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Originally Posted by BobK
Well guys, I bought a 1907 Queen Anne with wonderfull 6 foot high DH wood windows in various conditions. Windows leak air like you would not believe. Some can actually rattle. Electric baseboard heat. Short term goal is to keep the heat in this winter. Trying that heat shrink palstic inside the windows for now. Long term is to rehab the windows. I want to keep house as close to original as possible (with subtle improvements in sealing and whatnot). If you have some neat weather stripping system I am all ears.
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Well fixing the flashing and replacing the sash weight system with a spring loaded sash system and filling the sash pockets and caulking the exterior makes a big difference as well as removing the molding on ext/int and insulating. Not that hard a DIY job.
If you are serious, do a refit after removal and install membrane seal on wall around the window after insulating and filling old sash pockets. Tru low E system is A1 but if you want to keep the original frames you can restore then yourself and rout the frames to fit the spring loaded sash system. Labor is more but if you DIY or work with a smalller contractor as his labor you can do it for 1/2 labor cost.
We replaced 18,000 1950's casements 10 years ago in my co-op with Arrow aluminum low E system with expansive gasket system against the existing brick opening and membrane wrap under the flashing/molding plus high grade cauking. 10 years later we have begun to recaulk s a std maintenence schedule. Failure rate of the units is about 1/2 of 1 % mostly gasket at the glass. Try getting 10 windows per apartment in 180 buildings (2 story garden type) done on a real schedule and then maintain after 10 winters (5 serious winters)!