Windows into Beloit

Like a person’s eyes being likened to the window into the soul, a home’s windows have been described as reflecting the soul of a home.

Often it is a homes windows that define and distinguish its character. Removing original windows that define a home and give it character for single light replacement windows leaves a home with the all too familiar blank, vacant stare. Bit by bit distinctive homes are being denuded of their character and reduced to irreversible blandness.

See the BRAND NEW Beloit NPA Gallery.

You’ll see the new category page in the top navigation.

You’ll see that in too many instances it is the few remaining original windows that convey the dignity the now humbled home once had.

Windows that are of considerably higher quality made of tight grain old-growth wood, that could be repaired are removed and replaced with windows that typically have a useful life of ~10 years before they fail and need to be replaced again.  By this time the purchaser is typically gone.

At that point they would be replaced yet again. Repair is not an option. Recurring revenue for the replacement window industry explains the marketing efforts.

Yes, the warranty states 10-20 yrs. Manufacturers know that the average stay in a home is less then 10 years. The average in Rock Co. is ~5 yrs.

This is why the same windows installed in a commercial building do not carry the same guarantee. That’s because commercial owners on average retain ownership longer then households.

Do you have drafty windows? Consider repair.

1. The repair will last as long or longer.
2. Repair is dramatically less expensive then replacement. Don’t be fooled by energy savings payback – your break even is further out then the expected life of the window.
3. Repair is green. Why send windows that can be repaired to the land fill?
4. Double pane insulation? Very little of a windows thermal loss is a result of radiation through the glass. Heat rises. It is mostly a function of air infiltration due to air leaks at the joints and seems. It is drafty. Repairing an old window so that it is no longer drafty is very do-able and relatively inexpensive. A window salesperson  will not tell you that. The incremental heat savings resulting from radiation is the least part of the equation.
5. But they tilt in for cleaning. OK, check mate. But ask your neighbor who has this feature when the last time they actually did this.
6. Additionally, more and more buyers of distinctive old homes recognize and value the character and integrity of original windows. It’s almost always cost prohibitive to return to the quality and character of window that was removed by a prior owner. Once they’re gone there’s virtually no going back.

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There’s a lot of money to be made by manufacturers, retailers and installers convincing historic home owners with repairable windows that they need to buy new replacement grade windows that in time need to be purchased yet again. Don’t get snookered.