About Boarding Up Harlow, an Independent Boarding Up Company
Boarding Up Harlow is an independent boarding up company serving Harlow. We make damaged and vulnerable properties safe: broken windows, forced doors, damaged shopfronts, holes in roofs and the openings of empty buildings. We’ve been doing this for over 10 years. We’re fully insured and DBS-checked.
This page explains who we are, how a job runs from your first call to the finished make-safe, and the work we take on. That way you know what to expect before you pick up the phone.
Who we are
We trade as Boarding Up Harlow and we’re an independent local boarding-up service. When you ring, a person answers, at any hour of the day or night. We attend at nights, at weekends and on bank holidays as well as during the working day.
We offer boarding for:
- Householders after a break-in, a storm or an accident with a window.
- Shop and business owners who need a damaged frontage secured before they can lock up.
- Landlords and letting agents who need a tenanted or empty property made safe.
- Owners of vacant buildings who want windows and doors closed up while the property sits empty.
Insured, DBS-checked and experienced
We carry full insurance and can send you a copy of the certificate if you or your insurer ask for it. Everyone who attends is DBS-checked. That matters when we’re working at a home where someone may be shaken after a break-in, or at a property where a landlord or agent isn’t there to meet us.
We have over 10 years’ experience in boarding up. Our services cover small cloakroom windows, patio doors, wide shop windows, skylights and the windows and doors of empty houses. The opening, access and frame condition guide the choice of board and fixings.
How we work
On the call
A person answers the phone 24 hours a day. We’ll ask for:
- Your postcode, so we can work out when we can get to you. We give you that on the call rather than promising a fixed time on a website.
- What’s damaged: the type of opening, roughly how big it is and how many there are.
- Access: ground floor or upper floor, whether ladders or roof access are involved, and anything that affects getting to the property.
- Safe photographs, if you can take them without going near broken glass or anything unstable.
From that, we give you a free, clear quote before any work starts. The price depends on the number and size of openings, height and access, the materials and board thickness, the fixing method, whether a damaged door or frame needs securing first, and any glass or debris to make safe. Our pricing page explains each of those factors in more detail.
On site
The van carries boarding stock and fixings. For most window and door boarding we use exterior-grade plywood, typically 18mm, and OSB can suit smaller openings. Where the property needs it, we use security or anti-tamper fixings that are difficult to remove from outside.
Where the frame allows, we fix in a way that limits further damage. That helps when the frame is going to be reused, or on older properties. Harlow has plenty of those, from the Victorian and Edwardian houses in Old Harlow to shopfronts the owners want to keep intact. If a frame is too badly damaged to fix to properly, we stop and explain the options before going further. You won’t find out afterwards that we’ve improvised.
After the work
Boarding is the make-safe that helps protect the property until permanent repairs, such as new glazing or a replacement door, can be arranged. Once we’ve finished, you receive:
- An itemised invoice
- Time-stamped before and after photographs
- A written statement of the work done
Those are useful if you’re claiming. Your insurer decides what’s covered. We aren’t loss adjusters or legal advisers, but our paperwork gives them a clear record. There’s more on this in our guide to insurance claims after boarding up.
What we do
- Window boarding
- Door boarding, including securing damaged doors, frames and locks after forced entry
- Shopfront and commercial boarding for shops, offices, restaurants and warehouses
- Roof and skylight boarding
- Vacant and void property securing
Each one is covered in our boarding up services section, with the practical detail of how we approach it.
After a fire, we secure the openings once the fire service has handed the site back to you. Smoke and odour remediation is outside what we do.
Where we work
We cover Harlow and the surrounding neighbourhoods. You can see the places we serve on our areas page. If you’re not sure whether we reach your street, give us the postcode on the call and we’ll confirm.
Talk to us
If you’ve got a broken window, a forced door or an empty property that needs securing, tell us your postcode, what’s damaged and how easy it is to reach. If you can send photographs safely, they help us quote accurately.