Handyman Wandsworth: repairs for SW18 homes

Handyman in Wandsworth: the old town and the common

Wandsworth has two quite different sides for anyone fixing houses. Down in the old town, around the High Street and the River Wandle, the streets are older, tighter and mixed in with shops and pubs. Up by Wandsworth Common, the houses are later, bigger and laid out in neat grids. Our handyman finds sash windows in both places, but the houses around them could hardly be more different.

We are based at Jerdan Place in Fulham and cross Wandsworth Bridge to work in SW18. We have no office in Wandsworth itself, but the bridge makes it a short trip.

Two storey houses in the Wandsworth Town conservation area

Wandsworth Council's appraisal for the Wandsworth Town conservation area says homes here are mainly Victorian, with pockets of earlier Georgian houses, and almost all of them are two storeys. The High Street runs through the middle as part of the south circular, and the old Ram Brewery site still dominates the town centre since its redevelopment.

The appraisal notes that window frames are most often white painted timber, and that casements, meaning windows hinged at the side, are uncommon. It also asks for a single pattern of glazing bars to be kept across any matching group of houses. So when we repair or repaint a sash on one of these terraces, the aim is to keep it looking like its neighbours, with the same white paint and the same pane layout.

Brick is the main material, with houses mostly in stock and yellow brick and commercial buildings generally in red brick, and roofs mostly in black slate or red tile. The council lists Victoria Place, a terrace of workers' houses from 1839, and Church Row, an eighteenth century group of townhouses listed at Grade II*.

Listed homes need extra care

Some homes in the old town are listed buildings. The appraisal names the cottages at 155 to 171 Oakhill Road, listed at Grade II and arranged as flats, alongside Church Row. If you live in a listed building, the Planning Portal says you need listed building consent for any significant works, inside or out.

That changes how we approach the job. For a listed home our handyman keeps to small like for like repairs: freeing a sticking sash, renewing a cord, filling and painting existing timber, or easing an original door. Anything that alters the building, such as new windows, removing a fireplace or changing a staircase, needs a conversation with the council's conservation team first, and we will say so before starting.

The Toast Rack and the streets by Wandsworth Common

The Toast Rack is the local name for a grid of streets beside the common, laid out in the 1890s. The council's Wandsworth Common appraisal calls it a tight grid of good quality late Victorian red brick terrace and detached houses, including groups of semi detached houses with gabled fronts. Two storey canted bays, meaning bay windows with angled sides, are typical on streets such as Baskerville Road.

The appraisal states that windows in the Routh Road group were originally all timber sashes, and it lists the loss of original sash windows as one of the problems facing the area. For owners who want to keep theirs, our handyman can renew cords, replace worn parting beads (the strip that separates the two sashes), fit discreet draught seals and repair rotten sills. Bay windows have more joints than flat fronts, so they are worth checking every time the outside is painted.

Attics and gables in the Victorian houses

The appraisal describes houses on Baskerville Road as two storeys with a gabled roof and an attic storey, while Henderson Road has three storey semi detached houses with gabled fronts. Rooms tucked under a gable roof have sloping ceilings, small windows and awkward corners, and they are often where people want more storage.

Our handyman can build simple shelving into the eaves, fit a loft ladder to an existing hatch, put up blinds on small or angled windows and lay boards over part of the loft for boxes. Before any boards go down we check how deep the insulation is and where cables run, so nothing is crushed or covered over. Cracks often show where a sloping ceiling meets a flat wall, as the two surfaces move differently, and those can be filled, taped and painted so the room looks finished.

If you are thinking about turning a loft into a proper bedroom, that is a building project with its own approvals and is beyond a handyman visit.

Front boundaries and parking near the common

On Baskerville Road, the appraisal records that front boundaries were originally brick piers with round stone caps and timber fences and gates in between. It also notes that householders have been turning front gardens into hard standing for cars, and lists this as an issue. Fences over one metre high facing a road need planning permission, according to the same document.

Mending a timber front fence between existing brick piers, resetting a loose stone cap or rehanging a gate are all straightforward handyman jobs that put a frontage back the way it was meant to look.

Free quotes for Wandsworth homes

We never do gas work ourselves. Any gas work, such as boilers and gas fires, is done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, as the law requires. We will arrange this for you. New circuits, new fuse boxes and new points in a room with a bath or shower are done by a registered electrician who can self certify the work. We arrange it. Everything else on your list, send through our quote form with a photo and your street name, and we will come back to you from Fulham with a free quote.

Common questions