Vinyl Windows

A North Portland House of Masonry construction in the Kenton Neighborhood. Almost castle-like. As you might be able to tell if you enlarge the photo, it’s a very old home. And as you might rightly suspect, it has very old wood windows with single-pane glass, and most of them are covered with aluminum storm windows probably from back in the 70’s during the first American energy crises.

Back when PGE was offering l0 year low interest loans to upgrade your homes energy efficiency, and numerous storm-window companies sprang up and made small fortunes for about a decade. Above we have BEFORE shots of the two mulled kitchen windows & a shot of two corner bedroom windows.

If you click on this collage of close-up photos (enlarge it), it should give you an idea of how long it had been since these windows had received any type of maintenance, and why attempting to rejuvenate them would truly have been a silly exercise in futility and wasted resources.

Our client had an elderly mother living in that corner bedroom and using that kitchen, and we probably needn’t have to tell you what the winters were like in that stone structure with those single-pane, dilapidated wood windows…aluminum storm-windows or not.

The above photo shows that the storm-windows, the original window-sash & much of the exterior trim and associated wood components have been removed. The openings have been cordoned-off from the interior with plastic to keep the lion’s share of dust and debris from accessing the interior. Note the saw on the window sill.

The above photo is a close-up of that same kitchen window after the exterior-most portions of water-damaged window sills have been carefully cut-off and some self-adhesive flashing membrane material has been applied over the stone-work, beneath where the new spliced-in wood sill material will go.

This photo shows the new Vinyl Double-Hung Window Assemblies Retro-Fitted into the original jambs, and set upon the newly augmented wood sills.

One of the two corner bedroom double-hung windows after the new exterior wood trim has been applied, primed & caulked. These are Cascade Vinyl Windows. To learn more go to; http://www.cascadewindows.com/

The two mulled kitchen double-hung windows after all the exterior wood trim materials have been installed and meticulously caulked and primed.

This close-up shows the clean transition from the wood components to the Vinyl windows. When you aren’t in the industry, it probably sounds strange to hear someone get excited about such things, but the dynamics related to the stark contrasts our clients likely experienced between the years of leaky, difficult (or impossible) to operate windows to the latest technology in thermal-glass, the latest weather-stripping products, and easily operated window-sash…really floats our boat.