Handyman Parsons Green: repairs for SW6 homes

Handyman in Parsons Green: the houses we work on

Hammersmith and Fulham Council describes the streets in the Parsons Green conservation area as mainly Victorian terraces that remain substantially intact. For anyone doing repairs, that word intact is the important one. These houses still have much of their original joinery, old floors and soft brickwork, so a small job often needs more care than the same job in a new flat. We are based at Jerdan Place in Fulham, and the green is one of the closest neighbourhoods we cover, so it is a short trip for our handyman.

Some buildings here are a good deal older than the Victorian streets. The council dates a terrace of three bay houses on New Kings Road to 1795, with Aragon House beside it built around 1805. Further north, Novello Street is described as perhaps the oldest development in its part of the area, and Irene Road, Elthiron Road and Parthenia Road are lined with two storey terraces. You will also find flats, such as Broxholme House, a block from the 1930s with a mansard roof, which means a steep roof with a top floor of rooms built inside it.

Window frames, brickwork and front walls

The council's character profile singles out stock brick, Welsh slate roofs and white painted window frames as the details that hold these streets together. It also says the absence of painted brick fronts should be kept. So when we repaint frames on one of these terraces, we stick with white unless you know the house was always another colour, and we mask the brick reveals so paint does not end up on bare brickwork.

If your house still has timber sash windows, the usual faults are a snapped cord, a sash that has been painted shut, or a soft bottom rail where rain sits. A sash cord is the rope that runs over a pulley in the frame and holds the window open. Replacing cords, freeing painted sashes and cutting out a rotten section of rail keeps the original window working, and it is far less disruptive than taking the whole frame out.

Front boundaries matter here as well. The profile says boundary walls and railings help define the street edge, but notes that many original walls and fences have been swapped for modern materials. We reset loose copings (the capping stones on top of a wall), rehang gates that drag on the path and fix railings that have worked loose. Houses that sit behind shallow front gardens tend to need this sort of attention every few years.

Streets with extra planning controls

Parts of Blake Gardens, Tyrawley Road, Musgrave Crescent and Favart Road are covered by Article 4 directions, according to the council's addendum to the profile. An Article 4 direction removes some of the changes a householder could normally make without planning permission. The exact house numbers are listed in the council document. If you are on one of those streets and want new windows, a new front door or a different front boundary, speak to the Hammersmith and Fulham planning team before you order anything.

Most of what our handyman is asked to do here is repair rather than replacement, which keeps things simple. Easing a door, splicing new timber into a window sill or patching a wall before decorating leaves the look of the house as it was. Part of the conservation area also has a Regulation 7 direction that stops estate agents putting up boards, which is a useful reminder that the council keeps a close eye on how these streets look from the pavement.

Inside older terraces and flats near the green

Inside, a terrace of this age throws up a familiar list. Internal doors drop on their hinges and catch on the floor. Ceilings crack around old light roses. Skirting comes away where the wall behind has moved. If your inner walls are lath and plaster, meaning thin strips of wood covered with plaster, shelves and mirrors need the right fixings and a careful drill, or the plaster can come away in a sheet.

Not every home in Parsons Green is Victorian. The profile mentions a post war terrace and the 1930s flats at Broxholme House, and the old St Mark's School site by Eel Brook Common has been developed for housing. The Health and Safety Executive says asbestos can be found in any building built before 2000. Before our handyman drills or cuts into old textured ceilings, boxed in pipes or floor tiles in an older block, we will ask what you know about them, and we stop if anything looks suspect.

Gas, wiring and the jobs we arrange

A house that has stood since the Victorian era has usually had its wiring and heating changed more than once. We never do gas work ourselves. Anything involving a boiler, gas fire or gas pipe is done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, because the law says only registered engineers can work on gas. We will arrange this for you. On the electrical side we change light fittings and like for like sockets, but a new circuit, a new consumer unit (the fuse box) or new points in a room with a bath or shower is done by a registered electrician who can self certify the work. We arrange it.

If you let out a flat near Parsons Green station, which has served the area since 1880, you will know about the five yearly electrical check private landlords need. We can fix the small items that sometimes come up around that visit, such as loose faceplates or a cracked switch, and leave the inspection itself to a qualified electrician.

Getting a free quote in Parsons Green

To book a handyman in Parsons Green, use the quote form to tell us the street, the job and, if you can, add a photo. A photo of a sash, a sagging gate or a crack in the ceiling tells our handyman a lot before we arrive. We are in Fulham ourselves, so the green, New Kings Road and the roads down towards Eel Brook Common are all close by, and we can usually group a few small jobs into one visit.

Common questions