The Great Window Debate
Windows are a touchy subject in our household. We’ve got a crazy lady who thinks all historic homes should have functioning wood windows and period-appropriate doors (that’s me!) and a dude who couldn’t care less about any of it. This has lead me to do tons of research to try to figure out if my side of the argument really matters that much or not, or if I’m just a crazy old house person.
This obsession of mine started with learning about the different architectural styles a few years back. I fell in love with old houses early in my childhood, but doing real estate in New Orleans deepened that love for me (how could it not?), and since we had a broad range of styles due to the city’s age, I was exposed to a menagerie of what older homes from different time periods looked like.
Learning deeper about the architectural styles organically taught me about the types of windows each style could have, and even if the rest of the façade has changed drastically, this one feature helps me narrow down when the house was built. All of this knowledge makes my neighborhood walks 1000x more interesting.
I truly think when original windows get replaced that there is a void on the exterior that is just off-putting to me. The texture of the different components of the windows themselves are like art to me - and they kind of are art, due to the craftsmanship of those who built these homes way back. All of the edges and pieces that make up an old wood window have a function.
Originally, double-hung windows opened from the top AND the bottom. This was especially helpful down south to let hot air escape and cool air come into the home. I think most people don’t know this, and we see so many windows that are painted over at this point.
My dear friend Madeline at Staub Window Restorations down in New Orleans spent two hours with me recently discussing nothing but windows. Here’s what I learned:
When air conditioning became popular in the ’50s, maintenance for windows went down because the need to use them wasn’t as great. People painted and caulked them shut, which helps them deteriorate twice as fast. She explained (and I love this analogy) that windows are like the house’s circulatory system, providing the house with oxygen and enabling it to “breathe”.
Replacing these original wood windows (which were designed to be repaired) with a one-time use window like vinyl isn’t great. It is “maintenance-free“ because they can’t be maintained and must be pulled out and replaced every few years which means they go directly to landfills (also - $$$ can you imagine having to replace every single window on your house because they’re all starting to fail?!!!). If you repair your original windows, they’ll last you another 100+ years.
We went from maintenance culture to consumer culture where we want everything new and the new stuff just doesn’t hold up the same. I could go on and on about materials from today versus what is already in these old homes, but that’s a post for another day.
Vinyl windows aren’t really that much more efficient than the original windows, anyway. At least, those original windows that are in good shape. It is commonly thought that cool air is lost through windows, but according to the professionals, a lot of that is lost through the floors + other places where insulation is usually ignored.
If your window glaze isn’t failing (this lasts ~30 years) and you’ve got some weather stripping on your windows, you are probably in a good place for efficiency and notice reduction. According to Madeline, double pane windows aren’t really all that different than single pane for noise reduction, either.
If you want to read more in-depth on vinyl windows versus wood, go here.
If you read this blog, you know I’m a fan of Scott Sidler with The Craftsman Blog. He’s got a great Youtube series on how to repair your wood windows and has written a couple of books on the subject, too. He’s even created a “Remote Window Restoration” product to help you if you’re the DIY type and a great collection of Youtube videos in a series to educate yourself, too.
