Norminn wrote:
Joe wrote:

I have a 50 year old house and 50 year old windows. This winter I
noticed that the original glazing had been chipping off and the only
thing holding some of the panes in place was paint so I resolved to
reglaze the windows this spring (no summer). Should I just replace
them? They are pretty air-tight and I did not feel much of a breeze
coming through them except for the coldest and windiest days of the
winter and a lot of that I attribute to the old glazing. Each window
has a storm window but the inside window does feel very cold to the
touch in the winter so I'm not sure how much they help. I'm trying to
weight the cost of replacing the windows with the savings that I will
realize for replacing as opposed to the savings I will get from
reglazing.

Here's a picture of the window

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4526/windowtl5.jpg

What would you do in this situation?


Got a picutre of the outside glazing compound? Big damn difference in
putting in putty vs.
new windows. It would be a good deal of work to reglaze, but it isn't
rocket science. I
would be inclined to keep the existing windows for esthetic reasons, but
fuel costs are
the issue of the day.

Reputty as needed, fix up or replace the exterior storms, and (if you
are feeling ambitious) pull the interior casing, and fill the voids with
LOW-expansion foam-in-a-can. (The regular stuff will bend the window
frame and jam them shut.) On a windy cool day, check each window with a
punk stick or cigar smoke, for air leaks, and fine-tune the
weatherstripping as needed.

The above will give most of the payback of new windows, at a much lower
price point. I was in a very similar situation, crunched the numbers,
and the payback on new windows (including the assumed payback at resale)
was way longer than I plan to be here.

--
aem sends....