I have a 30 year old house in Chicago. We have original double pane wood windows. The interior portions are in good condition. No rotting and all the seals are good and there is NO fogging between the panes.
The issue I have is the sills and brick molding outside are rotting. We also have original Storm windows in wood frames, single pane, and the frames of the storm windows are rotting.
I plan to sell the house in 5 years. I was thinking to replace the entire windows, but that gets very costly. Would it be better to just replace the sills and brick molding? Will I be able to find replacements storm windows for the sizes I need?
I should mention that either course I would probably do the work myself. I am a fairly handy guy. I have built a shed, finished my basement, replaced a asphalt shingle roof, stuff like that.
Some advice here would be great, thank you
Best Answer
If your timeframe is inside 5 years, you probably can't make an economic argument for new windows.
Suggest you attack one (neither the worst nor the best) and see what is in there when you pick away at it. New storms are easy. Brick mould is easy. The sill might be a little harder, but patience is a virtue.
Depending on the level of rot, don't immediately rule out bondo and/or capping the sill in aluminum.
If you don't have one already, get an oscillating tool. It'll pay for itself in this kind of work. Battery powered is vastly better than corded in my opinion.