[Greenbuilding] Exterior insulation retrofit: Windows

[John Beeson - Sunny Side Up]

Here here, Anne!

I wish they'd get around to posting the research results!  But I have spoken 
with Lorri Sipes ofWood Window Repair Company to at least hear the numbers.

http://www.environmentreport.org/show.php?showID=448



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     /       \                 John E. Beeson, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C
    || *   * ||                512 Hiscock St.
  |||    +    |||              Ann Arbor, MI  48103
  ||  \__*__/  ||              734.994.3506
  ||           ||              e-mails:emailme0617 at yahoo.com
 |||  Scream   |||                     betterEnvironment at yahoo.com
                                       powerofsun.johnbeeson at gmail.com

"There's a fine line between standing on the shore fishing and looking like an 
idiot"   - Dave Barry

"But if we are designing new buildings in new ways, why shouldn’t we preserve 
old buildings in new ways as well?" - Blair Kamin

"The road to energy independence, economic recovery and reductions in greenhouse 
gas emissions runs through the Building Sector." -Edward Mazria

"Sustainability is like teenage sex. Everybody says they're doing it, very few 
people actually are doing it. Those that are doing it are doing it badly." 
-Aussie architect Andrew Maynard

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Well, I know a bunch of people (on the oldhouseweb forum, so they do have a 
point of view!) who would tell you the greenest thing you can do is restore your 
old window, install good weatherstripping on them, and add really good-quality 
storms.  I believe your house was 1920s?  So the wood is old-growth and with 
care will last for another century or two, and the weatherstripping and storm 
additions will make it (I've read) nearly as tight as a modern window unit - 
with the advantage of continuing to be repairable.  


I know others here prefer modern technology, but the sight of a bunch of windows 
(and old doors, and plaster and lath) in a dumpster, and new material coming in, 
really bothers me.  For me it's the history as well as the waste - I'm more 
traditional Yankee than modern green.

Disappearing back to lurkdom now . . .

Anne
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