Almost every guide to adjusting window hinges tells you to find the adjustment screw and turn it a quarter turn at a time. On a tilt and turn window that is good advice. On the friction stay fitted to the majority of UK uPVC casements it is not advice at all, because that screw does not exist. Working out which type you have is the whole job, and it takes one look.
Which hinges actually adjust?
- Friction stay, on most uPVC casements. A pair of sliding arms in a channel along the top and bottom of the sash. It controls how far the window opens and how stiffly it moves. It has no adjustment for height or compression. What people call adjusting it is really cleaning it, lubricating it, or replacing it.
- Tilt and turn hinge. Genuinely adjustable, normally with an allen key, for compression against the seal, height and lateral position. This is the hinge the standard advice was written for. See our tilt and turn windows guide.
- Butt hinge, on timber casements. Adjusted by packing behind the leaf or moving the screws, which is joinery rather than hardware setting, and is covered by our timber windows guide.
Fix the cheap causes first
A window that has become stiff or catches at one corner has three likely causes, and they run cheapest first. Work through them in order, because two of the three cost nothing.
- A dry or dirty stay. Grit collects in the channel and the arms bind. Clean the channel out and put a light machine oil or silicone spray on the moving arms, then work the window fully open and shut half a dozen times. Avoid thick grease, which holds grit and makes it worse next year.
- Locking keeps out of position. The keeps are the metal plates on the frame that the locking points engage with. They are slotted, so they can be slackened, moved a millimetre or two and retightened. This is the adjustment that genuinely exists on a uPVC casement, and it is the one most people never touch.
- A worn stay. If the sash visibly drops when you open it, or the arms have play in them, the stay is worn and no amount of adjustment brings it back. That is a replacement.
A surprising share of dropped windows are simply dry. Oil the stay and work it before spending anything, because a bound stay and a worn stay feel almost identical from the handle.
Double Glazing Cost Calculator Team
What hinge replacement costs
When the stay has gone, replacement is the fix. Budget £100 to £250 fitted per window. Parts start from around £27.50 a pair, so as with handles, most of what you pay is labour and the call-out rather than the component.
| Job | Fitted cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Reseal double glazing (per window) | £50–£100 | Specialist resealing where the gasket or seal has failed. |
| Replace a window handle | £45–£150 | Parts and labour; a quick job on most uPVC frames. |
| Replace window hinges | £100–£250 | Parts from around £27.50 a pair plus labour. |
Source: DGCC 2026 repair dataset. Total up a whole house in the repair cost calculator.
Two cautions on parts. Stays are sized to the sash, so a replacement has to match the length and the weight it carries, and a stay that is too light for a heavy double glazed sash will wear out again quickly. And if the window is an egress or fire escape opening, the replacement must be the same type, because a standard stay in its place can remove a means of escape from a bedroom.
What not to do
- Do not force a catching window shut. Every forced close accelerates the wear and can distort the sash, turning a stay replacement into a frame problem.
- Do not remove both stays at once on an upper floor unless the sash is supported. A double glazed sash is heavy and there is nothing else holding it.
- Do not pack the keeps to close a large gap. If the window only seals when the keeps are wound right over, the sash has dropped and you are compensating for a fault rather than fixing it.
When the hinge is not the fault
If the window still will not shut cleanly after the stay is sound, the problem is elsewhere. A window that will not engage its locks at all is a different diagnosis, covered in what to do when a window will not close or lock. A draught with no catching usually means the gasket rather than the hinge. And if the glass has misted, that is the sealed unit and nothing to do with the hardware, which our condensation guide explains. The window fault checker sorts the symptoms if you are unsure.
When repairs stop being the answer
A worn stay on a sound window is a repair, and usually the right one. The picture changes when the hardware, the gaskets and the sealed units are failing together across frames that are past twenty years old, because the repairs start to total a real share of what new windows cost. If you want that comparison on your own windows, tell us what you have and Leads 2 Trade will arrange quotes from installers covering your postcode.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the hinge. Tilt and turn hinges are genuinely adjustable for compression, height and lateral position, usually with an allen key. The friction stays used on most uPVC casement windows are not adjustable in that sense: they have no adjustment screws, and a window that catches is normally fixed by adjusting the locking keeps, cleaning and lubricating the stay, or replacing it.
Hinge replacement costs £100 to £250 fitted in 2026. The parts themselves start from around £27.50 a pair, so most of the cost is labour and the call-out. Replacing the hinges on several windows in one visit is significantly better value than booking separate visits.
A casement that catches on the frame at the bottom corner has usually worn its friction stay, so the sash no longer hangs square. On a heavy window this happens gradually over years. Forcing it closed accelerates the wear and can distort the sash, so it is worth dealing with early rather than leaning on it.
Yes, and it is the most under-used fix. A dry friction stay binds, which feels exactly like a window that has dropped. Use a light machine oil or a silicone spray on the moving arms, work the window a few times and see whether the problem goes before you buy parts. Avoid thick grease, which collects grit.
Egress hinges let the sash swing much further than a standard stay so the opening can be used as a fire escape route. They are required on certain windows under building regulations. If a window has them, the replacement must match, because fitting a standard stay in their place can remove a means of escape.
Not on its own. A worn stay on a sound frame is a repair. It becomes a replacement question when the hardware, the seals and the sealed units are all failing together on frames that are twenty years old or more, at which point the repairs start to total a meaningful share of a new window.