A Window to the Past: Fairmount’s Historic Windows Worth Saving!
(OR, “What do I do about my old windows!?)
by Michael Tucker-McDermott
There’s an old expression that says “when God closes a door, he opens a window.” That well may often happen in life, but not always in Fairmount. If your windows are off kilter or been cemented shut by over a hundred years time and 15 coats of paint and especially hard to open, even God might need a pry bar! Maybe the person who first said that didn’t live here?
So why not then just rip them out and put in new windows? We’re ripping, ripping. After all, won’t new ones be better insulated? Isn’t that better for the environment and my wallet? There are lots of different answers to those questions that run the gamut of nuance. But generally speaking, in a word, no. In fact, keeping and using your historic original windows and their old growth timber saves all kinds of materials and fossil fuels, and any related pollution, in the making of new ones. If the new ones are really the best quality made—and cheaper ones are known to fail within less than a decade—the high cost of replacement and labor would take years to recover in energy savings, even many decades. Also a fact, old growth lumber windows in our homes have are twice as dense as new.
And not the least concern, we also live in a nationally recognized and more importantly, locally designated historic district that comes with regulations. One of those is new windows require city approval and that means if you have windows with patterned sashes and mullions of a particular historic design, they must be matched as built including thickness of the sashes and individual muntins. Sometimes this requires new frames and they must be the same dimensions as the old, meaning no ‘filling in’ and reducing or enlarging of spaces to match stock windows. It’s usually all custom work.
So “my sashes are rotted, what do I do?” It IS usually the sashes—the movable parts of the window holding in the glass—that are the problem and not the whole window, frame and all. You can fairly easily remove a window sash by removing the window ‘stop’ trim holding it on the track, then have it repaired on site or at a shop, or if your handy, like so many of us did waaaay back 15-20 years ago (can you imagine such a long time ago, before the wheel… and fire… and video streaming?) and make the new parts yourself, even using good older salvage lumber. You can also find old sashes still in good condition to fit your openings at places like Old Home Supply, our very own architectural salvage business right here in Fairmount!
If your sashes rattle with the wind, place weatherstripping along its edges pushing up next to the wood. It’ll help keep outside air out and tighten the sash in place while still allowing it to open. Finally, if it’s a window that doesn’t require opening for egress and you just never open it, go ahead and caulk it shut. Just in case tho, remove the old caulking and paint with a rubber mallet and a putty knife if it’s currently cemented shut and replace with newer acrylic caulking that’s later more easily removed. You also need to check your glazing, the compound sealing the sections of glass to the wood around the edges of each pane on the outside. It could be cracking and falling out, not only causing rattling of panes of glass but letting in outside air.
Finally, you can cover your windows with storm windows. Our guidelines only require they be flush, not bump out noticeably like older models do, and the aluminum be painted. This can be done at a local maker, like Boswell Aluminum and others, or factory finish, or by yourself, by painting edges with a good metal primer and then regular but good water base latex paint color coat. As many of our houses and other examples around the U.S. have the sashes ‘picked out’ in an accent color, painting the storm windows can achieve the same effect.
Hope this helps you keep and maintain your original Fairmount windows. Maybe in a couple months you’ll be wanting fling them open and take in the fresh air, after our air fryer weather has taken a break! Here are just a few styles of our historic windows, just in case you want to know what yours are called.
Here are some contacts for window repairers and custom window ‘recreators’ who’ve done good work in Fairmount. Also below are the name of a custom storm window company and one that makes indoor storm windows. These are custom made and fit into place over your windows on the inside, according to your measurements. Fairly lightweight, they are held tightly in place by rubber bushings and are easily removed & stored in a closet or under a bed when not in use. Not cheap but very effective and way less than a window replacement, these types of storms have good reviews from those who’ve purchased them locally. If you would like to add any names to this list, or have any questions, please contact me on FB Messenger!
Stan Tucker-McDermott
214-505-9955
(Full disclosure, this is my husband whose guys have become excellent at rebuilding or recreating historic sashes, window repairs, reglazing, etc.)
Southside Sashworks
Amber Murphy
817-386-3140
(Repaired and restored many windows in Fairmount and older homes all over Southside.)
Crossett Construction
Historical Renovations
crossettconstruction@gmail.com
817-915-2109
(Does all types renovations and cabinetry. Recently built a beautiful set of new Queen Anne diamond pane sashes in frames from scratch for a house on Fairmount Ave.)
Historic Window Solutions
Chris Clark
info@historicwindowsolutions
469-337-1745
(If you remember the raised up house on 5th that got a complete restoration, this person restored, rebuilt and recreated all the intricately patterned windows in the entire house.
Boswell Aluminum
Custom storm windows
817-932-8601
Indow Windows
Interior removable storm windows
503-284-2260
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