[MassHistPres] Wooden Windows

[slater at alum.rpi.edu]

> The cost for repairs and restoration can range from as low as $60 to
replace
> sash cords to make the window operational to $600-700 to completely
> restore a 6 over 6 window including paint and weatherstripping. 
> A good quality storm window will run about $200 for a normal 
> size window. Sure, triple tracks are ugly, but they are reversible 
> should anything better come out in the future, and they
> preserve the building and the comfort of the inhabitants. 

Hi Allison --

I agree with everything you said. However this is not always possible to
do in Springfield primarily because of the income levels of people
residing in many of our historic houses.

We have not been allowing replacement of wooden windows under hardship
unless the window is beyond what I'd call "reasonable repair" (and that
standard is rarely met), and only then if the owner proves financial
hardship. As our chairperson has said, we don't give out a "certificate
of incovenience".

Broken ropes, peeling paint, and crumbling glazing aren't a hardship
because they are things that nearly every homeowner or handyman should
be able to easily and cheaply do. However, severely rotted windows are,
even though most windows can ultimately be saved with a lot of effort.

Since Springfield's historic houses number close to 1,500, and since
enforcement of the rules in the past has been minimal, I would estimate
that close to 15-20% of our window stock has been replaced with white
vinyl. Window replacements happen so fast (usually done in a day) that
they are impossible to catch in the act, and when such a high percentage
of windows have already been replaced it's even impossible to spot a new
job. 

This causes an incredible problem because we not only get people who say
"why can't I put in vinyl windows, my neighbor did?", but we also have
people who simply assume that since their neighbor replaced their
windows, they can do it too. 

I'm not sure if anyone has been in the position where a low-income
homeowner sits in front of you telling you that they just racked up $10k
on their Home Depot credit card to install vinyl windows, and there's no
chance they can come up with another $20k to put back wooden windows,
but I don't see any realistic path out of that situation except
preventing it from happening.

>My hat is off to the Salem Historic Commission which has begun
insisting that
>homeowners get a quote on repairs and restoration before they will
consider
>approving replacement windows. 

Springfield has also been asking homeowners to explore the possibility
of repairs. Unfortunately we have not found a ready supply of craftsman
in the price range that is reasonable for the economics of Springfield.
While a $700 per window repair job might make sense if your house is
valued at $500k+, it makes absolutely no sense for a house valued at
$150k, and when the SHC tells homeowners to suck it up and do this we
get tremendous negative press and political pressures.

The deck is heavily stacked against us because of the endless marketing
by the replacement window industry. People CRAVE replacement windows.
They are being told that they are losing thousands of dollars a year by
not having them. We just got sued because someone wanted to replace his
perfectly good wooden windows, we told him no, he sued us, and somehow
won in court (I'll post details once I read the decision).

I think that this is a great threat to historic districts, because the
conventional wisdow is that old window = bad window. I know of more than
one person who likes the idea of historic houses but wouldn't buy one
specifically because they didn't want to deal with old windows. 

Unfortunately I don't see any good avenue on a local level to change
that attitude, and because of that I think that the Springfield Historic
Commission needs to have some fallback options, because when there is no
standard of appropriateness for people who are intent on replacing their
windows, odds are that the replacement will still happen, and it will be
very, very inappropriate.

Ralph Slate
Springfield, MA