Just crying over the windows

[lupinfarm]

I was out admiring the country side the other day and passed by this really old log cabin, which I think is probably from the
late 1700s or early 1800s. Which may not be old for most of our Stateside friends, but here is Ontario it is. Well I have
loved this little log house since I first saw it. It is now occupied by a young couple and they have removed the old wavy glas
windows ( must be the originals) and the replacements are glaring white vinyl inserts...they look really silly all square and neat
staring out like eyes. Next time I pass by my little log house I will get pictures. I`m sad, sad, sad.

[angolito]

its things like this that make me want do drop the f-bomb.

[SkipW]

Why, oh why would you buy a late 1700's log cabin if you wanted a plastic house??????

It really chaps me when I see that kind of treatment. I can understand (as we all can) the desire to update or make more efficient, but there are ways to do it without ruining a structure which has stood the test of time for 200 years.......

[jade mortimer]

i always carry tissue in the car for these 'tissue issue' moments......how sad and destructive...

[Josiecat]

Idiots!

[KristenS]

We need to get out the info better! When I moved into my house, just a year ago, I LOVED the wavy glass windows. It was half of why we bought the house. But I honestly believed that I was compromising comfort, convenience, and cash. I was willing to do it. But I thought it was going to be a huge PITA.

THEN I HAPPILY LEARNED I WAS WRONG!

Thank goodness I found this site, which set me straight on the fact that with my relatively new aluminum triple-track storms, my windows are AT LEAST as efficient as "new" windows.

In my case, I was never going to pull the windows anyway. That was always an over-my-dead-body moment for me. But other people may believe they don't have the money to afford the inefficiency. Or they may have banks telling them they can't have a loan without updating the windows.

How do we get the true info out there?! It's not just evil people doing it! It's a lack of education! It's advertising and lobbying by window manufacturers! It's pressure from banks and government programs! And from TV shows on HGTV! How do we drown that out with FACTS?!

[triguy128]

We had a couple over for dinner the other night. Whengiven them the standard tour, I couldn't help but point out that wiht the Low-E storm windows we have they are roughly 80% as effcient as $1000 repalcements... and I only spent $155. I could have splurged and spent $250-300 for even lower profile Allied windows for the fornt too. I may still do that for the front 8 windows some day.

I then showed his wife how i can open a window with just 1 finger since it's perfectly balanced with a simple pulley system... and how the whole assmebly can be pulled apart and rebuilt. Which you only have to do every 50-70 years. The windows will last the life of hte hoome. Replacement go to the landfill every 15-50 years.

I'll make a quick point about it during our holiday home tour. I can't help it. People need to be educated.

[lupinfarm]

Yes I completely agree. The original wavey windows were so cute. I would admire them every time I went by and imagine how
my house looked before they POs ruthlessly ripped them out and replaced them with the vinyls. My husband is a vinyl kind of guy so I am currently conducting a " Hearts and mind " campaign for wood replacements, even if it takes much longer to replace all 16 windows.

[eperot]

It's things like this that make me so happy our house has all original windows when we bought it in 2009. I'm sure nearly every other potential buyer would have pulled and replaced them. They do look pretty bad. But I have 9 restored now, with 8 to go, and they couldn't be finer. Happy owner, lucky house.
People likely won't understand, no matter what you say. In the USA there is little reverence for things old, unlike in Europe. Just the other day a customer of mine was asking what I'm doing to the house right now. I told her about the windows, and she looked puzzled, perhaps because of what sounded like a lot of work to her. She said, "Why are you restoring the windows, is there something special about them?"
Well, not really, they aren't made of gold but it was pretty clear she just didn't "get it".

[lupinfarm]

I quite agree with you esperot....Same applies here in Canada people just dont get why I would have preferred to have the
original windows. My neighbor who has a house built in 1898 ( a cute little gothic with the "l" in brick ) is replacing his original windows with vinyl clad windows and junking the old ones. I have half a mind( at least that is what my DH says) to ask him
if he could give me the old windows. The window contractor will take those original windows and sell them to a salvage store
for profit and they will likely be bought be some designer in Toronto to put in a clients new house.