Storage journal / 19 October 2026
Can You Still Open the Window Beside the Stair Once Storage Is In?
What to check so bespoke under-stairs storage in an Isle of Man hall does not block the window handle, the opening light, or the sill.
Start an estimate
Open the window beside the stair, and any window in the wall the storage will cover, before the fronts are drawn. If a tall cupboard, a bench or a run of doors blocks the handle, the opening light or the sill, that window will stay shut. This note is for Isle of Man halls. It names no width, and it quotes no price.
The floor you still walk is the walking-line note. The route the unit is carried in is the front-door note. This page is the glass.
Which window sits with this stair?
Walk the hall and the flight, and point at every window you can see from there. Some Island houses have a window in the wall under the flight, looking onto a side passage or a garden. Some have one on the half-landing. Some have glass in the front door, which is a different opening and not this page.
Write which one you mean. A window you can touch from the hall floor is a different problem from a window you only reach from a step. Photograph each one from the place you stand to open it.
What would the new front cover?
Hold a hand, or a piece of card, where the top of the tall cupboard or the bench would be. If that hand crosses the glass, the handle or the sill, the front as you are picturing it covers the window. Say so. A cupboard that stops under the sill is a different front from one that runs up to the stringer across the glass.
The stringer, the skirting and the newel are drawn in the fronts guide. On this page, add only whether the glass sits inside that outline. A straight-on photo of the whole opening, with the window in frame, shows it better than a close-up of the handle alone.
Can you still work the handle?
Open the window the way you open it now. A casement that swings into the hall needs the arc. A sash needs the travel. A stay, a restrictor or a handle that only turns when you stand to one side all belong in the photo, with the window open.
If you already have a cupboard there, open the window with that door open and with it shut. A new door on the same swing will meet the same handle. If the void is open, stand where the new front would be and try the handle from the hall. If you cannot reach it, write that. Do not climb onto the bench you have not built yet.
What if the window is only there for light?
A window you never open still lights the hall and the bottom steps. A tall end across it will darken that floor. A lamp inside the cupboard, which the lighting note covers, does not put that light back on the stair. Say whether you use the window for air, for light, or for both.
If the glass is painted shut, or the handle is missing, still photograph it and say so. A window you cannot open today is not a blank wall. If someone has told you this window is the way out, write that in the brief and leave the glass clear until you have asked them. This page does not decide that for you.
What should I photograph before the fronts are drawn?
Send the window as it works, not a styled shot with the curtains closed. The void measurements stay on the measuring guide. This list does not replace them. Photos scope the glass. Manufacture still waits on a measured visit.
- The window from the place you stand to open it, shut and open.
- A straight-on view of the stair opening with that window in frame.
- Where a tall end or a bench would cross the glass, the handle or the sill.
- Whether you use it for air, for light, or both.
- Any window near the stair that the storage will not touch, so it is not guessed later.
Useful next routes
Frequently asked questions
The window is on the half-landing. Does this still apply?
Yes, if a new front, a tall end or a person using the storage would stop you reaching it. Photograph it from the step you stand on, and say the hall floor is not where you open it.
There is no window near the stair. What do I send?
One photo of the opening, and the line 'no window beside this stair'. That is a complete answer. It stops a later drawing assuming glass that is not there.
Can the cupboard stop under the sill?
Often yes. Say that the sill has to stay clear, and show where the glass sits in the opening. The front can then stop short of it. A photo cannot set the gap.
Will a light inside the cupboard replace the window?
No. A light inside the void helps you see the shoes. It does not light the hall or the steps the window was lighting. The lighting note is that lamp. This page is the glass.
The glass is painted shut. Do I still mention it?
Yes. Photograph it and write that it does not open. Covering it is still a decision about light, even when the handle does nothing.
Next step
Photograph the window before the fronts are drawn.
Send the glass shut and open, from the place you stand to use it, and say whether a tall end would cross it. We can scope the storage around a window you still need. A measured visit still comes before manufacture.
Start an estimate