[MassHistPres] Markets for very old glass?

[Bourdon, Paul]

Hi Alison,
I am trying to determine sash patterns in a ca. 1813 tavern with no surviving sash or even fragments. The openings do not seem to fit any common pane size. Most of the openings appear to have had upper and lower sash of the same pattern although there are some that are clearly asymmetrical. Do you ever run across panes of odd size from that period?? The sash opening is 2' 6.75" x 4' 7.75"   or there abouts. Any suggestions would be appreciated,

Paul Bourdon
Southborough

> ----------
> From: 	masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu on behalf of Alison Hardy, Window Woman
> Reply To: 	ahardy at window-woman-ne.com
> Sent: 	Sunday, June 10, 2007 6:48 PM
> To: 	abauman at greengoat.org; 'Dennis De Witt'; 'MHC listserve'
> Subject: 	Re: [MassHistPres] Markets for very old glass?
> 
> I restore windows for a living, and am constantly on the lookout for antique glass that we can recycle as almost every window has at least one broken pane and we try to match the age and character of the glass in a sash. So I'd be interested in your sash. The vital stat is size of pane, not size of sash. We can always cut down larger panes, but small ones have to be really special to be worth the effort to "harvest" the glass.
> 
> Alison Hardy
> Window Woman of New England
> Topsfield
> 
> Amy Bauman <abauman at greengoat.org> wrote: Hi Dennis --
> 
> I appreciate your perspective.  It's a different situation here ... these
> windows had been previously uninstalled and stacked in a garage way in the
> back of a property.  The garage is slated for demo, and the owner wanted
> greenGoat to find an adoptive home for the windows.  The wood is completely
> rotten.
> 
> So ... I was thinking that a cabinet maker might make the 'new style' window
> cabinets out of them ... or something like that.
> 
> But on your point, I have been reading with great interest the thermal
> efficiency of the old windows and do appreciate the logic there.
> 
> I should know better than to use the word "old" in this forum without
> qualifying it.  I really mean wavy glass.  I honestly have no idea how old
> the windows are, but figured that there had to be someone interested in the
> glass itself.
> 
> Now you know the rest of the story.
> 
> Amy Bauman
> greenGoat
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
> [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu]On Behalf Of Dennis De Witt
> Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2007 5:08 PM
> To: MHC listserve
> Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Markets for very old glass?
> 
> 
> With the greatest respect, is there no way to preserve the "very old"
> windows in your client's building?  If they are replaced with
> insulating glass it will fail in 20 or 30 years and the new sash will
> have to be replaced -- and so forth in a never ending vicious cycle,
> in which the marginal energy savings (vs. good storms) will never
> justify the cost of the replacements.  If they are repaired and
> fitted with storms, they still will be there 100 years from now.
> 
> Also, these seem large sizes to be "very old."
> 
> I know a window maker in the back woods of Maine who usually has a
> few stacks of old 1/1 or 2/2s leaning up against trees weathering to
> make them easy to disassemble, in case he has to make sash for some
> unreasonable like like me who doesn't wants dead flat glazing (not to
> mention the "fun-house mirror effect you get from insulating glass).
> He gets them from a local vinyl window guy.
> 
> For the reason cited above, it would be worse if someone used your
> client's glass to make insulating glass.  That would guarantee they'd
> be permanently lost.
> 
> By the way, if by "Thermal panes" you mean the original "Thermopane",
> that was a great product with all-glass edges, permanently
> hermetically sealed, which would last forever.  That is what all
> those Anderson casement windows in the '60s & 70s used.  That glass
> will outlive the sash.  Unfortunately the universal modern, cheaper> 
> to make, organically sealed (i.e. butyl, etc.) insulating glass drove
> true Thermopane out of production in the mid-80s -- and we are just
> now arriving at the point where the first big wave of those
> organically sealed insulating glass replacement windows are getting
> to be 20 years old.
> 
> Dennis De Witt
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jun 10, 2007, at 8:46 AM, Amy Bauman wrote:
> 
> > Hi all --
> >
> > I have a client who is discarding quite a supply of very old
> > windows.  I
> > haven't made an exact count, but I'd say 15 or so 15" x 30", and 20
> > or so
> > 50" x 50".
> >
> > Question is this - are there any local window makers who use old
> > glass to
> > make windows with a historic look?  It'd be even better if someone
> > used them
> > to make thermal panes, but I think that's unlikely.
> >
> > Any ideas for markets for these would be much appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Amy Bauman
> > greenGoat
> > www.greengoat.org
> > 617-666-5253
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> 
> 
> Alison Hardy
> Window Woman of New England
> www.window-woman-ne.com
> 978-561-1062
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