DIYbanter - View Single Post - Window replacement dilemma -- please help

dpb

wrote:
Hi,

I live in a 100+ year old house that has the original windows. They're
drafty and inefficient, ...

If they are anything other than a plain casement, I'd want to consider
the character of the house carefully in the replacement process. While
you undoubtedly can save some energy, the wrong window (from an
appearance/style/type viewpoint) in an older house can be a killer on
resale. Just a caution...

If it were mine (and I'm in a house of the same age roughly w/ leaded
glass uppers in the casement windows), if it was something similar to
these I'd probably do them a few at a time starting w/ the worst and
most frequently used.

When this house was redone some years ago, we took the old frames w/ the
sash cords out and replaced them w/ new track systems. The windows
themselves were either refurbished if in decent shape or the original
glass fitted into new frames (even the lower panes are old enough to
show the imperfections of glass from that time so to lose that would be
to change the "patina" of the house dramatically. We then added storm
windows of an appropriate style for the enhanced energy savings.

--