French Doors to Tilt & Turn Window in Sandford-on-Thames

A customer in Sandford-on-Thames, just south of Oxford, wanted a more practical way to ventilate a first-floor room behind their Juliet balcony. Thames Frames replaced the existing French doors with a new tilt and turn window, giving the room a dedicated way to let air in while keeping the character of the balcony.

The problem

French doors on a Juliet balcony give you one choice: open them wide or keep them shut. For this customer that meant propping a door open to vent a portable air conditioning unit, with the hose wedged in the gap. It was draughty and insecure, and the room lost heat every time the doors were left ajar.

The solution

We replaced the doors with a single tilt and turn window, with two opening sashes above full-height fixed glazing. In tilt mode the sashes lean inwards at the top for secure, controlled airflow. In turn mode they swing fully open for cleaning from inside or a full rush of fresh air. The fixed lower panes keep the floor-to-ceiling view over the garden and fields, framed by the original balustrade.

The result

The room now gets fresh air at the turn of a handle, with no doors left ajar and no hose trailing across the floor. From outside, the new window sits neatly within the existing opening and brickwork, and the Juliet balcony looks just as it always has.