Sash cord ... how to feed it through ?

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Hi. Did a pair last week and the cord when I pushed it through just appeared below easy peezy.
The ones I am on now do not. I tried about 10 times, used some mains flex to push it down, have a bit of hanger to pull it down ... just nothing, the box is not flat at all inside.
Any ideas ?
Thanks
 
You were just lucky with the first one , You should remove the side panels both sides of the interior of the frame , the panel is tapered so it comes away by knocking it upwards , has the original sash cording broken or are you just replacing it .
 
The answer is galvanised garden wire from Homebase, 60 seconds later bingo. Ideal solution.
No space to drop anything down very small aperture at the top.
Thanks, there is a God !
 
The answer is galvanised garden wire from Homebase, 60 seconds later bingo. Ideal solution.
No space to drop anything down very small aperture at the top.
Thanks, there is a God !
You don’t drop cord in with pulley in place .
 
You don’t drop cord in with pulley in place .
Actually, if you use a traditional lead "mouse", you can, and you can bend a "mouse" round a pulley wheel (see video @ 4:41):


This article is a pretty good explanation of how to feed the cord through and get the cord length right (as well as the correct terminology)

You may get away with a screw or bolt, but taking a painted-in pulley wheel out to feed through a bolt can mean repainting an entire window (but then, taking out a parting bead and sash pocket can result in the same). Old-school, I know, but it's another reason to cadge-up some lead offcuts whenever you have someone on your roof replacing the chimney flashings or the like
 
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You don’t drop cord in with pulley in place .

A mate of mine used to repair victorian sash windows. From time to time he used to kidnap me to help him.

As @JobAndKnock says, we used to use a tiny off cut of lead on a string and drop it in to the cavity via the pully. It worked well. The other end was tied to the sash cord to pull it through.
 
Proper tool is a mouse more or less a short length of chain like a bike chain but thinner tie the cord to one end and feed through.
 
Tried to improvise a mouse with cotton thread and a piece of dowel this morning, used to watch a lot of Blue Peter !! Anyway didn't work. I defy anyone to find a faster solution than Homebase Galvanised Garden Wire £4.99 !!! 60 secs max
 
I doubt a lead mouse would be any slower. And I always have a bit of lead flashing in the van. I do think it's possible that if there is a rotted midfeather in the sash weight box you might get caught on that, but never mind. You have your solution for this one window.

Proper tool is a mouse more or less a short length of chain like a bike chain but thinner tie the cord to one end and feed through.
Have you ever seen sash chain? Not cheap, but if you can persuade people to pay for it, it lasts almost forever (well, it'll outlive me at least!)
 
Point of the wire needs to be carefully shaped like a V not a U (i.e folded back on itself, and the sharp end point needs to be bent inwards or the point can catch on something.
When you push it up make it rattle the relevant pulley wheel from the inside that's where the rope will be then draw down carefully.
 
New Innovation : this morning I replaced 4 cords on a Victorian sash (one at the back had snapped from a bit of old paint on it) .... anyway before I started I cut 4 new lengths and sowed the ends of the new ones onto the old ones just above the sash. Then I cut through the old ones and gently lowered the weights and fed through the new cord.
Fantastic, no more sash-mouse, or bit of hanger. All done rapid.
Sewing you get 50cm of strong thread put into a needle and tie the ends together so is double thread, then 10 loops through both cord held together, stick severl knots in it by feeding the needle through the loop, and double knot at the end, that's it pretty fast to do.
Using this technique rarely need to feed any new cord through.
Of course I am just using Clouts and don't have the fancy mechanisms on the side of the sashes, yet.
 
Many of the sash cord replacements I've done involve sash cords which has disappeared completely, where sewing a bit on the end won't work - so I'll stick to doing it the way I was taught 50 years ago, thank you. After all it has worked for multiple generations of joiners and glaziers. Part of the reason for the lead mouse or sash chain is so the sash cords drops vertically (important for fishing it out), which no amount of fussing with a shaped wire end will achieve. As for sewing? Sorry, but whilst my missus has the tackle, I don't.

BTW the reason for not reusing old cords is that being cotton they can eventually wear, stretch, rot and break - so if you are going to the trouble of opening up the sash pocket it is just parsimonious to not replace the (relatively cheap) sash cord, especially as the redecoration of the window will cost more than qnit of cord should the old cord break in 6 months time. I'd say that it risks "spoiling the ship for a happorth of tar"
 
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It's basically an offcut of lead, so if you ever get any flashing replaced, ask for a bit of the old flashing
 
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