As an old house renovation contractor I am often approached by homeowners who want to replace their old windows. Sometimes this is the first item on their list when they buy an old house. They reason that the old, drafty windows are inefficient and hard to use and- quite honestly- often they are correct. But is trading in the old windows for new ones the best option? I don't think so and I'll tell you why.
First, is the aesthetic argument. It is hard to overstate the contribution that windows make to the look of the house. Original, historic windows have the right proportions for the house and often have a delicacy that new windows lack. A contributing factor, too, is the character of the old glass with its waves and bubbles. Muntins (the slender pieces of wood between panes of glass) have profiles that are true to the period and style of the home. Georgian windows have a different profile, for example, than Greek Revival windows. Modern double glazed windows typically have fairly wide muntins that don't look right in most old houses. Whether you have an 18th century house or one that's only a few decades old, if you go with a replacement window your profile options are limited.
Also new windows come with spring balances or other mechanisms for holding the windows up. Many of the larger companies have improved the look of the balances and jamb liners, but still a lot of new windows have cheap looking vinyl jamb liners, like the one pictured below.
Second, keeping your old windows and restoring them is the green thing to do. Why throw the old windows into a landfill when they could be restored and given a new life? It's much more environmentally friendly to keep the old windows.
Third, the energy efficiency of restored and weather-stripped windows- when combined with a decent storm window- is usually pretty close to that of a typical replacement window.
Fourth, simple economics. The payback period for new replacement windows- the number of years it will take to recoup the expense of the windows through the energy savings- can be as long as 40-60 years becuase the energy savings per window is so small. It usually doesn't make sense economically to replace old windows.The payback period for weather-stripping and storm windows is much less.
Finally, new windows are much less reliable and less repairable than old windows. My house, for example, still has the original window sash from 1831. That's almost 180 years of service life and they're still going strong! Modern replacement sash, on the other hand will not last anything close to that long. Most insulated glass will fail in less than 25 years because the seal between sheets of glass will fail and the glass will fog up. Modern sash are not easy to repair. When one breaks it is often necessary to buy a replacement sash. What happens when replacement parts are no longer available? Historic windows have parts that are readily available and most handy homeowners can replace sash cords, fix a broken pane, or install weatherstripping.
Not convinced? Check out the Weatherization Guide put together by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. There's a lot more information there, including some case studies comparing the economics of restoration vs. replacement.
If you decide to keep your old windows you may wonder what to do next. If you're handy and feel up to doing the work yourself, there are a lot of resources on the web. A quick Google search on "window restoration tutorials" or "window restoration videos" will turn up some really helpful resources. If you decide to hire someone to do the work, ask your state historic commission if they can recommend an experienced window restoration company.
We're currently restoring the windows on a ca. 1870 house in Brookline, MA. As you can see in the photo below, we've removed the sash to strip the paint, repair broken glass, reglaze, prime and paint the sash. The sash will be re-installed but not before we weatherstrip the jambs with v-shaped bronze weatherstripping.
If you leave in or around Massachusetts, give us a call. One of our
restoration carpenters is a window restoration specialist. He's
restored windows for us on houses of every period. We can
also provide wood or metal storm windows and screens.
What have you done with your old windows? Let us know what you think.
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.
As a renovation and restoration contractor here in Massachusetts, I have built a lot of additions on to historic houses. Contrary to the philosophy of some preservationists, who feel that new additions should read as new additions and not pretend to be old, my philosophy is that additions are much more pleasing when they complement the architectural style of the original house.
In previous posts we discussed some of the concepts involved with designing appropriate looking additions for historic houses. Additions should not overwhelm or compete with the original structure, not should they looked tacked on. So in those posts we talked about ensuring that the roof placement of additions is correct and that the trim on the addition is sympathetic to that on the original structure.
In this post we'll look at the issue of massing. How large is the addition compared to the existing house? If it's as large or larger, it will best when broken down into smaller components, rather than one large mass. In the photo below, you see almost 5000 square feet of new space added to an 18th century house of about 2200 square feet. But because the addition was designed as a series of smaller shapes, it is less overwhelming to the original. Everything to the left of the chimney is new.
In the photo below, everything between the main house to the left and the attached barn to the right is new space. Originally there was a one story ell connecting the two. Notice how the roof line of the addition is broken and brought down much lower in the right-hand part of the addition, as if these two sections were built at different points in time. This decreases the visual mass of the addition and helps to blend the new space bettwe with the old. Imagine if the second floor roofline were carried all the way across to the barn- the addition would have overwhelmed the original house. (To see the completed house, check it out in our portfolio).
Conversely, tiny little additions look odd when tacked on to larger houses, as illustrated in the photo below. Of course, it doesn't help that the addition has almost no architectural detail!
There must be a more gradual transition in size. This is why the traditional Big House-Little House-Back House-Barn structure of old New England farmhouses is so appealing to the eye. These houses look organic and natural. There is a clear visual hierarchy of importance among the sections of the house.
Our advice? Work with an architect. Most builders, even those that bill themselves as design-build firms, have not mastered the subtleties of designing additions. And I say this as a contractor. Are there exceptions? Of course, but I believe that your odds of getting the results you want are higher when you work with an architect who has a track record of designing additions.
Also, it's really helpful to use models to help you visualize your proposed addition. Either physical models or virtual models, like the one below, obtained in most CAD programs can help you understand how the new addition relates to the existing house. If you're working with an architect, ask them to generate some 3D perspective drawings of the project or- even better- see if their software allows for 3D "flyovers". If you're not working with an architect yet, and you're in the Greater Boston area, let us know. We would be happy to recommend some architects that we think do a nice job designing additions on old houses.
(model courtesy of Latady Design, Bedford, MA)
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.