The look of the original windows definitely suited the house - rows of narrow casements let lots of light and air in and horizontal muntins echoed the house's lines. They were steel, constructed at a time when Pittsburgh's steel mills were pumping it out like there was no tomorrow (which unfortunately, there wouldn't be). However, that very steel transferred the cold and heat into the house. The single pane glass made it even worse. Most of the cranks didn't work and the windows couldn't be opened. And, to make matters even "worser", they did not meet the Residential Building Code's egress requirements (need to be able to get out in case of a fire).
Through much consultation with Dave Murray, a most patient sales rep at ThermoTwin (a local window and door manufacturer - yeah, let's keep it local!), we finally decided what to do. First, we looked at replacing them all with aluminum casements following the original configuration. But, aluminum windows, even with a thermal break, don't meet the local Energy Code... Aluminum clad wood windows (my second choice) proved too expensive and, besides, would look to heavy on this house. Finally, we turned to vinyl, making them sliders so they would be big enough for egress. Dave was able to spec horizontal muntins to keep the original look and full screens so the shadows from the different planes of the sashes is not so evident. We didn't want the ubiquitous white vinyl, so we paid a little extra (~10%) and got tan which better suits a 1950s house. In addition, we got low-e, argon-filled glass to improve energy efficiency.
The results are pretty darn good. Judge for yourself:
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| Check out the hills of Highland Park in the middle of the photo |
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| It will be even better once the dark brown siding is gone |
