I hope you had a fun New Year's celebration.
As we get into the new year, I am mapping out projects for next year and reviewing a few I never posted on.
One of those was rebuilding a historic wood basement hopper window. Most people that have a 100 year old basement window have been perplexed with what to do with these windows...
These historic windows are usually 3' x 2' openings, or another similar cinder block or brick opening size, and swing into the home. They feature a 5-1/4" door jamb cut to make a window frame, and a 1-3/8" window sash which mounts to two top hinges and typically has a center cam lock. They are set into a cinder block opening and secured with concrete at the sill, nails through the sill plate that they rest against at the head, and sometimes, fasteners through the side jambs into the concrete foundation walls. In many cases, glass has broken from lawn mowers throwing rocks, etc...and often the replacement glass is merely siliconed, rather than glazed, in place with historic glaze that is built up flush with the mullions to prevent water infiltration.
Before we go any further...let's look at the options for this window:
- Glass Block - High security, low maintenance, high light transfer, somewhat energy efficient, low or no ventilation (a small vent can be installed)
- Vinyl replacement slider with block frame - Medium Security, low maintenance, lower light transfer due to reduced opening and buck opening requirement (window opening must be framed out), higher energy efficiency, medium ventilation
- Original Window, Inswing wood hopper window- Low security, high maintenance, medium light transfer, low energy efficiency, highest ventilation.
I chose to rebuild the original window frame and sash to keep the historic integrity of the home, keep the option for increased ventilation in the basement or to get things through the large opening, and addressed the security concerns with reinforced locks (there are many options here, but I don't want to get into the weeds). We also used a window well covering system to increase energy efficiency and lower the maintenance requirements (more below).
These windows typically sit at ground level...as such they are suseptible to quite a bit of weathering without proper maintenance and installation. This was the issue with mine. Below, a before picture of one of the basement hopper windows.
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| Original window had cracked glass, peeling paint, gaps between the glazing allowing water infiltration, a damaged frame, was sealed shut, and had multiple locks added through the years. |
Now, let's look at each challenge to restoring this window:
- Damaged frame: Rebuild, or if necessary, replace
- Damaged locks: Replace, and consider upgrades with metal reinforcement behind the wood frame or security bars.
- No weather strip Peeling paint
- No storm window
- Cracked glass
- Retrofit, or use new wood frame with applied weatherstrip. Add flashing on bottom of sash to dicect runoff water away from the frame, or add quarter round with weather rubber applied weather strip in combination with flashing. I used a new wood door jamb made with Auralast, a wood which resists water absorption, wood decay and termite infestation. This is perfect, since these windows sit at ground level. But, that said, it is also good to dig a window well 6" - 12" below your wood window, and fill it partially with gravel so that water does not collect around your window frame.
- Remove all paint and repair wood work as needed (determine if you have lead based paint and take appropriate precautions if it is present). I used a wood hardener on the softened wood on the bottom of the sash and treated it with Boiled Linseed Oil.
- Replace Cracked glass or Reglaze Window Panes: Remove all old glazing compound, metal glaziers points, and glass. Re-install with silicone between the inside wood sash and inside glass side. Add glazier points to hold the glass in place while the silicone dries. Then, re-glaze glass to the exterior side. Repair mullions (I used square dowell rods to rebuild a mullion)
- Reassemble or build a new frame (Sorry, no process pictures here...but you will basically replicate the old frame with new materials. Again, I purchased a 6-9/16" door jamb kit from Home Depot and cut the jamb to size, and assembled the frame with 2-1/2" wood screws and metal reinforcement at the corners.
- Install New Frame by screwing the head jamb to the sill plate it sits against, shimming the sides, and bottom. Underneath my sill (planed down from a door jamb), I had pressure treaded lumber which was secured to the opening with tapcons. The Sill was then anchored into these boards.
- Complete your job with closing hardware and a window well cover or storm window. This is for security, energy efficiency, and water mitigation.
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| Finished Window. Visible are the double locks, finger pull, window well and well cover. |
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| New framing or retro-fitted weather stripping will dramatically improve the energy efficiency of the unit. A storm window or window well cover will also help with this, reducce future maintenance, and help resolve many security concerns. |
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| Be sure to re-grade the land around your window, and add a window well, dug at least a foot below the window frame and partially filled with gravel. |
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| Window Well protects our restored window. It can be applied to the foundation wall with tapcons and is removable for large construction projects in your basement that require passing items through your window. |
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| Some of the products mentioned in this post to rebuild the window sash are shown above. |
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| This mullion was flush with the window..which meant we could not glaze it. So, we cut two square dowel rods, glued them together, glued them onto the existing mullion...and after glazing and painting, the window sash is fully restored! |
More detailed window rebuild information is available in the following Preservation Brief: http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief09.htm
All for now,
-Ryan & Kayla-
