Historic Albany plans workshop on efficiencies part of residences built decades ago

By Joanne E. McFadden, for the Sunday Gazette
First published: Sunday, October 22, 2006

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While "replacement windows" may be the buzz word in the home improvement industry, preservationists are urging homeowners to keep their original wood windows for a variety of reasons. If you live in an older home -- not necessarily historic, but one with original hardwood-framed windows -- you might want to check into restoring what you have rather than replacing them.

In fact, this has become such an important issue in preservation circles that the Preservation League of New York State has listed original and historic wood windows on its list of the "Seven to Save Endangered Properties Program" for 2006. This is the first time that the organization has listed a building feature, rather than an actual structure itself.

"There's historic quality in wood windows," said homeowner Jack Alvarez, who, with his wife, Kimberly, has repaired the original windows in their 1920s Albany home. "People don't have to replace them; they can fix them," he said.

Energy efficiency
Most people cite energy efficiency as the reason to replace their original windows. Erin Tobin, director of preservation services at the Historic Albany Foundation, said she gets calls all the time asking about replacement windows because a home's windows are drafty. Tobin points out that using a combination of weatherstripping and a quality storm window will take care of the problem.

"There are studies that show that that kind of combination is just as energy efficient as a double-glazed window," she said.

Kimberly Alvarez points out that about 20 percent of a house's heat loss is through the windows and doors. It's not necessarily the glass that's the culprit, but the area around the outside of the windows and doors.

By weatherstripping, heat loss can be reduced. She and her husband used a silicone bulb weatherstripping product that costs about $1 per linear foot. That, in tandem with a combination screen and storm window, has helped to reduce heat loss through the windows.

The Alvarezes found a manufacturer in the Midwest that makes a combination storm and screen window, which doesn't have to be taken down seasonally.

"They have the convenience of triple-track aluminum storm windows with the look of a traditional wood storm," said Christopher Eastman of The Albany Window Restoration Company in Albany.

If you're concerned about the environment, preservationists argue that keeping your old wood windows is actually more environmentally sound that replacing them with vinyl windows. The grade of wood on the original windows is better quality than that on new wood windows, because it's old growth wood that is a couple of centuries old. Newer wood is softer, less dense, more susceptible to rot and will need to be replaced sooner than old-growth wood. Old wood windows were commonly made out of Douglas fir and northern white spruce.

Integral to appearance
Aesthetics is another reason to consider keeping a home's original windows. "The windows are really integral to the appearance of a building," said Lorraine Weiss, program manager, technical and grant programs at the Preservation League of New York State.

Replacement windows, Jack Alvarez points out, often do not fit the character of the original structure.

In addition, Weiss, said, the glass in new windows has a completely different look and gives a building a different appearance than old glass does.

Devin Dascher, a woodworker, is completely taken by the beauty of the old glass itself. "Old glass has beautiful character," he said, noting its ripples and bubbles. Those characteristics come from the way that it used to be made, in cylinders that were rolled out into sheets. "It's delicate, but it has survived over a century in the form it is," he said.

"I love old glass. I've been stockpiling it." When he runs into someone at the dump who is discarding their old windows, he takes them. "As fast as they've gotten it out of their barns, I've put it in mine," he said.

The Historic Albany Foundation Parts Warehouse has a stockpile of historic windows, too, although Tobin said that the foundation encourages people to keep their windows rather than replacing them. Even if they still feel they want to put in replacement windows, she urges them to keep the old windows somewhere in the house, in case one day another homeowner might want to restore them.

"Everybody has storage space issues, but if you can find a corner of the attic to put them in, you are doing the future homeowner a great service," she said.

Advocates of window restoration point out that restoring wood windows is not as costly or difficult as one might believe.

Assessing needs
The starting point is doing an assessment of what each window needs. It might be that all a window needs is a simple cord replacement so that it moves up and down easily. It could need panes replaced, or it could require a full restoration.

The Alvarezes assisted their neighbors in assessing what would be needed to restore the old windows on their enclosed porch. They photographed the windows, and "painstakingly, pane by pane," said Jack Alvarez, coded each of the panes on the photographs to show what work needed to be done.

One of the problems that makes homeowners think that restoring their old wooden windows is too daunting might be that they just don't have the training to do it themselves. Tobin said that The Historic Albany Foundation has held "driveway window workshops" designed to show homeowners how windows go together, how to take out a window and how to rehang a sash cord.

Resources abound, Weiss said. There are books, Internet resources, pamphlets, and workshops, in addition to the preservationists who share their expertise.

And if you aren't into doing it yourself, or the windows require a full restoration, there are a growing number of local contractors who can do the work, Tobin said.

Eastman became one of them after he was a volunteer at the parts warehouse and was overwhelmed by the volume of old windows that were pouring into the warehouse. He said that as a municipal planner and preservationist, he always encouraged people to restore their original windows, but he didn't have contractors to whom he could refer homeowners.

"By actually doing the work, I could make the argument [for restoration] all the more effective."

A full restoration involved repairing and adjusting a window's ropes, removing the sash, steam stripping the pain the glaze (glaze is what holds the glass in the window), repairing the wood, stripping and oiling the parts, sanding the window, and reinstalling them.

The cost of rehabbing older wooden windows will vary depending on the extent of the word that needs to be done, but it is on par with quality replacement windows. Eastman tells clients that a full wood window restoration costs a little more than twice the cost of an inexpensive replacement window, but less than the cost of a high-end replacement window.

Weiss and Tobin say that after assessing what windows will need, homeowners should prioritize the work and remember that they do not need to do it all at once. In her own home, Tobin worked with her painter to make sure all the sashes were operable; she plans to do the restoration one window at a time.

"This is really more accessible than people think it is," Weiss said.

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