reinstall long lost front door transom?

[MsErickson]

Hi!
I think I found my front door's long lost transom in the garage rafters. It's a short + wide, divided light window, with a little metal arm sticking out the back.
I can kinda see a faint outline of a patch above my front door. I'm guessing the front door had the transom window at some point.
How hard would it be to reinstall this? Are they super drafty? I think I researched the hardware [e.g. the long skinny arm] and stuff for my brother once and it was scary $$$$.

Anyone ever attempt to add back a transom before?

Thanks!
Jenne

[Josiecat]

Yes, I am putting mine back in. The one above the front door was replaced with a lovely piece of painted plywood. I had a historic window maker in Weston, MO make a replacement with wavy glass. Going to have the address painted on it before installed.

[oldhouseluvr]

That is going to look great. Not to mention that it will let a lot more light into your foyer. We reinstalled a transom window in the schoolhouse that our historical society is renovating. We used plexiglas for safety reasons, but using wavy glass with the numbering will look terrific, I'm sure.

[sooth]

It shouldn't be drafty if you have proper weather stripping around it. I would love to have one to get extra light in the front hallway. Stained glass would be great too!

As for how hard it would be to reinstall, that all depends how they plugged it up. If they just put a plywood over the hole and some drywall, then it will be pretty easy (just rip out the crap, patch holes, and reinstall the window) If they butchered it, then you might need to rebuild several frame pieces. I think it will still be time consuming either way (you could put a temporary vapour barrier over the open hole while you're working on it).

The only way to find out is to open up the hole and have a look. If it looks butchered/terrible, then just re-patch it.