Little Brick Cottage…Windows

 **Please Note** The little brick cottage renovation project took place and was originally posted here in 2012! It was my first project I posted on as well. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see posts on this entire project.

I wasn’t planning on installing new windows in the little brick cottage right away, I knew the old windows were just that, old, with single-pane glass, but they did have aluminum storms that had been installed probably around 40 years ago…so I thought they’d be ok.

Until, I took the drapes down and

 really looked closely at the windows. First of all, most of the windows were so painted shut you couldn’t open them, plus almost every single window has at least one cracked piece of glass in it, and when I was removing wallpaper in the Dining Room, the wind was coming through the windows so badly, I closed the drapes to try to keep the room warmer.

So I ordered new vinyl clad windows from Menard’s and we tore out all the old windows and aluminum storms and replaced them with the new double paned insulated windows.

That’s good, but it means more things I wasn’t planning on…

1.  The exterior trim got trashed, and will all need to be re-built.

2.  Because the walls are so super thick, even the extra deep extension jambs with the windows aren’t deep enough, so we will need to build extension jambs on the inside of the windows just to bring them flush with the interior walls.

    3.  The new windows were a couple inches longer than the previous windows so all the trim on the inside got trashed too and needs to be replaced. (Well, no worry because the top of the trim was already missing!)

Here’s the new trim…Basically a simple old fashioned style. (Paint still needed!)

I just felt that in NW Wisconsin where the winter temp can dip as low as -30…that’s below zero, for you readers in the South!….no way could I expect a renter to live in a house with multiple window panes cracked, letting in that freezing air. Nor could I feel good about the summer when they wouldn’t be able to have a fresh breeze because most or all of the windows couldn’t be opened.

So they had to be changed. We went with white vinyl clad windows. Now they will insulate so much better, and also be able to be opened to let the fresh Wisconsin breeze in!

I always say: “Every choice has a sacrifice”… in this case, we sacrificed some out of the budget and the vintage trim with the choice to get windows that will serve the future residents of this “Little Brick Cottage” much better than before, and I feel a lot better about that choice.

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Here are all the posts from 2012 showing the entire renovations projects on the little brick cottage: