Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Why wooden windows?

I love the windows in this house. They are old, and some don't open, but I love wood, and wood work, so I couldn't imagine removing them for vinyl replacements.

We are itching to get started on the bathroom remodel, despite still being neck deep in the kitchen. (today was wiring electric to the cooktop, stove and dishwasher, and measuring for the countertops). The bathroom rehab has to wait until until the window is removed, stripped, repaired, and reinstalled, since once the marble tiling we have planned is up, we won't be able to remove the window.This will be a lot of work. The bottom pane is separated from the wood, and does not match the textured glass in the upper pane. Paint is thick on the upper textured glass pane, there is definitely some wood rot.

Everyone I talk to keeps telling me I am crazy to want to keep the wood. They tell me I will spend an arm and a leg, with little return on my investment. I really don;t want to believe that. Please, anyone who reads this, and has rehabbed wooden windows, please tell me it is worth it. I really want to believe that it is worth it. Even if I can only do one window every few months, I want to think it is worth it. Let me know what you think?

Update: John from "Just Sashes" called me back today, and is coming to look at our windows next Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.

3 comments:

Andy said...

I'm very late to the party, but I hope you found a solution to keep your wood windows and have them restored...I used John at Just Sashes, but I live a lot closer, so I don't know why he didn't show up for your appt. It's a shame...

So, hopefully, you were able to find a solution. We still have ours, and they're actually better (with storm windows) than the casements the PO installed upstairs and in the kitchen. I hate casements (even wood ones, which we have).

Anonymous said...

Don't give up on wood windows! With proper weatherstripping and storm windows they are just as efficient as newer windows. Just because replacement windows are new doesn't mean they are better, for example if they are installed improperly they can leak like crazy. Plus, vinyl is so bad for the environment! Check out the Chicago Bungalow site (http://www.chicagobungalow.org/restore/howto.shtml) for how to info and more reasons why they are worth saving.

Christopher Busta-Peck said...

You're not crazy. Crazy would be contacting the children of all the previous owners to try to located photographs of the original windows, then ripping out all the replacement windows and replacing them with new ones that are as close to original as possible. Oh, and I plan to do this. My one concession will be to use double insulated glass in the storm windows.