Wood Storm Sash Made to Order
NOTICE TO OUR CUSTOMERS: Our current lead time to begin new projects is approximately four to five months. If your project can wait until that time, we will be happy to provide an estimate. Because we are very busy, allow at least one week for Celia to complete your estimate.
Once we receive a $50 deposit on your project, we will lock your project in the schedule. About a week or two before we are ready to start your project, we will send an invoice for payment in full. Please send a check as we do not accept credit cards. When we receive payment, we will begin work on your project.
We currently cannot accept "rush" jobs or estimates. Thank you for your patience!
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Wood storm sash have been used to make windows more energy-efficient for more than 125 years. Wood storms are not only appropriate for old houses, they protect the primary window from exposure while the storm sash are installed. This can lengthen the window maintenance schedule by a period of years.
Modern windows are made energy-efficient by the use of insulating-glass (IG) units. An IG unit is a manufactured product consisting of two layers of glass separated by a perimeter spacer. The air in the IG unit is evacuated and replaced with an inert gas. A desiccant is sealed in the perimeter spacer to absorb moisture.
While monolithic glass can last for hundreds of years, IG units made today typically have a lifespan of about 10 to 25 years. We have witnessed some new IG units here locally, installed in a "historic restoration" project in downtown Weston, that failed within five to six years of their installation, with the space between the glass layers fogging up with moisture on nearly 1/3 of the windows of a large commercial building. Many homeowners who bought into the replacement window ideology by replacing their 100 year old windows will find that their replacement windows will have to be replaced over and over again in the next 100 years. While the replacement window proponents are busy touting performance, they are eerily silent about longevity. Replacement window companies have created real job-security for themselves! And if your replacement windows are more than a few years old, just try to find replacement parts! Replacement windows are all proprietary, and many of the manufacturers have disappeared after a few short years. A replacement window from another company will be totally different in both design and appearance from the first.
While it is true that wood windows require maintenance to ensure a long life, most modern windows such as today's vinyl windows with IG units are not maintainable at all. This means that nothing you can do will prolong the life of a vinyl window. When an IG unit fails, two layers of otherwise perfectly good glass along with the failed spacer all go into the land-fill together.
Another advantage of wood storm sash is that the primary window sash can be removed for repair or maintenance with the storm sash installed. This eliminates the need of boarding up windows undergoing repair.
Another important factor for windows on old houses is architectural appearance. Old windows were designed to be pleasing to the eye. Most modern windows are built completely out of proportion and look terrible on old buildings.
We make wood storm sash the same way they were made over 100 years ago back when windows were actually built to last.
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Looking for new custom period wooden windows? Click here to visit our reproduction wood window sash and millwork website.
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