating!

But the biggest surprise of all was that back then hardly anyone here was draught proofing their sash windows.

That one observation is the reason our Draught Seal Beads exists. This is the story of our beading, but also how we approach every product we make: spot a problem on site, get fed up with what's on the market (or what's not!), and develop something better ourselves.

In the UK, Draught Proofing Sash Windows Isn't Optional

In the UK, draught proofing a sash window isn't an optional extra. It's cold, heating is expensive, and a windows need to be sealed. So when a sashie restores a sash window over there, sealing it properly is simply part of the job. Nobody really thinks twice about it.

When we got to Sydney, there were people restoring sash windows. Sashes were being repaired, recorded and rebalanced. But the draught seal part of the job was almost always missing. The windows went back in working beautifully, with the same gaps around them they'd had for a hundred years.

Draught Proofing Isn't Just a Winter Thing

It is not true that Australia's climate is mild enough not to bother.  A gap that lets warm air escape in winter lets cool air escape in summer too.

That hot January afternoon with the air conditioning running flat out. Every gap around an old sash is letting that cooled air leak outside, and letting hot air, dust and street noise leak in. You're paying to cool the room, then paying again to cool it a second time. Seal the window and the air you've paid for stays where you want it, whatever the season. That means lower bills for heating and cooling, all year round.

If you want the fuller picture on what draught proofing actually does, we've covered it in What Is Draught Proofing and Why Do I Need It?, and for a real example of the difference it makes to noise, have a read of Ella's story in Cheltenham.

The Big Decision to Import

We knew Australia needed it. The problem was it simply didn't exist here. Nobody was making draught seal beading for sash windows, and nobody was selling it either. So we made a big decision for a small business at the time: we'd import it ourselves from a well known manufacturer in the UK.

It wasn't cheap. Between the product, the freight and the lead times, it cost us a small fortune by the time it landed, and that cost went straight into the price of every job. 

Three Parts, and No Time

What arrived wasn't a finished bead. It was three separate components: the timber bead, a plastic track, and a roll of brush. Before you could install it to the window, you had to thread the brush into the track, then fit the track into the timber. 

If you're a sashie, time is money. Every extra bit of work on a job translates straight into dollars. Threading brush into track while the sashes are out was very time consuming. 

So We Designed Our Own Draught Seal Beading

That's how our Draught Seal Beads came about. We designed a timber bead with the brush already fitted into it, so it arrives ready to go. Pick it up, cut it to size, fit it. That's it.

And the brush comes included free as standard. Every length of Draught Seal Bead arrives with the brush already fitted, at no extra cost. There's no separate brush to buy, no track to order, and nothing to put together while the sashes are out.

It's made right here in Australia, to exactly our specification, in FSC certified timber. Our stop beads come in 22mm and 30mm (both 18mm deep) and our parting bead in 25mm x 8mm, which covers the vast majority of the double hung sash windows we see across Australia.

We've been fussy about the timber too. Over the years we've trialled and tested all sorts of species to find what machines cleanly, holds the brush properly and lasts on a working window. Our beading is always solid timber, in full lengths, with no finger joints. If you've ever had finger jointed bead open up at the joints, you'll know exactly why we won't use it. And for customers who want it, we can supply Western Red Cedar too.

We also listened to what our customers kept asking for. Due to demand, we now supply Draught Seal Bead raw and unprimed, so it can be stained to match unpainted windows. Plenty of beautiful old sash windows have never been painted. Unprimed Ecobead can be stained to match the rest of the window, so the new beads disappear into the original joinery.

And then there's the brush. We supply it in grey, white and black and if you think that sounds like a small detail, you've clearly never put two sashies in a room together. This is something sashies feel very strongly about. Some swear by grey...then there's the weird ones that like black. Some won't touch anything but white. It's purely a matter of preference, and in twenty years we've never once seen anyone change their mind. So we stopped trying, and simply make all three.

Nothing Is Standard (and We're Fine With That)

If there's one thing that's certain in sash window restoration, it's that nothing is uniform. A lot of our trade customers work on very old heritage buildings, where every new part has to match designs and sizes that were decided a century or more ago.

Our standard beads fit the vast majority of sash windows, but quite often a job needs something slightly different. Because we developed this product and manufacture it ourselves, we can do something about that. We often make bespoke sizes to suit. It's not something we advertise, but our trade customers know all about it, and if your windows need something a little out of the ordinary, get in touch and we can do it for you too.

As far as we know, we're the only Australian manufacturer making this type of draught seal beading for sash windows. What started as a fix for our own jobs is now what tradies, other sashies and DIYers around the country use on theirs.

For those asking for compression seals in our beading, a sash window slides, and a compression seal dragging against a moving sash wears out, tears and disintegrates. We've gone into all the reasons properly in Compression Seals vs Brush Seals: Myths Debunked, if you'd like the full rant.  We've lost count of the number of times we've been brought in to re-draught proof a sash window that has draught proofed using compression seals.

While we're on strong opinions: not just any brush will do either. Every Ecobead brush has a central fin running through the middle of the pile. Without that fin, air finds its way through the bristles. The fin is what makes the brush an actual barrier. 

Developed on Site

Draught Seal Bead is a good example of how we develop products from what goes wrong on site. 

Because we're still working on sash windows ourselves, we find those problems first. And because we design and manufacture our own products, we can actually fix them, then keep refining them. It's the same thinking that gave us our domed top sash weights, and it's why we'll keep innovating wherever we find something that isn't good enough. Our aim is simple: the best sash window products on the market, designed by people who actually use them.

What Draught Seal Beading Means for Your Sash Windows

Draught Seal Bead replaces your existing stop and parting beads with timber beads that look just like the originals, with the seal built in. Same heritage look, fewer draughts, less rattling and a house that holds its temperature in winter and summer. Work out how much you need with our Beading Calculator, follow our step by step installation guide, or grab a DIY Draught Seal Kit. We ship Australia wide.

What Our Customers Say

Until next time.