Robert Cagnetta, president of Heritage Restoration in Providence, R.I., says that although repairing old windows and installing storms may cost more up-front, it is more cost-effective in the long run. “If you put in a storm window for, say, $200, you’ll have to replace that storm window every 20 to 30 years, but you won’t have to replace the unit, the window itself. If the replacement window fails every 20 to 30 years, you’re replacing the entire thing.”
Cagnetta argues further that homeowners and contractors who think replacing older windows is a green improvement aren’t looking at the big picture; for one thing, replacement creates a lot of waste. And, he adds, “People aren’t looking at life-cycle costs. You have to think about how much energy it took to manufacture the window, to mine the raw materials, to transport the windows from the factory to the supplier and from the supplier to the jobsite. What’s your net energy consumption to do all that?”
OLD-SCHOOL Perhaps more important, restoration proponents say, is that historic windows are superior to their newer counterparts in terms of quality as well as aesthetics.
Dixon Kerr, a window restoration specialist in Richmond, Va., argues that there’s no comparison between pre-World War II construction and what factories produce today. “The main difference is that windows used to be made out of heart pine and long-leaf pine that was several hundred years old when it was harvested; the wood was very strong. Manufacturers today use wood that’s not nearly as old and it’s not as strong,” Kerr says. “The craftsmanship was much better, too. You had true mortises and tenons, really quality woodworking.”
TIME AND MONEY Once properly repaired, experts say, historic windows can outlast new manufacturers’ offerings by decades. Repair and restoration, however, can be a time-consuming and laborious process. For Kerr, who typically works with wood double-hungs, the effort requires a commitment to often-tedious woodworking.
“I strip all the paint off, take all the old glass off, redo it completely, make any repairs I need to do, prime it, glaze it, glaze it again,” Kerr says, outlining the process. “It can take three to four days on a window, depending on the window.”