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[martinhouse]

If you're thinking about replacing your windows, read this first

If I could go back in time, it'd probably not be for super socially solid reasons like avoiding the Great Depression or stopping Hitler. I'd probably go back in time to stop the inventor of vinyl.

Vinyl is the bane of any preservationist. I refer to Big Vinyl in my life more often than I should care to admit, like it's this single entity taking over the populous with its wastefulness and less-than aesthetic value.

Sometime after the big housing boom of the post WWII era, Big Vinyl hired the best marketing firm available to them, and every homeowner with a turn-of-the-century or older home was pressured into replacing their "drafty old windows" with these new-fangled energy efficient double-or-triple paned vinyl replacements. They were also swindled into covering up their lap or cedar siding with the same material but that's a discussion for another day. The vinyl window manufacturers convinced homeowners their current wood windows leaked cold air and led to higher energy bills, and of course these people were willing to invest in these glamorous new inventions in order to save a few bucks on the gas bill, who wouldn't?

But the thing is, the old craftsmen of yore were smart folks. They built homes to stand the test of time: centuries even. The concept of Planned Obsolescence would've been as foreign as the internet to them. They built these windows from materials that not only would last centuries, but also built them in a way they could be maintained by any homeowner with rudimentary tools and a weekend afternoon. Vinyl replacement windows are the beginning to a long lineage of trash. Once that vinyl replacement window you've installed in your home fails, and fail it will as plastic, when exposed to cold, heat, and sunlight, ultimately does fail, it cannot be maintained. The entire sash must be removed, taken to the landfill, and replaced again.

Wood sashes are fairly simply removed from their casings to be reglazed, repainted, and returned to their location. In the case of a double or single hung window, simply pop off the stop, remove the sashes, perform the maintenance, and return them. Casement windows are even simpler to remove -- simply pop out the hinge pins and remove the sash. I will recommend a couple of books on the subject at the bottom of this post.

I've looked at many homes with buyer clients who immediately think once they close on the house they need to replace old windows that have been painted shut, or are missing sash cords, or leak cold air. With a little bit of consideration and a little more effort, you can get these old windows working for you in very little time.

The question, of course, is always energy savings. The idea behind new replacement windows is that they're double or even triple paned, allowing a space for "neutral" air to rest between the panes of glass and thereby keeping your house cool or warm, season-dependent. If your old, character-filled single-pane windows are well glazed (no access point for air to move through the window) and fitted with a proper storm window, they are no less energy efficient than their newer counterparts. Spend some time on google just to see who is telling you the new windows are so much more energy efficient: the "studies" have been paid for by companies such as Andersen, Window World, Pella...in other words, window manufacturers who stand to make money off you! The average cost of a replacement window is $650, including the labor. Now consider this over an entire house: our home has 30+ windows. That's nearly $20,000 in windows. Our energy bill is typically $250/mo if you average out cooling and heating seasons (we have storm windows). So let's pretend that goes down to $200/mo (it wouldn't, I promise, but let's just play pretend). That's a savings of $600/year. It would take over 33 years to make up the cost of the replacement windows. Now, I ask...will the replacement windows last that long? It's unlikely. The service life of a vinyl window (and please, take this with a grain of salt, I scrolled for a long time before giving up and just taking the first hit on google which was a window manufacturer) is 20-40 years.

And for a little dose of anecdotal evidence: when my parents first bought their 1908 American Foursquare home in Illinois, the windows had been neglected and leaked cold air. They replaced all of the windows with double paned vinyl. This did reduce their energy bills (of course it would, the old windows leaked cold air, they needed to be maintained). However, when several of the windows were less than 5 years old, their spring action mechanisms failed and they were unable to stay in the open position under their own volition. We had a houseful of 1xs stationed on the windowsills of every room to prop them open. And what's one of the biggest complaints of old windows? They don't stay up. I bet 90% of the sash weights are still in the sash pockets of the windows that don't stay up, and all they need is a sash cord. Bullocks!

When you consider the climate crisis, do we really want to contribute to the amount of trash in the landfill by replacing our replacement window every few decades? Or should we spend a little bit of time maintaining our wood windows that have been built specifically for your home and have the potential to last generations? A gallon bucket of Sarco type M Glazing Putty is $85. That'll glaze a lot of windows.

I'll touch on the character defining aspects of wavy glass and wood windows in another post.

Please consider the following books if you're interested in maintaining your own wood windows: