spazapple

Geez, c'mon...it's just fun to watch these guys and nbd about the 'time-wasting.' Have we forgot that you do better work if you're not stressed out ALL the time (some stress is probably good for job quality). Hell, the grumps who've posted here are 'time-wasting' themselves by watching the damn thing in the first place. Doctor, heal thyself...
Who hasn't worked on a site with a wisenheimer who lightens things up - granted, if these habits transfer to his hourly work, his share would be a cob job and bring the whole project down.

This is a much-needed investigative thread. A bit ironic that on bottom of this page, a pop-up ad from BuyerZone asks you to click to compare new window installation quotes - am happy to see that they do offer to help with "Existing window repair!" I hope Rob's piece documents the degradation and replacement costs of the factory replacements themselves.

I'm a pres. carpenter here in NH who has tried over the years to show historical societies, owners of public bldgs, homeownwers that there are advantages to retaining 18th/19th C sash, that they can be tuned and repaired, that storm panels can be applied. (I was fortunate to have been trained in the Preservation Carpentry program at Boston's North Bennett Street School) It's a win-win if the owner is a steward of the place; if not, the quick-fix porn often wins out. I've developed cost figures for many types of repair, and present these to a potential customer. Most of mine are local. I stand behind my work.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has a piece that summarizes reasons for retaining and maintaining such windows (see http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/weatherization/windows/additional-resources/nthp_windows_repair_replace.pdf ...may need to launch Adobe Acrobat to scale to printable size)

As well, there's a professional group of window restorers that are a great resource if you live in New England (http://www.windowrestorationne.org/ )

John Leeke has the years of window restoration technical cred to speak for all of us who seek to help owners of historic buildings with their windows, and their energy and weathering needs. Although Ken Salazar is doing a fine job, John would make a fine Secretary of the Interior, although we'd have to enlarge the role to add and Exterior as well.

Got to agree with those who say that ti hammers are better for finish work and assembly. Better hang on toolbelt, better control over depth of set like when nailing claps or wood shingles. I also like the Stiletto's curved handle and how easy it makes it to slide hand to end of grip. I made mistake of trying to pull deeply set nails with the claw...broke right off. So I use other bars and pullers for that.