Repairing and Restoring Wood Windows

By Save Our Heritage Organisation

If you’re a historic homeowner, you know that everything from routine repairs to major restoration must be done with extra care and knowledge of preservation practices and vintage materials. Some big jobs, like reroofing and chimney repointing, usually require professional assistance, but how many times have you wanted to pick up a screwdriver, scraper, or paint brush to take matters into your own hands?

Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) is here to help! We’re launching a free video tutorial series: Restoration Projects for the Historic Home Owner. These in-depth videos demonstrate step-by-step how to carry out some of the most common historic home restoration jobs. In addition to clear, concise narration by experienced preservationists, video highlights include recommendations on tools and products, methodologies, and best practices for working on sensitive materials and character-defining architectural elements.

Our first video in the series, available now, guides you through restoring wood windows. Original wood-framed windows are one of the most beautiful and desirable assets of old buildings, and this tutorial walks any eager DIY-er through the process of bringing them back to life. To view the video, click below.

SOHO has decades of restoration experience to share and we want to help you protect and maintain your home’s historic, cultural, and aesthetic fabric and value. Stay tuned to SOHOsandiego.org and Our Heritage eNews for future releases of more practical videos—including one on how to prime and paint your newly restored windows.

Remember

• Keeping your old windows and doors adds value to your home

• Removal of original windows is the most frequent reason for a home's ineligibility for Mills Act tax savings.

• The technology to repair wood windows will always be there. Synthetics lock you into a material destined to become obsolete and unrepairable, forcing yet another set of windows down the line.