I posted this reply in the windows forum - I will leave it here as well. Sapote, I would suggest that simply changing the glass to dual pane LowE does not make a great deal of economic sense. Insulating Glass (IG) windows make the most sense when you don't have small panels such as you have. In addition, you have steel frames that will pass heat quite readily no matter what you do with the glass. Steel frame windows are not particulary efficient and never have been. Adding money to them in the form of insulating glass is not likely to improve their efficiency enough to make the change worthwhile. I would suggest you have two options - first, if your primary concern is with energy efficiency, then replace them in full with new windows. This would completely change the look of your home and I would think not for the better. The other option is to bring the existing windows (single pane and all) to the highest level of energy efficiency yhat you can by resealing the panes and bringing them at least to the level that they were at when new. I would probably have trouble suggesting that option to someone in northern Minnesota, but then in northern Minnesota anyone who would put in windows like those needs a bit of head-work I suspect. But you live in a moderate climate in a home that was designed for that climate. You have the option of bringing the home back to what it was designed to be. Would there be times when the home might be less comfortable if you stay with the current design? Probably, but it is up to you to decide if it is worth preserving the character of the home. Good luck and I hope whatever you chose works out well for you.

Hi Sarabr. These days I live in a 192Os Tudorbethan apartment full of mahogany furniture & antique fabrics, but in 1978 I moved into my very first post-college place, a 194O Streamlined Moderne apartment, where the floors were terrazzo, the stair rails were Monel metal and the windows were either glass block or steel casemements. In fact. those steel casements--at 12 feet, they were the widest windows in Peoria--were the reason I rented the apartment in the first place. Unfortunately, I signed the lease during a particulary mild week in late October, and within a month, I was shivering & miserable because the rusted windows wouldn't close all the way and the half-inch gaps between the corroded frames & the corroded windows turned my apartment into a howling, screaming wind tunnel. Thank heaven for steam heat. Somehow, I survived the winter, but when it warmed up in the spring I knew I had to do something. Unfortunately, my landlord didn't think my measly $175 per month rent justified his spending the time & money to restore my beautiful but rusty windows. That was the bad news, The good news was he was even too cheap to replace them with lumberyard double-hungs, the way another slumlord had destroyed the beauty of the streamline apartments across town. When he suggested stapling plastic over my windows, I knew the guy was insane. My walls were solid concrete. So, since I loved my place, and I loved my windows, I rehabbed them mmyself. Of course, I had no idea what I was doing and all my useless pals said I was crazy for putting my time & money on somebody else's building, but I was determined to bring the place back to the glamour it had had when it was new, and besides, what did my friends know? They had plaid couches, for pete's sake. Anyway, it was mostly just a matter of getting rid of a few decades worth of accumulated paint layers and/or surface rust, and also the windblown grit that had built up and hardened in the windows' frames and made it impossible to close them all the way. So, using a heavy duty scraper, a grinder attachment for my Buck Rogers-style drill, some wire brushes, a few cans of WD-40 & glazing compound black Rustoleum, I managed to get all but one of my casements working smoothly again, and when I finally got that one closed, I screwed it shut. When I was done, my windows looked good as new. Yes, it was a huge pain, and because I was a stupid kid, I probably lost a bunch of IQ points from breathing lead-paint dust without a mask, but--what was I saying?--the end result was worth it. Installing new wood casements would have been simpler, but they would have also been a lot more expensive than muddling through with my old windows, and more inmportantly, the thick sections of the wooden frames would have destroyed the sleek horizontal lines of the originals. As it turned out, the windows ended up looking so good that when I moved out, my landlord more than doubled the rent for the next tenant, a small ad agency, and they liked the place & the windows so much they not only stayed for 2O years, they kept my gray-&-black decor intact and ordered new furniture to match. So sure, you can replace your windows with wood, or you can spend a little more and have them restored to like-new condition, but if you do it right, you can probably restore most of them yourself. You may have to replace a few on the rear of your place, so that they can serve as replacement parts, but even if it's a job that turns out to be beyond your skills, at least give it a thought. Regards, MAGNAVERDE.

If you are using Marvin, I wouldn't go with the lead tape. I have seen Marvin windows with leaded glass inside the insulated glass unit. A company in Canada does it for them. Talk to the company you are purchasing the windows from and have them show you what's available. Be warned, it is pricey.

Yes, I have one over my sink. The neighbor's house is very nearby and the previous owners of my house had a fabric valence in the kitchen window that gave some privacy. But there is only one window in the kitchen, so I got a stained glass window to hang there. I got obscured glass and just a little color. Now the neighbors can't see in (but I have never seen their blinds open anyway) and I get all the light I can get. My kitchen remodel this summer added a skylight, but I still like the stained glass over the sink. I may get new pictures of the redone kitchen up in a week or two. Here is a link that might be useful: new