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[Quote for context; not addressing reply to poster]
I believe, because the internet lets people express their opinions, it is becoming the norm for people to express an opinion about how things are defined; despite there being an official definition for things.
In this case, the youngest a home can be and be considered "old", by any U.S. gov't department/agency is one built in 1960. Most U.S. dept's/agencies refer to 1945 as the cut-off between "old" and "new". The most exclusive definition requires a home to be no less than 75 yrs. old.
The reason for these various criteria are because of the nature of the U.S. governmental program regarding financing of various activities (ie. lead abatement, CDBG's, Urban Renewal applicability), preservation (ie. historical registration designation), and etc.
The point is, there's a criteria to be met for a home to be considered "old"; not just some willy-nilly opinion. If each of us can redefine things, according to our own opinion, it won't be long before we lose the common reference points on which effective communication must be based.
Last edited by James1202; 02-27-2017 at 08:23 AM..
Reason: sp.
The more I read, the more I am inclined to leave my 80 year old double hung sash windows alone and install good double pane storms over them. I have two small rotten places on these windows and otherwise they are in excellent condition. Of course through the years a pane here and there has been broken, but a trip to the hardware store for a new piece of glass and an hour with the putty knife fixes that.
Several of them the sash weight ropes have broken, and a few of them are stuck closed with paint, but those are the ones I would never open anyway. The bathroom window I have a couple sticks of different lengths to prop it open when needed.
The more I read, the more I am inclined to leave my 80 year old double hung sash windows alone and install good double pane storms over them. I have two small rotten places on these windows and otherwise they are in excellent condition. Of course through the years a pane here and there has been broken, but a trip to the hardware store for a new piece of glass and an hour with the putty knife fixes that.
Several of them the sash weight ropes have broken, and a few of them are stuck closed with paint, but those are the ones I would never open anyway. The bathroom window I have a couple sticks of different lengths to prop it open when needed.
Oh, please DO keep them! The thing I regret most about my house is that the POs had the original wavy glass windows replaced when they were 77 years old with vinyl pieces of junk. The installer even told me that the "new" vinyl windows only have a 15 year life span, and they're 22 years old now. I can't fix them like I'd be able to do with the originals, which "matched" the house style much better anyway. If you like, I can PM you an info source that will connect you with some of the country's premier old window restorers. They can give you a wealth of information, guidance, and just plain encouragement to maintain and restore your original windows. It's a very worthwhile project!
[Quote for context; not addressing reply to poster]
I believe, because the internet lets people express their opinions, it is becoming the norm for people to express an opinion about how things are defined; despite there being an official definition for things.
In this case, the youngest a home can be and be considered "old", by any U.S. gov't department/agency is one built in 1960. Most U.S. dept's/agencies refer to 1945 as the cut-off between "old" and "new". The most exclusive definition requires a home to be no less than 75 yrs. old.
The reason for these various criteria are because of the nature of the U.S. governmental program regarding financing of various activities (ie. lead abatement, CDBG's, Urban Renewal applicability), preservation (ie. historical registration designation), and etc.
The point is, there's a criteria to be met for a home to be considered "old"; not just some willy-nilly opinion. If each of us can redefine things, according to our own opinion, it won't be long before we lose the common reference points on which effective communication must be based.
I think the "real" point here is an interjection of non-related babble that doesn't have any bearing on the subject of this thread.
We have old windows on our house. No way to know how old. Part of the house is 181, part is 167, part is 149 (years old). Some of the windows are from the 1850 renovation. The others could be from anytime. If our old windows are maintained and well sealed, there is little difference insulation wise between old windows with storms or new windows (except new windows usually look stupid on an old - historic house). You can use invisible storm windows that go inside in order to avoid the look of outside storms. But they are expensive. For our 54 windows, the invisible storms were something like $12,000. (We did not get them, I am just making some). Nice thing about older windows is you can repair them. Break one pane, replace one pane. New windows - you usually just replace the whole window. For most there is no practical repair option.
The more I read, the more I am inclined to leave my 80 year old double hung sash windows alone and install good double pane storms over them. I have two small rotten places on these windows and otherwise they are in excellent condition. Of course through the years a pane here and there has been broken, but a trip to the hardware store for a new piece of glass and an hour with the putty knife fixes that.
Several of them the sash weight ropes have broken, and a few of them are stuck closed with paint, but those are the ones I would never open anyway. The bathroom window I have a couple sticks of different lengths to prop it open when needed.
Like with clothing, layering is most effective so even a well-fitted single pane storm would help.
A table saw and router are all that's needed to fix most mortise and tenon window sash; even wood epoxy is sufficient to repair some minor issues.
I bought a house in which, literally, every weight rope had broken and the ropes trimmed. Fortunately, the trim had never been painted so it was easy to remove the small piece of trim concealing the weight channel. Some windows have the channel trim held in place with an original screw at the top.
After replacing all the weight ropes, a little bit of dark brown shoe polish blended the bright white of cotton clothesline so it wasn't at all noticeable.
Careful use of a heat gun will bubble the paint holding the windows closed (just be careful not to heat the glass). There's a good chance one can remove the paint but leave the underlying varnish/shellac relatively intact.
BTW, weight channels have, more than once, held $urprises.
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