Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 2/2/2005

Question
Richard,

My Wife and I just bought our first house.  It's a 104 year old semi-detached brick home in Lansdale, PA (we call them "Twins" in the Philadelphia area--Lansdale is about 35 minutes NW of Philly).  It's been rehabed, but not the windows.  They are double hung windows, and there are some older, though serviceable storm windows on most of them, but new storms was one of the things my inspector, as well as the friend I took with me to the inspection, said would be a good idea.  My father mentioned that I might consider replacement windows and forget the storms.  If I did that, I think I'd like to go with wooden storms, not vinyl replacements.

Of course, I could always go with the storms and remove the double hungs, replace the ropes on them, reglaze the windows (though they don't look that bad).    

So my question is, which do you think would be best in terms of cost-to-benefit (dollars out to money saved in heating/air conditioning as well as resale value): replacing the double hungs with wooden replacement windows (double pane tilt-ins I suppose), or going with storms and redoing the windows myself? (I have a friend who can show me how to remove the weights and windows, repair what needs repairing, etc.)

Thanks so much,

Gary Heidt  

Answer
Hi Gary - thanks for your question!

There are a couple of ways to approach this - one is an authentic historical restoration, in which case you'd want to repair the sashes, ropes, and weights and eliminate the storms completely.

Another would be forgetting the aesthetic and historical angles and just put in the most energy efficient and least expensive windows you can find.

I'll assume you're somewhere in the middle - wanting to keep the look (proper muntin pattern, etc.) but not wanting to sacrifice too many modern concerns or spend your life savings on windows.

In that case, I'd replace the sashes entirely - remove the storms, weights, and ropes but keep the frames intact.  Marvin Windows (www.Marvin.com) makes a great product called the "Tilt Pac" that replaces just the sashes when the frames are in good shape.  They can be custom-sized to the openings, keeping the proper look for your house.

With the Tilt Pacs you'll get high-tech glass options - Low-E, Argon gas, etc. that will give you very high performance and energy savings.  The way the windows are installed also tightens up the "leaks" around the old frames and sashes.  And they'll work smoothly without the need to maintain the weights and ropes (you don't even have to patch the rope holes in the frames).  I put Tilt-Pacs in my first house (it was 80 years + at the time) and was very happy with them.

There may be other manufacturers with similar sash replacement systems, but Marvin's the one I'm familiar with.

If you replace the storms with wood-framed storms, you won't get nearly the cost and aesthetic benefit of replacing the sashes.

Hope this helps!

Richard Taylor, AIA
Richard Taylor Architects, LLC
www.rtastudio.com