Handyman Fulham Broadway: repairs near the station

Handyman in Fulham Broadway: Fulham's first planned streets

Many of the streets between Fulham Road and King's Road, east of Fulham Broadway, belong to the Moore Park conservation area. Hammersmith and Fulham Council calls it the earliest estate development in Fulham, laid out in the 1850s and finished during the following decade. That makes these houses some of the oldest planned homes in the borough, and our handyman spends a lot of time on joinery, plaster and paintwork that has been there for over a century and a half.

The council describes most buildings as two or three storeys in stock brick with stucco detailing. Stucco is smooth render, shaped into window surrounds, cornices and bands across the front. The roofs are mostly natural slate. Along Fulham Road you also find detached villas, and later and larger buildings sit among the terraces, such as Walsingham Mansions facing Stamford Bridge and the twelve storey Walham Green Court.

Sash windows that have lost their glazing bars

According to the council's profile, most properties in the area still have sash windows, though many have lost their glazing bars. Glazing bars are the thin wooden strips that divide a sash into small panes. Losing them changes the look of a house more than people expect, and the profile notes that windows here are often framed by moulded surrounds, brackets or pediments, which makes the window the main feature of the front.

For most owners the job is keeping what is left in good working order. That means new sash cords, easing sashes that bind, refitting staff beads (the thin strips that hold the sash in its track) and filling soft timber before it spreads. Our handyman can also repaint stucco surrounds and window frames together, which saves putting up ladders twice. Bays are common on these terraces too, and the joints where a bay meets the main wall are worth checking when the outside is painted.

Valley roofs, parapets and hidden gutters

Most terraces here have valley roofs behind parapets, according to the profile. A valley roof has two slopes that meet in a channel in the middle, and the parapet is the front wall that rises above the roof line and hides it from the street. The channel and the box gutter behind the parapet collect leaves and silt, and when they block, rain can find its way into the top floor ceiling.

If you can reach the valley safely through a loft hatch or a roof terrace, our handyman can clear it, check outlets and downpipes and tell you what we find. Repairs to lead, slate or the parapet itself go to a roofer. Inside, we patch and repaint the stained ceiling once the leak is sorted. The profile also notes that roof extensions are typical of many terraces along the King's Road, so it pays to have flashing around those checked as part of the same visit.

Front gardens, railings and match days

Front gardens on these streets are short, and the profile describes boundaries of painted or rendered brick walls, fencing or hedging. Where iron railings survive, the council calls them an important detail that holds a terrace together. Rusty railings, loose gate catches and cracked render on low walls are the kind of jobs we can take on, with a fresh coat of paint to finish.

Living this close to Stamford Bridge has its own rhythm. The council notes that Fulham Road closes to traffic on football match days, so when we plan a visit to a house in Fulham Broadway, we check the fixture list and avoid those hours for any job that needs a van parked nearby.

Inside a house from the 1850s

A house built when Moore Park was first laid out has usually settled, been rewired and been replumbed over the years, and some have been split into flats or knocked through. You see it in doors that no longer sit square in their frames, in hairline cracks running from the corners of window openings, and in floors that slope gently towards the middle of the house. None of that is unusual for the age, and most of it can be lived with once it is tidied up.

Our handyman will plane and rehang doors so they close properly, fill and sand cracks so they do not show through fresh paint, and refix loose skirting and architraves, which are the mouldings around door frames. If you have original cornice in a front room, small chips can be filled and painted to match. Long cracks that keep coming back, or a floor that has started to bounce, are signs to get a surveyor or builder in, and we will tell you if we think that is the case.

Rental flats near Fulham Broadway

If you let a flat near the Broadway, you have a set of legal checks to keep on top of. Private landlords must have the electrics inspected at least every five years by a properly qualified person and give tenants proof of it. That inspection is for an electrician, not a handyman. Where the report lists small items such as a cracked socket cover, our handyman can replace like for like fittings, and anything beyond that goes back to a registered electrician, which we can arrange.

The same rule of thumb covers gas. We never touch boilers or gas pipes ourselves, since only a Gas Safe registered engineer can legally do gas work. We will arrange this for you and work around the engineer's visit.

Asking for a free quote in Fulham Broadway

We are based at Jerdan Place, which is just round the corner from the Broadway, so this is about as local as our work gets. Fill in the quote form with the job, your street and a couple of photos. Our handyman will look over the details and we will come back to you with a free quote.

Common questions