We bought a Cole-Sewell storm door at a going-out-of-business sale at our local hardware store. The store is now gone. When we opened the box, one of the sliding glass window inserts is missing. (It's the self-storing kind.) Cole-Sewell was bought by Pella a few years ago, and their product line doesn't show a similar door. We wrote to their customer service but didn't get an answer. EBay doesn't have any replacement windows, and I'm stumped. Any suggestions? It will be a cold winter if we can't find the second piece of glass to cover the open window!

I don't know that we have ever used Adams windows, but Allied and Spencer windows are good quality products. The upscale choice is clearly Spencer, but at $200+ per window, these can get rather pricey. A good quality aluminum combination storm/screen window will do the job for you. The trick is the "good quality" part. In or near your town is a storm window manufacturer. Look in the Yellow Pages or the Web for storm windows. In almost every case the local guy makes a very good quality combination storm window for not much money -- figure less than $80.00 per window -- and you can pick them up, avoiding delivery and shipping charges. He cn't compete with the box box stores on price, so he competes on quality, and usually wins. He will also have a showroom of some kind to display his windows. There you can look at them. Never buy any window sight unseen. If they seem flimsy, they are. Look for heavy gauge aluminum and ease of operation. If they are hard to operate in the store, they will be harder to operate in your house. There's a lot of debate over whether mechanically joined or welded windows are better. We have never seen much difference -- but we did see a window last year that seems to have been glued together with some kind of epoxy -- not a good window. They fell apart when we took them down. We buy our windows painted white, or, if we can get them, just primed (most fabricators will do that for you). Priming aluminum is something best left to the factory. Once we get them to the house, we take them apart and paint the frames (but not the sashes) with a spray paint that exactly matches the house trim. The paint is easy to come by. Take a piece of painted trim to Sherwin-Williams (the commercial store that caters to pro painters -- not the neighborhood S-W store) and ask them to match and mix up the color in spray cans with a formulation for metal. Figure one can for every 5 windows. For most houses 5 cans is enough -- and in most stores this is also the minimum order. Lightly sand the frames with a wet sanding sponge -- you can get these at the paint store. You want to rough up the factory paint a little so the new paint will adhere well. Wipe clean, then wipe again with alcohol. Spray two coats on the frames, let dry between coats and then for 24 hours. Reassemble the sashes and frames (you did remember to mark the sashes so you know which sash goes in which frame, yes? Use masking tape and a Sharpie.) Now the windows do not have the aluminum look, and in fact virtually disappear against the house trim. Install the windows in accordance with the manufacturer's instruction or, do it our way: First, dry fit each window before you start to install it to make sure it fits. Clean the frame and window trim with alcohol to remove all grease, dirt, etc. Let dry 15 seconds. Apply a generous bead of pure silicon caulk to the frame. Silicon remains flexible for centuries, yet, if you need to remove the window, you can break the silicon seal with a putty knife. DO NOT seal the weep holes at the bottom of the window. These allow any water or condensation trapped behind the storm window to get out rather than sitting there and rotting your sill. By the way -- the weep holes are DOWN. I can't tell you how many storm windows we have seen installed upside down. When handling the window, always keep the down side down. This reduces the risk you will install it upside down. Even pros do this on occasion. Certainly we have. Press the window firmly into place. You want to ensure that the silicon has good contact with the window trim all around the perimeter. Now screw down the window alternating from right to left, top to bottom, until all the screws are installed. Do not omit screws. The window has all those screw holes for a reason. Alternating, just like you tighten the lug nuts on a car wheel, keeps you from bending the window by tightening all the screws on one side before you put the screws in the other. When you are done, go inside and test the window. If it binds, then most likely it is twisted. Loosen screws just a little bit at a time until it operates smoothly. Now, still from the inside, put another tidy bead of silicon where the storm joins the window trim. Once this is done, there is very little risk of air infiltration around the edges of the window. Figure one weekend to paint, the next weekend to install. It's not hard -- in fact, it's only a five or six beer job. Good luck.

There have always been good and bad design, builders and materials. I see it being built everyday with the garage as the front door. The main house of my project is fairly well built - to the standards of the day (balloon framing - bricks on their side for the footing etc) - the garage and studio above was not. there are many great homes and buildings that have deferred maintenance often ironically because they were a cut above - lots of trim and detail. Went to Pittsburgh and Philly a couple weeks ago - many unremarkable homes (unpretentious) in wonderfully vibrant communities. Our friend's home - pictured - was a row house - they shared a lawnmower, ladder etc. If it was the sabbath they turned on the stove for the neighbors - if they locked themselves out of the house they would borrow their key from the neighbors. No McMansions, just people that care. These people are wealthy beyond measure. Single pane glass.

A few years ago I had my windows and entry door restored in my 1100 sq. ft. 1928 house. My goal was to make all of the windows easily operable, to repair dry rot (one window sill), to restore the original divided light door and hardware, and to maintain the architectural integrity of the house. I don't recall the cost but I think it was under $10k. Consider, though, that I had fewer windows than you and the scope of work was different. Most of my windows are easily accessible from the outside, and there are no screens. All work was done onsite rather than in a shop. The only weather stripping was for the front door. New latches were installed where needed. The work did not include any painting. I was home to observe the work and I was impressed with how labor intensive it was. It took many days of focused work to complete. This is specialty work so not cheap. But replacing my old-growth windows with new wood windows would have cost much more than restoration. And I couldn't bring myself to install white vinyl windows in my little English cottage. That said, I live in a relatively mild climate (Pacific Northwest) that only occasionally experiences extreme weather, which might not be your situation. Most of my neighbors have chosen to replace rather than restore their windows, so I'm definitely the odd one on the block. Good luck with your project.