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Why Salt Is Harder on Windows Than You Think

If you live within a mile or two of the coast, your windows are working harder than inland ones. Airborne salt is not just a gritty nuisance that spoils the view. Dissolved in moisture, it settles into every crevice, draws water towards the metal, and quietly starts eating away at fixings, hinges and decorative finishes. Add wind-driven rain that can push water horizontally into joints, plus winter gales carrying sand and shingle, and you have a maintenance regime that is very different from a cottage in the shires.

The good news is that coastal properties can last for centuries — many already have. The trick is to work with the conditions rather than fight them, and to do small jobs regularly instead of one enormous repair every decade.

Rinse Little and Often: The Weekly Salt Wash

The single most effective thing you can do costs almost nothing. A rinse with fresh water, done weekly through the spring and summer and more often during onshore winds, removes the salt before it can do damage.

• Rinse first, wipe second. Use a hosepipe on a gentle spray or a watering can, working from the top of the frame downwards. Wiping a dry, salty window just grinds the crystals across the glass.
• Keep it fresh. Rainwater from a water butt is ideal. Tap water is fine. What you are trying to avoid is leaving salt residue to dry in place.
• Go easy on the pressure. A jet washer on full tilt will drive water past seals and strip paint from sills. Keep the nozzle wide and well back from the frame.
• Do not forget the sills, reveals and trickle vents. These are the spots where salt sits longest and where corrosion usually begins.
• Watch the sills after a storm. Wind-blown sand collects there and holds damp against the paintwork.

On the glass itself, a mild soapy solution and a squeegee will do. Avoid abrasive powders and ammonia-heavy cleaners on older glass, which can be surprisingly soft and prone to scratching.

Fixings, Hinges and Handles: Go Marine-Grade or Go Home

This is where a great many coastal cottages let themselves down. Ordinary steel screws, plated hinges and cheap handles may look perfectly cheerful in the shop, but within two or three winters on an exposed coast they will be rusting, seizing and staining the timber around them.

Specify A4 marine-grade stainless steel — often marked 316 — for anything external. A2, or 304, stainless is better than mild steel but still struggles in salt-laden air, particularly in sheltered spots where salt never gets washed away. Where stainless meets aluminium or galvanised steel, isolate the two with nylon washers or a dab of suitable sealant, because dissimilar metals in a salty, damp environment will corrode each other enthusiastically.

Casement stays, window handles, hook-and-plate catches and hinge pins all deserve the same treatment. When you replace a fitting, take the old screw with you to match the gauge and thread, and fill any enlarged holes with a waterproof wood filler or a sliver of timber glued in place, so the new fixing has something solid to bite into.

Frames, Seals and Sills: Where Water Gets In

Water rarely comes through the glass. It comes through the joins. Check the following each autumn, ideally on a dry, still day:

• Mastic and sealant lines around the frame perimeter. Look for cracks, shrinkage and gaps at the corners. Cut out the failed section, clean back to sound material and re-seal with a good-quality exterior frame sealant.
• Putty and glazing beads on traditional sash and casement windows. Crumbling putty lets water sit against the glass edge, which is where rot starts.
• Timber frames. Sand back any grey, weathered patches, treat with a preservative and repaint with an exterior system suited to coastal exposure. Pay particular attention to the bottom rail and the sill, which take the brunt of splashing.
• Movement and draughts. If a sash rattles in the wind, it will wear quickly. Draught-proofing strips and a little adjustment to the cords or spiral balances will quieten it and reduce water ingress.
• Drainage slots. Modern frames have weepholes to let water out. Keep them clear of paint, sand and cobwebs.

Storm Shutters and Removable Screens

Between October and March, protection matters more than appearance. Traditional timber shutters, where your cottage already has them, are superb — provided the hinges and catches are sound and you actually close them. For properties without them, removable screens are the practical answer.

A simple framed panel of exterior ply, marine ply or polycarbonate, cut to overlap the window opening by 50–75mm on every side, can be fixed with coach bolts into threaded sockets set permanently into the wall or frame. Fit the sockets in September, while the weather is kind, and the panels go up in ten minutes when a gale is forecast. Label each panel on the inside so you know which window it belongs to, and store them flat and dry, off the ground, where you can reach them in a hurry.

Whatever you choose, it must be fitted before the wind arrives, not during it. Trying to hang a shutter in a Force 9 is how people get hurt. If a severe warning is issued and you cannot fit screens safely, close and latch every window, draw curtains away from the glass, and stay clear of the windward side of the house.

A Simple Winter Drill

Coastal living rewards a light but regular touch. Rinse the salt off weekly. Keep fixings, seals and paintwork in good order. Fit shutters or screens in autumn and check them each year. Do those three things and your windows will shrug off the worst that the North Atlantic, the North Sea or a Cornish squall can throw at them — and you will spend your winters looking out at the weather rather than repairing the damage it left behind.