Repair favored over replacement

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October 17, 2009

Wood windows add elegant touch to historic homes

Staff reports The Enid News and Eagle Sat Oct 17, 2009, 11:45 PM CDT

Repair is the way to go when work needs to be done on wood windows in historic homes.

That’s the advice of a local preservationist and resident of Waverley Historic District.

“The Enid Historic Preser-vation Commission frequently receives requests from homeowners in Waverley and Kenwood districts wanting to replace their wood windows with replacement windows,” Shirley Marquardt said.

Instead, she said she hopes homeowners will heed the words of National Alliance of Preserva-tion Commission and the Sec-retary of Interior’s Standards, which recommend repairing, not replacing original wood windows in historic homes.

According to a recent article in The Alliance Review, NACP’s newsletter, windows often are referred to as the “eyes” of a home and “windows can be one of the most important character-defining features of a home because windows provide scale, profile and composition to a facade.”

Property owners frequently are encouraged to purchase replacement windows and to discard original wood windows to achieve energy efficiency; however, window replacement models cannot reproduce the significant characteristics from a visual and structural standpoint, according to Paul Trudeau, National Alliance of Preservation Commission program specialist, in his article in The Alliance Review.

Restoring wood windows and adding storm windows is the economical approach, too, according to Trudeau.

Wood windows with a single pane of glass can be repaired with tools found at a local hardware store and can last up to 10 times longer than replacement windows, he said.

Infiltration of air, rather than heat loss through the glass in a window, is the principal culprit affecting energy efficiency, Trudeau said, accounting for as much as 50 percent of the total heat loss of a building.

For energy efficiency, homeowners should ensure windows are caulked and weather stripped, he said.

Storm windows have been in use for more than 100 years to improve energy efficiency in a home. Industry guidelines indicate the addition of a storm window to an existing single-glazed wood window will reduce the energy loss through the window area by approximately 50 percent, Trudeau said. The extra dead air space created with a sealed storm window (typically 2 inches) means more insulation and in-creased energy efficiency, Trudeau said.

“I can easily spot a replacement window when I look at a home,” Marquardt said. “The quality and elegance of the original wood window is missing.”

According to Marquardt, the bottom line is simple.

“If you want to save money over time, fix the wood window,” she said.

“If energy efficiency is the goal, caulk and weather strip the windows, add a nice wood storm window and don’t neglect adding insulation in the attic. It will be easier on your pocket book in the future.”

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