How To Open Old Pulley Windows

Your Onetime Windows: Restoring Your Old Wood Windows

Back in the day, windows were designed for longevity, endurance, and durability. At present, they are engineered for free energy efficiency, with a long service life being a lesser consideration. This focus has drastically changed how windows are designed and manufactured — and how long they last.

Most mod windows have an expected lifespan of most fifteen-25 years — some of the all-time may reach 40 years, some of the worst only 5-10 years. Xx years is about the boilerplate.

The problem is not that the windows are poorly fabricated. Many of today's windows are very well fabricated. The problem is the engineering and the materials used. They just don't terminal like quondam woods windows. And, when they suspension, they cannot be easily repaired.

New Window Construction

A comparison of old and new sash balances, for example, illustrates this bones divergence.

If you raise the sash of an old double-hung window, it stays in place at any position y'all leave it. This is possible because the heft of the window sash is counter-counterbalanced by two iron weights that ride in pockets built into the wall alongside the window, attached to the sash by ropes. The mechanism is simple and works by gravity. And gravity, at least so far, has never failed.

There is nothing in an former window that can neglect except the ropes^Note ane and these can be easily replaced. In one case replaced modernistic sash ropes last most 100 years, (or even 200+ years if statuary chain is used in place of rope).

Modern, self-contained, replacement windows cannot employ sash weight pockets built into the wall, then different balancing mechanisms had to exist developed. These are ordinarily some form of metal spring. The tension in a spring is what holds the sash in place when the window is open up.

Spring ballasts, still, unlike simple fe weights, are complex mechanical devices prone to breaking. Metal springs themselves are discipline to metal fatigue which can cause the spring to lose tension over time or even fail completely. We have replaced some worn-out bound balances less than four years old.

Other Voices

National Trust for Historic Preservation

Click to Read the Report Click to Read the Written report.

"...Given that an average house has between 24 and 30 windows, and the typical replacement window unit of measurement costs between $500-1,000 each, does an investment of $12,0000 or more brand sense? On the flip side, the price to restore an existing window and add tempest windows (where advisable) will generally be much less…

Many window replacement manufacturers claim greater savings than actually result. Since windows account for at most 25% of heat loss, the payback and time to recoup your investment in terms of energy savings could take between twoscore and as much as 200 years, based on various studies. A study from Vermont shows the saving gained from replacement windows equally opposed to a restored wooden window with a storm is only $.sixty. The added trouble is nearly replacement windows will not terminal every bit long as xl years, much less the hundred-years lifespan of a traditional woods window. Some are beingness replaced only after ten years of service."

National Park Service

Click to Read the Report.

"[Nosotros recommend] the retention and repair of original windows whenever possible. Nosotros believe that the repair and weatherization of existing wooden windows is more applied than most people realize and that many windows are replaced because of a lack of sensation of techniques for evaluation, repair, and weatherization. Wooden windows which are repaired and properly maintained will have greatly extended service lives while contributing to the celebrated character of the building. Thus, an important element of a building's significance will have been preserved for the future." (Emphasis supplied).

Vinyl (PVC) Frames

Vinyl is some other culprit

Vinyl expands and contracts nearly twice as much equally wood with temperature changes and seven times more than glass. This amount of expansion and contraction makes information technology hard to keep gaps from developing between vinyl components of the windows.

The Canadian Natural Resources Consumer Guide from 2005 states

"The disadvantages of vinyl framing fabric is that vinyl expands and contracts with temperature, opening upward cracks for air leakage."

A Canadian Center for Mineral and Energy Technology study of long-term performance of operating windows^Note 2 concluded that

"Air Leakage in vinyl windows increases 136%, significantly more than than aluminum or woods. Un-reinforced PVC profiles accept a lack of rigidity and a high coefficient of expansion; PVC profiles are subject to distortion."

The study found that vinyl windows tend to curve, distort, and fifty-fifty scissure, specially in "regions of Canada that experience common cold winter months". (What regions of Canada don't experience cold wintertime months?)

Vinyl as well deteriorates when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays.

Those of united states of america of a certain age remember well how vinyl dashboards in the old Chevy used to crack and split after a few years of exposure to sunlight.

The vinyl is better these days. UV inhibitors retard deterioration, but nothing can stop it entirely. Vinyl window parts, particularly the sparse, flexible vinyl used in balance mechanisms, will deteriorate over fourth dimension with repeated apply. Later a few years, they become brittle, break and demand to be replaced.

Vinyl softens at temperatures greater than 165^°/F, and it's not that uncommon to see such temperatures in the unventilated infinite between window panes on a vivid, sunny day. Backlog heat can also cause vinyl to warp and twist. While vinyl window manufacturers say they take that problem under control, few manufacturers warrant vinyl windows confronting warping, twisting, or corking, and those that do limit the warranty to just a few years.

Leaking Insulated Glass Units

Double- and triple-pane glass in thermal windows are manufactured in what are called Insulated Glass Units (IGUs). Spacers between the drinking glass panes not simply dissever the panes but seal in the gas between the panes.

The air between the panes of glass must be very dry. If the spacer holding that 2 panes of glass together springs a leak, moist room air will become between the panes and condensation will course, which may lead to mold, mildew, and other nasties inside your IGU where you cannot get at it.

There is no cure for this problem. Information technology cannot exist repaired. The unabridged drinking glass unit of measurement has to be replaced.

Seals are much improve now than they were when first IGUs were beginning marketed in the 1930s every bit Thermopane®. All the same, no ane has notwithstanding invented a seal that does not leak. All spacers are going to leak eventually. Some leak sooner, some later, but they all will leak someday.

The environment that spacers have to survive is brutal. Temperatures can be equally hot as 180^° in summer, plummeting to -thirty^° in winter, or even worse. Information technology'southward very hard to come up up with an adhesive that works for a long fourth dimension in that kind of environment.

It is common to notice spacer leaks fifty-fifty in very expert windows within 10 years of installation and in some poorly fabricated windows within one or two years.

Jumpsuit Window Sashes

Like today's Integrated Glass Units, modern window sashes are often single units that cannot exist taken apart for repair. They can only be replaced using a new sash supplied by the original manufacturer. You accept to hope the window manufacturer

Is still in business, and
Still makes the part.

Plus, you lot can expect the replacement parts to cost nearly as much as a new window. The manufacturers have a monopoly on replacement parts for their windows and are not at all inconversable about charging what the market volition deport, and a little more than.

Old Windows: Built to exist Re-Built and Re-Built and Re-Built and…

The Sinclair Inn Museum in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia can claim what is possibly the oldest double-hung wood window in North America. Built quondam between 1690 and 1710, it was probably recycled from a still older building.

After 300 years, it still works.

Dissimilar mod windows, old woods windows were fabricated to final for many generations. They were built to be repaired — over and over again, if necessary. The old-fourth dimension housewrights knew that their windows would last a good long fourth dimension, but not forever. So they built windows that could easily exist stock-still when something finally did requite way.

There are no exotic materials in an old window, just wood, glass, iron, rope, and a little bronze or brass for the hardware. No vinyl, no unpronounceable chemical compounds, just basic stuff available about anywhere there is a lumber 1000 and a hardware store.

There is no run a risk the parts won't exist bachelor even 200 years from now unless nosotros simply run out of trees — which, despite the hysterical alarms of the more radical elements of the environmental move, is not all that probable.

Anyone with some basic carpentry tools, a lilliputian understanding of how windows work, and decent middle-paw coordination tin restore an onetime window.

Restoring Window Function

Unlike modern windows, old windows rarely break. They may stop working, but the culprit is seldom the window itself. It is (1) broken pulley ropes and (2) accumulated layers of paint that take glued the sashes to the frame.

These are piece of cake fixes that normally take less than 4 hours to complete. Freed from decades of pigment, with new pulley ropes, and with a fiddling scraping and sanding, most erstwhile windows piece of work like new.

First, with calorie-free taps with a hammer on a painter'southward five-in-1 tool inserted into the gap betwixt the window frame and sash, suspension the window free of the paint that has glued it shut. The window will then move upwards and downwardly.

This will accept time and a fiddling elbow grease, just it's not hard and does not require great skill. Keep the taps light and watch out for the upper sash when information technology breaks gratis. These tend to just driblet with crushing force, mashing fingers, breaking glass, etc.

Step 2 is to supervene upon the caster ropes. These join the window sash to the counter-balancing iron weights, and are known in the trade as "sash cords". Without the weights, the window will not stay upwards. With the weights and sash joined with new cords, they will work just like new.

The cotton string used when the window was made had a life expectancy of about 25 years. The amazing matter is, that after nearly 100 years, most are still working. But, some are not, and in either case, it's past time to supplant them, broken or non. They have done their duty and are due a well-earned retirement.

Replacing a sash string has not inverse over the years. This article from Popular Science Monthly showing how to supplant the cord is all the same current later on over ninety years.

Replacing a Broken Sash Cord

Pop Science Monthly, Dec 1928

Few defects around the house crusade greater badgerer than a cleaved window cord. Yet, similar many other things that become wrong, information technology may be easily remedied without calling in the assist of a mechanic, if you arroyo the job with confidence and have some degree of ability to use your easily. Few tools are required.

Inspect the cords of both upper and lower sash. If 1 is cleaved and one or more are worn and frayed, information technology will be an obvious economy to supersede them at the same time.
Obtain a skillful form of braided sash cord from the hardware store. It volition be more economical to buy an unabridged hank if several cords are to be replaced, only if only one or 2, you can effigy roughly how much yous need by allowing 5 ft. for each cord of any window of ordinary size.
We will assume that only ane string is to be replaced and that in the lower sash, for that is more likely to give problem. Remove the sash by the method described in a previous reference canvass (Nov. 1928). If in that location is a broken cord on each side, remove both stop strips, simply if only on one side, the other side need not be disturbed.
If but one cord is broken, swing that side of the sash out and place a kitchen chair, bot, or other support under it. The lower sash may be pushed under one end of the upper sash to help agree it, as suggested in Fig. 1. It is, however, the best and safest do to have the good string out of the sash, tie a knot in information technology, and allow information technology to run upwardly to the caster as in Fig. 2, so set the sash bated.
Remove the pocket facing. It may be necessary to take out the parting strip to do this. Elevator the weight out of the pocket as in Fig. three, cut the rope away from it, and dig out the knotted cease from the sash equally at A of Fig. 1. Observe how each of the knots is tied and fastened, for the new cord may be fastened the aforementioned way.
The easiest way to put the new cord through the pulley is to make a "mouse." Wrap several narrow pieces of thin sheet lead effectually a piece of strong, flexible line perhaps 8 ft. long, as in Fig 4. Pound lightly, or press each piece of lead and so it stays in place about as shown. A slice of chain, a bent nail, or other light weight will answer the purpose equally a makeshift. A 4-in. length of sash chain makes a particularly convenient "mouse."
Tie a knot about one terminate of the cord similar Fig. two, and tie the long end of the mouse line to the other end using half hitches as in Fig 5. Push the mouse through the caster from the forepart; let it to driblet down the pocket behind the pulley stile until it can be reached from the pocket opening. Pull out the mouse through the opening and at the same time coax the string through the pulley from the front. Pull the string down until the knot (Fig. ii) stops it. Remove the mouse line and necktie the end of the cord to the weight with a knot that will not slip. Employ the knot shown in Fig. half-dozen, for instance, or use the aforementioned knot that was on the old cord. Nearly every workman has a pet knot for this purpose, but any knot that does non allow the cord to pull straight over the centrality of the weight will let the latter to turn and swing clear of the dorsum side of the caster or the sash cannot be closed, though the stretch of the cord volition soon brand it right if not more than 1/two in. has to exist gained.
To detect the length of the cord, pull the weight upwardly until it strikes the back of the pulley. Untie the slip knot (Fig. 2) and swing the sash back again until it is as nearly as possible in place. Agree the cord against the border of the sash and cut information technology off 6 inches below the hole at A, Fig. 1. Lay the cord in the groove, tie the knot and push it into its hole. Drive a small nail through the knot, if necessary to hold information technology at that place and button the sash into its identify. Enhance the sash, put the pocket face up in its place, fasten information technology, and put the stop strips on.
It is obvious that if the upper sash is to have new cords, they must be put in earlier those of the lower sash. In this example, remove the lower sash entirely and do non only swing it around and attempt to hold it as suggested in operation No. 4 above. Pull the upper sash downwards, accept out one or both parting strips, pocket facing, and weights every bit may be required. Put the cords in past the methods already described, existence sure the cord of the upper ash is not too long or the sash may not stay upwards. The lower end of the weight should swing at least 3 inches to a higher place the window stool when the upper sash is in place to allow for the stretching of the cords. Replace the parting strips, pocket facings, and stops.

The sash cords we use today are not the ropes of 100 years agone. The new nylon/cotton wool cords terminal up to 100 years. If you desire the repair to last most forever, use a bronze sash concatenation instead of rope.

Some people don't similar a chain because it's noisy, just considering that a properly installed sash chain never has to be replaced once more, the trade-off is, in our humble opinion, a no-brainer. I caveat is that bondage cannot exist used with pulleys originally intended for rope cord, so if you are migrating from string to chair, you will likewise have to supervene upon the pulleys.

Repairing Deterioration

The side by side step is to check for rot and deterioration. H2o is a window's worst enemy. Although the poor design, sloppy installation, woods-loving insects, and baseball-loving kids can contribute to a window's demise, the usual culprit is wood rot caused past standing water.

We find this primarily on the sashes and stool or sill of the window. It's not difficult to fix. If the trouble is pocket-sized, and outside (which is where it usually is), then a lilliputian outdoor spackling and some new paint solve it. Otherwise, in that location are special 2-part epoxy fillers that are — or and so their manufacturers' say — even stronger than the wood existence replaced.

If the problem is more than serious, we may splice in some wood or fifty-fifty remove and replace the deteriorated part with a new part made in our chiffonier shop. If necessary, we can build an entirely new sash that duplicates the former ane exactly. In 40 years nosotros have had to do this exactly twice.

Weatherproofing

Now we demand to look at weatherproofing. Over the years the woods in your window has dried out and shrunk a footling. This is the reason your sashes may exist loose in their frames and sometimes rattle in the wind. Since the sash is now smaller, air can creep around the sash.

The weatherstripping may also need attention. A lot of former window makers used bronze for weatherstripping, and information technology may exist intact, but often information technology has come loose because the nails used in those days to attach the weatherstripping have worked themselves out — or the bronze may take been removed by some old painter too lazy to mask information technology off when painting.

We utilise new spring bronze slipped around the sides of the sashes to eliminate air leaks, tighten them up in the frame, and provide a nice slick surface for the sash to ride on. Horsehair felt made specifically for windows, or silicon seedling weatherstripping (just non rubber or plastic which do non last) can be used where the sashes meet the frame at summit and lesser and at the meeting runway to bar air infiltration. Well-nigh of the time, yet, these are not needed.

Insulating Around Windows

Once the weatherstripping is done, nosotros expect at the insulation where the window meets the wall and in the sash weight pockets. Fifty-fifty if you have had your one-time firm insulated, the insulators normally miss that minor 1/ii inch or smaller gap betwixt the window frame and the wall stud. We seal this area with low-expansion foam.

Hopefully, your insulators missed the sash weight pocket. If they filled it with blow-in foam, cellulose, or fiberglass, you merely may have sussed out why your window suddenly stopped working. If it is filled with insulation, the weights don't move. If the weights don't move, the window does not work.

Replacing Single-Pane Drinking glass

What we never do, and don't recommend, is replace single pane drinking glass with double-pane IGUs. We tried this a few times, but it never worked. Old sashes are merely not milled for the extra thickness of the dual-pane drinking glass, and the sash caster/weigh organisation is non designed for the increased poundage of the extra drinking glass.

There are also technical difficulties in installing the glass. New Integrated Glass Units are generally not installed in the same way as the traditional single-pane drinking glass. And, in the end, the gain in energy operation, if whatever, is tiny.

17 Steps to New Old Windows

There are seventeen steps required to restore a typical old wood window and put it back in working order. Not all of these will be required for every window. Non-typical repairs are indicated in bluish.

ane. Remove sash stops. Reserve for reinstallation. Sash stops that cannot be reused are discarded and new sash stops made in our door and window shop lucifer the existing sash stop as shut equally possible. Nosotros do not have cutters for all of the heritage sash end profiles, but we have most of them.

2. Remove the lower sash, cutting and removing any existing sash rope.

3. Remove the parting bead. This is normally destroyed when removed due to accumulated layers of old paint and volition be replaced with a new parting dewdrop. The parting bead is waxed to ensure smooth operation but never painted.

4. Remove the upper sash, cutting and removing any existing rope.

5. Remove any hardware (locks and handles) from the sashes for cleaning.

half-dozen. Inspect the frame for damage.

seven. Strip all paint and varnish in our steam box. Steaming removes most pigment and glazing compound and does no damage to the underlying wood.

viii. Supplant cracked or cleaved panes.

9. Replace the old linseed-oil-based glazing compound with an acrylic silicone glazing compound. This chemical compound remains flexible and does not harden over the years like the old linseed oil compounds.

10. Prime the outside of all sashes.

eleven. Repair whatsoever cleaved or rotten sash parts: muntins, rails or stiles.

12. Repair any broken or rotten frame members.

13. Lubricate pulleys with dry silicon lubricant (does not attract dust to plow into goo. Replace missing and repair inoperable pulleys.

14. Supplant existing sash ropes with Sampson^Note iii Cherry Spot caster ropes — the best bachelor. Most old windows have a pulley admission cut into the frame. If your windows do not, then nosotros will demand to remove the interior window casing to supervene upon the ropes, and they reinstall the casing.

15. Install jump bronze strip weatherstripping at sides of sashes. This is the original 100-year weatherstripping. We utilise Dorbin 25B Bronze Jump Weatherstrip, made in the The statesA. and the best bachelor.

16. Reinstall sashes and hardware. Replace missing hardware with matching or complementary hardware as needed. Supplant missing sash weights.^Note 4

17. Lubricate sash sides with bowling alley wax. (Nosotros recommend re-waxing every Spring — when the time changes from standard time to daylight savings fourth dimension, and then you will call back.)

A much ameliorate selection is to install a good storm window over the restored sashes. Unless it'southward cracked or broken, leave the drinking glass alone.

Lead Paint and Putty

Before April 2010 no special precautions were required, other than common sense, in dealing with one-time lead-based paint and glazing compound. At present, elaborate measures are mandated past the EPA, nearly of which are still, even so, just proficient common sense.

Never grind off lead paint so that the paint particles discharge into the air. The best course is to utilize removal methods that do not produce dust, such every bit heat or steam removal. But, if y'all must grind (and yous may have to grind out the old, hard putty), do information technology exterior, and make sure whatever dust is captured in a HEPA (Non HEPA-like, but actual HEPA) vacuum. Cover the ground with heavy plastic.

Keep atomic number 82 dust confined to the work area. Encompass any doorway into the rest of the house with plastic, and seal all air intake vents in the room. Use reasonable intendance to ensure that lead particles are not tracked into other rooms on boots or shoes — commonly, a brush left by the doorway for dusting off shoes is all that is needed. We hang ours on a string. Wear an N-95 dust mask. Vacuum thoroughly at the end of each day, and at the terminate of the projection, fold the basis-cover plastic edge to center to trap dust particles, put the plastic in a heavy plastic bag, and tie the neck of the bag using a "gooseneck" tie.

Adding Storm Windows

If this seems like a lot of work, it is. But, restoring your old window is a fraction of the toll of replacing information technology with a new thermal window, and wastes zero. Old-growth hardwood is saved from the landfill, and a lot of expert sometime-fourth dimension adroitness is preserved. A typical window can be restored for between $200 and $350. Of course, it is non withal equally energy efficient as a new window. For that, we are going to have to add a tempest window.

A skilful quality painted aluminum storm window installed will run nearly $120. An upscale forest combination tempest window from a company similar Spencer Works will cost a bit more.

If y'all already take storm windows, and so you are merely that much ahead. Only, assuming you don't, your cost to repair your old wood windows and add together a practiced tempest window is about $470.00 vs. $1,500.00 and more to replace them with a proficient quality (non the all-time quality) wood replacement window.

This is a savings of $20,600.00 on a xx-window house. For your investment, you go a window that will last for at least another 100 years, while a replacement window is doing very well to final 30 years and our window performance is just every bit good if not slightly better than that of a modern thermal window.

How to Really Salve Energy Costs

Replacement windows are, according to nearly energy consultants,^Note five high on the listing of free energy measures that don't work.

The notion that new, thermal windows salvage significant amounts of dwelling energy is a myth fostered primarily past those who sell replacement windows. Independent studies starting in the 1980s take repeatedly shown that the virtually constructive course of action for those with old wood windows in any sort of reasonable shape is to just add together a good storm window. If you already accept a window/storm combination, your window system is already every bit free energy efficient as a replacement thermal window.

If you want to save energy costs (assuming your attic and walls are already insulated at to the lowest degree to code your heating and cooling system is already very high efficiency and all your doors are weather-strippe), buy a high-efficiency water heater ($i,000), put $4,400 in the bank against a rainy solar day, and treat yourself to a lavish steak and lobster dinner ($100.00), for being "energy smart".

Simply the water heater lonely will save many times more than free energy dollars than a whole houseful of replacement windows.

Footnotes:

Rev. 02/07/21

Source: http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/windows3.htm

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