Laowai

I have struggled the last couple summers getting motivated to work on my windows. And I realize it’s because it is at it’s heart a demoralizing endeavor

The reasons I am trying to restore the nearly 100 year old windows on my house are a) they are lovely windows that are a big feature of the charming exterior b) old windows are meant to be repainted and reglazed – they are made to last. c) when we briefly looked into window replacements the windows were very expensive and they would alter the look of our house in several negative ways.

So I tentatively began to restore my windows and I built confidence and I felt very motivated.

But now there are several things that discourage me (in no particular order).

• First, the windows are made of old wood. Old growth wood has properties that make it strong and long lasting – new wood does not. Basically these windows cannot be made today. That idea blows my mind and also paralyses me.

• I don’t have the carpentry skills or tools to do woodwork that is occasionally required – like when there is some rotted wood at the bottom of a window or the sill. Replacing a bit of the wood is called a dutchman repair. Where are all the Dutch men?

• It’s very very hard to find craftspeople who are knowledgable and available to help you. I have found a couple but they are very busy and some aren’t available to work on smaller projects at all.

• All the window people agree that old fashioned paints like linseed paint and oil paint are the best for windows but using or finding those paints is almost impossible. In the few years I’ve been doing this oil primer has disappeared while the available paints don’t bond as well to wood or they don’t let the wood breathe.

• I learned about wood epoxy repair and used it a bit but have recently found that it really is not a long term solution – it will fail and that will be bad for your window.

So what is a person to do. A person who loves her house. A person who appreciates good architecture and a solid old building. A person who doesn’t mind learning new things and getting dirty.

There are some great resources – people who have been very encouraging (Scott Sidler and Stacy Grinsfelder) but after the initial excitement at the though that I could do the right thing for my house myself – I am very very discouraged.

And yet I carry on since overall I feel doing something vs nothing is better. So here are some photos of my current window project.