Make Wood Windows for old house - good idea?

[Cosmos Krejci]

Thanks everyone for the help!

[Paul Girouard]

Thanks everyone for the help!

I’d say thanks for starting the thread 61 posts in one day , gotta be a record for SMC! Assuming you started it today , maybe it was yesterday evening and I noticed it today???
Lot of good info here.

[Jim Becker]

Hah! I'll make it 63...

I'm with Chris...I'm a reasonably skilled woodworker and this is a job I'd have someone else do because of the complexity in "getting it right" so things function properly combined with the critical over-watch that is the nature of dealing with historic structures in an area that pays attention to the same. I've actually considered building new windows for the 250 year old portion of our home as the originals are unusable (relative to opening/closing) and single pane glass that required me to get creative to help with HVAC efficiency. But I thought better of doing the work myself.

[Paul Girouard]

OK , 64.

Here’s the link to the storms that go inside:

https://indowwindows.com/custom-stor...tandard-grade/

[Chris Draper]

Anderson does not. They are composite/wood. Pella does not. I will check out Marvin, thanks for the tip.

Dude here posted a nice pdf. It says there is an epidemic of companies trying to help but doing the opposite. The companies you list are probably one and the same.

I stand corrected. I made assumption that our competitors were still making all wood windows. It appears that they do not. Marvin absolutely does. Kolbe absolutely does.

I read the PDF you posted. I guess I would choose insulated efficient windows for the same reason I put insulation in the walls. Windows and doors are your single biggest loss of heating and cooling in a building.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I redid our last porch with a bunch of Pella composite windows. The design had drain holes on the bottom side of the window frame for the rain! The bottom, meaning into your wall! .

If those drain into the wall, I think the flashing is being installed incorrectly.

[Paul Girouard]

If those drain into the wall, I think the flashing is being installed incorrectly.

Steve is right, the holes you see in the window track drain water into a cavity and out weep holes in the bottom edge of the window exterior frame.

You do need to , or should, use flashing tape that’s compatible with your house wrap, in your case it appears your house is sided , so you’d be removing the old windows and installing the new ones, but there still is a way to properly flash and tape a window.

These where some nad busters to set!



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[Paul Girouard]

I stand corrected. I made assumption that our competitors were still making all wood windows. It appears that they do not. Marvin absolutely does. Kolbe absolutely does.

I read the PDF you posted. I guess I would choose insulated efficient windows for the same reason I put insulation in the walls. Windows and doors are your single biggest loss of heating and cooling in a building.

We use a fair amount of Marvin windows , last year we used the Marvin Integrity line, metal clad exteriors, like I said earlier using a wood exterior window , to me , is folly!

Are you a rep for Anacortes Washington area??

Here’s a thirty year old Pella , metal clad, still rotten, but it is 30 + years old and a beach house, it was the only one , of twenty or so on that side of the house.




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[Cosmos Krejci]

I’d say thanks for starting the thread 61 posts in one day , gotta be a record for SMC! Assuming you started it today , maybe it was yesterday evening and I noticed it today???
Lot of good info here.

I really appreciate all the input, positive and negative. I haven't been by this site in a while, but I'm amazed at all the expertise here. I think I posted it this morning. Thanks for all the advice!

Had dinner with the boss (wife). I think we concluded we can't ditch the muntins and that might kill hopes of double pane. Dude who quoted 20k said he will do a couple rooms and not the whole house. He seems to be a straight shooter. However, after looking at the windows more, they're not in that bad shape and I'd feel pretty bad hauling them off. So, dude's windows probable need to be pretty magical for us to go that route. Signs seem to pointing towards repair. We also need screens and something for insulation. Storm windows are an option but don't look very good. However, that would be better than tearing out some 100 year old sashes and replacing with something that also doesn't look great.

Do it myself remake from scratch: it the muntins that hang me up. We have some windows that are divided top and bottom. Just seems like a ton of work. I'm not sure I'm not going to try, but if we go the repair route, that seems doable. Still more to figure out but this thread has given us a ton of information. Thanks all.

[Jeff Bartley]

Cosmos,

I do this for a living like others here and the pictures you have shown are not windows that I would replace! Looks to me like they just need some TLC.

If painted shut buy a tool called a 'window zipper'. It will aid in cutting the paint which is most likely keeping them closed. Buy good sash cord. Buy Sarco type m glazing compound. Buy a lead paint test kit. If you find you have lead paint learn how to safely remove it.

Do a room at a time. Window restoration work is really time consuming and very specialized these days. But for some it's pretty satisfying work so why not try it before deciding to throw away perfectly good sash?

[Paul Girouard]

I really appreciate all the input, positive and negative. I haven't been by this site in a while, but I'm amazed at all the expertise here. I think I posted it this morning. Thanks for all the advice!

Had dinner with the boss (wife). I think we concluded we can't ditch the muntins and that might kill hopes of double pane. Dude who quoted 20k said he will do a couple rooms and not the whole house. He seems to be a straight shooter. However, after looking at the windows more, they're not in that bad shape and I'd feel pretty bad hauling them off. So, dude's windows probable need to be pretty magical for us to go that route. Signs seem to pointing towards repair. We also need screens and something for insulation. Storm windows are an option but don't look very good. However, that would be better than tearing out some 100 year old sashes and replacing with something that also doesn't look great.

Do it myself remake from scratch: it the muntins that hang me up. We have some windows that are divided top and bottom. Just seems like a ton of work. I'm not sure I'm not going to try, but if we go the repair route, that seems doable. Still more to figure out but this thread has given us a ton of information. Thanks all.

Look at the Indows link around post 63 or 64.

[Tom M King]

Google Prestwould Plantation They don't have a website, or email address that I know of, but probably have a phone number listed. They have experience with interior storm windows that you probably want to hear about before deciding to use interior storm windows.

I have a page about sash glazing on my website too, but can't be linked to here because it would violate some advertising clause. It should be listed somewhere if you click on my user name here. I've tried all the glazing compounds available over several decades. My preferred method is not the one you will want to use to get the windows back in quickly. It's the fastest in overall least time on a sash, but requires a long waiting time that depends on having other stuff to work on for weeks. I have a lot of pictures that I really should update that page with, but haven't had time to work on the website in years, and its accumulated a bunch of formatting errors in the meantime.

You might find the easel seen in some of the pictures worth cobbling together though. It makes glazing, and painting much easier, and more comfortable. I suggest Aquaglaze for quick turnaround, and paint with Sherwin-Williams Emerald exterior, inside, and out.

[brent stanley]

Speaking of wood windows and durability, does anyone here have any experience with Accoya for windows? It's quite common in Europe. 50 year guarantee above ground, 70 year "service life" whatever that means! Doesn't seem too common over here,

B

[Mel Fulks]

I don't have anything against Marvin stuff but unless they have made a change they use ponderosa white pine and as said earlier I think there are better pines. And I have seen some elliptical stuff that was so lopsided that they required a template for EACH side to make casing that would fit.

[Darcy Warner]

I thought about something else that I should have mentioned. Somewhere in this thread, it was recommended to install interior storm windows inside old single pane windows.

At Prestwould Plantation, they did this to, fortunately, a few of the windows. Water still condensed inside the old windows, and rotted out some of the original sash that had been in good shape before the interior storm windows were installed.

Another thing on single pane sash: If the inside is going to be painted, it's best to use exterior paint also on the interior side, because there will be solid water condensed at some time, and interior paint cannot withstand any amount of it.

Storm windows go on the outside. Ones on the inside are basically pointless for one of their main functions, protecting the sashes.