Window Shutters in Stratford, East London (E15 and E20)

Before you order window shutters in Stratford, check one thing first: are you allowed to fix them? Many homes in E15 and E20 are rented or leasehold flats, and tenancy agreements and leases often have rules about drilling and fixings. Once you have a yes, the next job is matching the shutter to the window, whether that is a balcony door, a wall of glass or an old sash on Romford Road.

We measure and fit plantation shutters in Stratford free of charge, coming over from Dagenham. They are indoor window shutters, made to measure in real wood or faux wood, with louvres: the tilting slats you angle for light and privacy. You may know them as shutter blinds, which is the same product. Work down the checklist below and you will know what to ask, what to measure and what to book.

Window shutters in Stratford: what to check before you book

There are five things to check. Each one has its own section below with the answer and what to do next.

• Your tenancy agreement or lease. Does it allow new fixings to walls or window frames?
• Your doors. Do you have balcony, patio or French doors that need covering?
• Your tallest glass. Do any windows run from floor to ceiling?
• Your window type. Are they sashes, casements or fixed panes?
• Your street. Is your home in one of the E15 conservation areas, or does it have secondary glazing?

Not sure about any of these? We go through them with you at the visit. One shutters customer, Zara F, wrote this in a Google review:

“Exceptional quality blinds and even better service. We had wooden shutters & motorised roof blinds installed. We contacted a few companies but these guys were the most prompt and best priced. The owner was very kind and thoroughly showed us what options were available and helped us pick the right fit”

Zara F, Google review

Renting in East Village or another E20 block? Ask for written permission

If you rent, get written permission from your landlord before shutters go up. Shutters are screwed into the frame or the wall, and many tenancy agreements cover that.

East Village, the old Athletes’ Village, shows why this matters. Government figures from June 2014 put it at 2,818 homes. Of those, 1,324 were private rented homes managed by Get Living, and 1,204 were social rent, intermediate rent and shared ownership homes managed by Triathlon Homes. Get Living’s published tenancy agreement (the version dated 10 March 2016) said the landlord supplies blinds and curtains. It also said tenants must not fix more blinds or curtains to the windows, or drill into the walls, without written permission. Terms change, so read your own agreement. The point is simple: ask first.

Here is the order we suggest:

1. Read the part of your agreement about alterations, fixtures and decorating.
2. Book our free visit. We can measure before you have a yes.
3. Email your landlord or letting agent. Say which windows you want covered and that the shutters screw into the frame or the wall, which makes a clear request.
4. Wait for a written reply, and keep a copy.
5. Call us to confirm the order.

Leasehold flats in Stratford: what your lease says about fixings

If you own a leasehold flat, you may still need the freeholder’s or managing agent’s agreement for some changes. The lease is where you find out. Look for these points:

• An alterations clause, which says what you can change inside the flat without asking
• Who owns the window frames. In some buildings they belong to the freeholder, not the flat owner
• Rules about what can be seen from outside, such as balcony screening
• The managing agent’s contact details, so you know who to ask

If the lease is unclear, a short email to the managing agent is the quickest way to get an answer. If anything has to change, such as fixing to the wall instead of the frame, we can talk it through with you.

Window shutters for patio doors and balconies in Stratford flats

For window shutters on patio doors in Stratford, the usual answer is panels that run on a track, so they slide or fold out of the way when you want to step outside. Folding panels on a track are what some people search for as bi fold window shutters. Hinged panels can work on French doors too. The table shows how we match the door to the shutter.

Shutter blinds for a sliding glass door need space beside the door for the panels to sit when open. In a small living room, that space may be taken by a sofa or a radiator, so we measure the walls as well as the glass. You can see the track styles on our sliding shutters for patio and French doors page. Plantation shutters for French doors are often hinged instead, so each panel swings back with the door.

Floor-to-ceiling glass in E15 and E20: full height shutters and mid-rails

Floor-to-ceiling windows suit full height shutters, usually with a mid-rail. That is a solid bar across the middle of each panel. It does two jobs: it makes a tall panel stronger, and it lets the top and bottom louvres tilt on their own, so in a flat that faces another block you can angle the lower slats down for privacy while the upper slats stay open to the sky.

Tall glass is where a small mistake shows most, so we take extra care with the measure. We check:

• The height on both sides, as floors and ceilings in new blocks are not always level with each other
• What the top of the frame can fix to
• The height you want the mid-rail at, so it lines up with your eye level when seated or standing
• Whether any panel needs to open past a door, radiator or piece of furniture

Plantation shutters for Romford Road sashes and double-height bays

On the older streets of E15, tier on tier shutters are often the best fit for sash windows. They come in two sets, top and bottom, and each opens on its own. You can fold back the top set to reach the upper sash, and keep the lower set closed for privacy from the pavement.

Newham’s appraisal of the University Conservation Area, which runs along Romford Road, describes mid to late Victorian three-storey terraces and paired double-height bays at numbers 33 to 53a Romford Road. On Vicarage Terrace the sash windows get smaller on each floor going up. For homes like these we measure every pane on its own, because a bay is really three windows set at angles, and the top-floor windows may need a smaller louvre than the ground floor to look right.