Utrecht · approx. 10 km from Utrecht
Sealant work in Houten
Houten has grown twice in one generation: from 1979 around the old village, and again from the late nineties around Castellum. Those two rounds have now stood for forty and twenty-five years. Sealant does not last either of those periods without maintenance, so in Houten you mostly come across replacement work and rarely a first joint.
Since 1959
Experience and craftsmanship from Utrecht
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Short lines, clear agreements
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Top-quality materials for a long-lasting result
What matters in Houten
Two rounds of growth, two kinds of joints
An old village centre, two large rounds of expansion in terraced housing, and a Vinex ring around the second station. Brick, lots of dormer windows, lots of identical facades in a row.
The first ring around the Oude Dorp was put up from 1979 onwards: terraced houses in brick with timber window frames, and there the connection joint between window frame and masonry is often still the original. It is then well over forty years old, hardened and loose at the edges. Houten-Zuid and Castellum were built from 1997 onwards and largely have plastic window frames; there the sealant is younger, but the first round of replacement is now due. In the Oude Dorp itself there are older buildings with putty and glazing sealant around single glazing. Three building periods, three different conversations about what needs to happen.
What makes Houten different from a village that grew gradually is the repetition. Whole streets were put up in one go, with the same window frames, the same detailing and the same sealant from the same period. If something fails at one house, the neighbour is usually at the same point. That makes it attractive to have it done together with a few neighbours: the same set-up, the same scaffolding or ladder, and a lower price per metre than for one house on its own.
Houten was built around the bicycle, and you notice that with a van. The ring road is the through route, and traffic within the districts runs along residential streets that are sometimes dead ends for cars while the cycle path carries on. An address that is around the corner on the map can be a loop around the district by road. Parking is otherwise no problem: almost everywhere it is public and free, and we can nearly always park right outside the door.
Ten kilometres from our base, and that is close enough to come for a single bathroom too. There is no threshold of a minimum number of metres before it is worth it; the call-out charge here is the lowest we charge. For business work it means we can go there and back in one day without travel time weighing on the job.
What we do in Houten
- Bathroom, sanitary & kitchenSealing of sanitary ware, showers, baths, washbasins and kitchens.
- Window frames & glazingNeat, durable sealant work around window frames and glass.
- Facades & structural jointsFacade joints, connection joints and expansion joints in floors and walls.
- Swimming pool & wellnessSealant work in swimming pools, saunas, steam rooms and spas.
- Renovation & maintenanceSealant work during renovation, repairs and periodic maintenance.
- Specialist sealant workFor specific requirements and specialist applications.
You will hear from us within 15 minutes on working days, and the work comes with a 2-year guarantee.
The work here
What we do most often in Houten
Connection joints of the first ring
The houses from the eighties often still have their original joint between window frame and masonry. It is hard, cracked or has come away on one side, and then water runs down behind the frame. We cut it out, clean the flank back to the substrate and put in a new joint that can cope with the movement of the frame.
More about this serviceBathrooms from the Vinex years
The bathrooms in Houten-Zuid and Castellum were fitted around the first handover and are therefore twenty-five years old. That is well past the service life of a sanitary joint. Black edges in the corners do not come from dirt but from mould inside the sealant; cleaning will not get that out. The joint has to come out and a sanitary sealant has to go in its place.
More about this serviceDormer windows and extensions
Houten is full of dormer windows, and the junction between dormer and roof surface is a place where a lot goes wrong. Timber moves with the weather, zinc expands, and the joint between them has to bear all of that. We first look at whether a sealant joint is the answer there at all, because sometimes a lead flashing belongs there and not sealant.
More about this serviceHow we approach it here
Which sealant on what, and what it costs
The substrate decides the sealant
In Houten you come across three substrates within a single street, and each asks for something different. Brick is porous and soaks up moisture: sealant adheres there only if the flank is dry and dust-free, and on weathered brick a primer goes on first. Timber from the eighties is usually painted, and then the sealant adheres to the paint layer and not to the timber. If that paint is loose, the sealant will later come away together with the paint, however well the joint was applied. Plastic window frames from the Vinex districts are smooth and expand considerably in the sun; there we use a sealant that can cope with that movement and adheres to plastic, because an ordinary facade sealant does not. We determine which of the three you have on site, not in advance.
Costs and lead time
What it costs depends on the number of metres, whether the old sealant has to come out and how easy it is to get at. Replacement costs more than applying new, because removing the old is the work. An average bathroom is done in half a day; the connection joints around the window frames of a terraced house usually take a day. You hear the amount before we start and not afterwards, and the call-out charge is included. If you and a few neighbours live in the same street and want to have it done at the same time, say so straight away: then we charge one set-up instead of three and the price per metre drops. Curing is not working time but it is waiting time, and we tell you that in advance so that you can plan around the shower.
Two routes
Business or homeowner in Houten
For painting contractors and contractors running planned maintenance here, Houten is attractive work: many identical homes a short distance apart, so little moving about and a predictable price per metre. We come in as a subcontractor alongside a repainting cycle, or we do only the sealant work while you do the rest. We hand over with videos per address, so that you can show what has been done without having to go there yourself.
For businesses
Contractors, painters, homeowners' associations, property managers and interior fit-out.
See what we do for businessesAlso near Houten
As the crow flies from the centre. By road it is further.
- Utrecht 8 km
- Nieuwegein 5 km
- Bunnik 6 km
- Odijk 5 km
- IJsselstein 8 km
Is your town or city not listed? See the whole service area.
Questions from Houten
What people in Houten ask most often
My house dates from 1982. Is it suspected of containing asbestos?
The sealant itself can be. Until 1994 asbestos was used in certain types of sealant, especially in glazing sealant and in sealing around window frames. With a house from Houten's first ring we take that seriously: we cut nothing out until it is established what is in it. Having a sample tested costs little and does not take long, and only after that do you hear what the work costs. That is not hedging on our part but the order that is mandatory.
Can you do it for several neighbours at the same time?
Gladly, and it saves you money. The set-up is the fixed part of the price: driving out, unpacking, masking off, clearing up. If we do three homes in one day in the same street, you pay that set-up once instead of three times. In Houten that often works out well, because whole rows were built at the same time and so the sealant went in at the same time too. Mention it when you send your request, and we will price it that way straight away.
Why does the mould in my shower keep coming back?
Because it is not on the sealant but in it. Sanitary sealant has an anti-mould agent that washes out over the years, and once that is gone the mould grows into the sealant. Cleaning removes the top and the rest stays put, so within a few weeks it is back. Chlorine-based and abrasive cleaners make it worse: they wash the agent out faster. The only real solution is to take the joint out and put in a new one, and then ventilate better.
Can you also park on the ring road and walk in?
That is hardly ever necessary. In almost all of Houten parking is public and free, and we can usually park right outside the door. What does happen now and then is that the address lies differently by road than on the map, because a residential street is a dead end for cars while the cycle path carries on. Let us know when you send your request whether there is a driveway or whether we will have to park in the street, and we work out the route in advance instead of on the spot.
How long does a new sealant joint last here?
That varies a lot from place to place, so we do not give one figure for the whole house. A sanitary joint in a shower that is used daily has a harder time than a joint in a guest bathroom. An exterior joint facing south has to bear sun, rain and movement; the same joint facing north hardly moves at all. At a site survey we say per building component what we expect, instead of quoting one period for everything that is not quite right anywhere.
