I envy your situation, especially the 100-year old home. My wife and I grew up in old farm houses so we love wood everything including wood windows. When stained with the grain showing, it really softens the home and frames views like painting frames. If you can get a glass company to custom make high quality windows and doors, including low-E glazing, that will be really fantastic.

We would have used all wood windows for our current house but maintenance was a concern. Wood windows require yearly inspection and maintenance to last. I used to scrap off paint, sand, prepare and paint my parents' windows about once every two years. It is not that we had to paint all the windows, it is always just a few over here and a few over there. There is always something that needs to be done. As we are older now, we opt for aluminum clad exterior wood interior.

We wanted a window that is all wood from the inside, not a thin veneer that looks "fake". Some veneers actually look quite cheap if you are used to real wood. The exterior line of the cladding must not be "fake" looking and must visually come as close to real wood "lines" as possible. After a long look at Milgard, Andersen, Marvin Integrity and Pella, we ended up with plain old Marvin. We did not look at Kolbe & Kolbe at the time.

The downside to aluminum is that unlike wood, a dent cannot be simply filled and sand and painted. The upside is that modern aluminum coating by reputable companies are tough, as tough as a good finish on a car body. The coating will stand up to the elements just as the car body can. So with some care when playing or working around these doors and windows, maintenance simply means washing the windows.

There are many companies that make clad windows including Kolbe & Kolbe. Many companies, including Marvin, will custom make a window to your specifications, including real divided lite and "old" glass. They are not cheap but compared to money spent on a car, I would rather spend that on a set of beautiful good windows that can last a lifetime.

The best way to get a feel for their product is to actually go see and touch them at a shop. I would suggest not a big box like Home Depot or Lowes because we had very poor experience with them. Find a good window & door shop that is willing to listen and answer questions. If you make some rough measurements first and have a good count of the doors and windows, they will know you are serious and they will be more willing to spend time to earn the job.

Nothing beats touching and seeing them in person when you shop. Good luck!

You are right on the money with thinking that your wood windows are better repaired than replaced with something like vinyl (God forbid) or aluminum.

If they are just beyond repair, there are wood replacement windows that you can buy.

The reason that vinyl windows are called replacement is exactly that, you will end up replacing them eventually.
Your existing windows have been there for what? 100 years now? Think about that.
How long do you think that vinyl will last? 10 years? 15? Not long in comparison.

Good reglazing, weather striping, and adding storms will be your best shot. And they will keep the value of your home higher.

Good luck.

I really like old windows. I believe that in the correct circumstance they are so much a part of charm of an older home that it is worth the effort to try to save them. I understand the desire of many people to try to do everything possible to save the original windows in a classic home, but I also understand the appeal of replacing them for the improvement in energy consumption, comfort, and the potential ease of maintenance.

There are a lot of misconceptions about old windows versus new windows and many opinions most of them based on feelings and not facts that come up in discussions like this one.

I am going to offer a few simple facts that relate to restoration versus replacement.

Fact  if you were to opt for top-quality vinyl windows, you could get them made in any style that you wanted  styles that would fit your home and that would be virtually indistinguishable from the original windows in your home  and, these windows could last every bit as long as your home. But, note that I said "top-quality". A typical low end replacement vinyl window doesnÂt come close to meeting the same sort of standards as does a top-quality product  from the vinyl used, to the glass used, to the hardware used  it could be like comparing a Yugo to a Ferrari (and what happened to Yugo?).

The guy in the Sunday paper who promises to replace every window in your home at "$129.95" with his "super-dooper-highest-quality" window likely has neither the highest quality window nor does he have your long term peace-of-mind at heart. He needs to get in and to get out  and what happens in five or 10 years? ThatÂs your problem.

Okay  from this point forward I will be commenting on good replacement windows  and not just vinyl or aluminum  but generic replacement using a quality product  whatever the material  but not necessarily the very best and certainly not the very worst.

Again, GENERAL overview...

Fact  new windows are substantially more energy efficient than old windows, despite the claims to the contrary of a good part of the window restoration world. True, and the numbers are out there if some one wants to disagree.

Fact  folks in the window restoration world like to claim that old windows have lasted 50, 75, 100 years and that new windows will always fail in short order - 5, 10, 15, 20, whatever. (Again, I AM NOT slamming anyone who has posted in this thread  this is a common claim in the restoration world), yet this claim is usually based on emotion or on opinion and not on quantifiable fact  and in fact, it is generally wrong  but, ultimately quality products will outlast non-quality products no matter when produced and there are tens-of-millions of windows that were made in the last few centuries that didnÂt make it to today for a variety of reasons. The ones that made it thru are often the best that were produced and they likely had a good bit of maintenance at some point. These are good things and that also makes the consideration of keeping them around even longer worth seriously considering.

Fact  new dual or triple pane windows with LowE and argon will make your home more comfortable in both summer and winter. There are plenty of studies to prove it.

Fact  restoring old windows is good for the environment and helps with energy performance. This is certainly true, but it isnÂt the whole story.
Despite comments from folks who love their old windows  and while there are many very good reasons for that feeling, those reasons are primarily aesthetic, not efficiency Â
replacing windows will almost always save energy over restoration.
But, again to reemphasize, restoration and the addition of a good storm window can still be a huge improvement over windows that are stuck, painted-over, drafty, and without storms.

Fact  many old houses have their original windows and some of these windows (if they have had adequate maintenance for their lifetime) are in very good shape. But, some are also in very poor shape. Most are somewhere in between. But, they have made it this far - that is a given. If they are worth restoring, then by all means that should be considered a very definite option.

Fact  most (but not all) older windows are made with old growth lumber which is inherently better than almost any lumber available today. Absolutely true and rather sad in some ways, but again, this is what our ancestors left us with  kind of wondering what we will be leaving our descendents?.

Fact  older single pane windows with sash cords are inherently huge energy wasters. because that open spot where the weights hide is an energy black-hole. There are alternatives to the sash-weight pocket that will greatly improve this energy dump.

Fact  older windows have lasted as long as they have because they are of simple, uncomplicated construction that had the advantage of using a material (old growth lumber) that is no longer available. The pyramids will easily outlast a modern skyscraper  that doesn't make a pyramid superior, it is simply different.

Fact  many people like the look of wavy glass which was the norm in windows made long ago yet the waves and bubbles in glass was technically a flaw in the manufacturing process. Glass producers did their best to avoid such "embellishments", but it was the best that could be produced for mass production at the time.

Actually, for higher-end (spelled $$$$) folks they could produce glass without the waviness, but it was expensive and few folks wanted to, or could, spend the money for them.

This of course doesnÂt mean that such ornamentation doesn't add charm and character to the window and subsequently the home, however. Lots of flawed items have a certain charm and character of their own. And btw, I very much like "flawed" wavy glass  and is readily available today, made in the exact same process that was used 100 years ago. Only today it is considered decorative and is therefore expensive.

Ultimately, to change windows is a personal decisionÂ.but there are very valid reasons for both sides of the discussion.

I live in an historic neighborhood and several of the owners around here have used a company called bi-glass - have you heard of them? They keep the wood frames of your original windows and replace the existing glass with an insulated version.

Hi Oberon, such fine details! :-)

The low-E thing is really worth every penny, we ask ourselves almost everyday why we did not use Low-E sooner.

We just had yet another week of relative deep freeze in Northern CA (nothing compared to Minnesota). We are a "balmy" 65 inside while it was/is 34 outside. This is overnight, with all heating turned OFF and we have no window coverings, none whatsoever. We turn on the heater around 6AM and it is a warm 70-71 in about 30 minutes.

Compare to when we did not have low-E, the inside would already be down to 45 degrees overnight and with heater blasting, it could barely hold at 65 all day. Only the sun could bring it up to about 70. On a cloudy day, all bets were off.

Low-E is a must have. Tight seal too around the windows as Oberon indicated.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL!

Thanks for all the replies, hubby and I will continue to analyze the issue over the holidays. A lot of valid points raised by all.

Bi-glass windows sounds wonderful, however, they're in Indianapolis, will have to ask if they come out to Berwyn, IL. Thanks again and happy holidays to all...

While the bi-glass system sounds like a pretty good idea at first glance, there are a couple of things on their website that I find a bit odd.

Quote from the web site
"Argon Gas: This is an inert gas that is inserted into the space between the glass. The gas is less dense than air and therefore transmits heat and sound at a slower rate. This adds to the sound proofing of the window and adds to the insulation value. Over time this gas will dissipate thereby losing its value."

In fact at ~300k (80°F) and at sea level air has a density of 1.161 kg/m3 while at the same temperature and altitude argon has a density of 1.449 kg/m3.

At 273K (32°F or 0°C) and at sea level air has a density of 1.293 kg/m3 and argon has a density of 1.784 kg/m3.

Argon is also about 1.4 times as heavy as air.

Second, argon in a window system does not "add to the sound proofing of the window". There is no sound attenuation advantage to using argon in a window system.

As a separate area - and at risk of jumping ahead of myself - the bi-glass system as advertised could actually increase the sound level thru the window over the original single pane glass. I can explain that one further if anyone is interested.

Third, they are correct that argon will dissipate over time. What they don't mention is that depending on the sealing system used to keep the two lites together the loss may be about 1% per year argon loss (in the better IG systems). Since Bi-glass specifically mentions argon loss it appears to me that they may use a seal-system that has a much greater loss than others may have?

This brings up my next point which is nowhere on their site could I find an explanation of what IGU sealing system that they do use. They did mention that IGUs can be sealed using "aluminum, foam, or butyl spacers". Do they use one of these options? All three?

I could comment on all three types of spacers (and a couple of others as well) but since I dont know which one of these applies to Bi-glass I wont comment further.

From the site
"R" Value: This refers to the resistance to heat loss of any object. This is the measuring system used to specify and grade insulated glass. Single pane glass has virtually no R value while insulated panels 7/16" to 3/4" thick range from 1.87 to 2.9."

Well, R-value does refer to the resistance to heat loss. But, unlike the Bi-glass quote R-value is not the measuring system used to specify and grade insulated glass. The industry standard is to use U-value (also called U-factor) for glass insulating capacity.

And yes, I know that U-value and R-value are the inverse of one another - but there are some very good reasons for using U-value and not R-value when grading window systems. I can go more indepth if anyone is interested.

Okay, the optimum width in an IG air-space (between the lites) is about 1/2" to 9/16" for a dual pane without a LowE coating and for an IGU with a LowE2 coating the optimum is about 7/16" to 1/2" which follows the Bi-glass website quote reasonably well.
But, elsewhere in the site they state that the IG they build on-site "Insulated glass comes in 3/8" to 5/8" thickness". It appears that they are talking overall thickness which means that if they are using 1/8" glass, the overall airspace varies from 1/8" to 3/8" which is a good bit less than the airspace (that they stated in a different part of the site) was best for insulating value.

If they were to use krypton or better yet xenon gas in those narrow airspaces they could approach some very nice energy performance numbers. But, I would bet my next paycheck that they dont offer either of those gasses.

Using air in a 1/8" airspace? Why bother with two lites at all?

There are several other things that I was curious about, and perhaps I am being overly picky here, but shouldnt a company be accurate when they publish such statistics or "facts" on their site? Particularly when they use these "facts" to describe the performance of their product?

Based on the information that I saw on the website, I would hesitate to spend any money with them until I knew a lot more about what they were charging me for.

And a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Thanks to all for detailed replies to littlealexa above - they were helpful to us as well. I know this string is two weeks old, so if i get no responses i will re-post as a new thread.

We are also in teh SF Bay Area, replacing old wooden windows in a Victorian-style home. After meeting with many installers and considering options, we are leaning toward Marvin tilt-paks or aluminum-clad.

A couple questions for anyone with relevant experience:
-Have you found tiltpaks to fail over time due to the untrue/not plumb nature of wood openings in old houses?
-Do you find the look of the aluminum clad to be jarring from the outside relative to the standard look fo the home? (Our house is shingled.)
-Will most installers blow the installation into the empty chamber where cables & weights are, and have they charged you substantially more to do so?

Any other thoughts on the matter would also be appreciated. Thanks.