I have an old house with many double-hung wood windows in various states of repair, many with sashes that are painted shut or sash cords that are painted over and stuck to the pulleys. It would be great to make these operational again. Some windows are old cool-looking glass, but most are newer uninteresting glass.
I considered just removing the sashes and replacing it with a block frame double hung replacement window and have already done this successfully with one of them. Unfortunately, a typical double hung vinyl window is a bit over 3" from rough opening to daylight (example from Milgard), which is a loss compared to the 1.5" on the old wood sash.
There are some contractors in the area (Seattle) doing wood window restoration, but the waitlists are months to years long and the pricing ends up being around $1000 a window, which is drastically higher than vinyl replacement windows.
What are my options? Is there anything I'm missing? Is it a feasible DIY project to do the sash restoration myself? Thanks!
Best Answer
YES! It is possible and likely will be rewarding as a labor of love.
You will need to become familiar with the parts and assembly of old wood windows and will learn the names and functions of the various elements as you progress in your endeavor (e.g. stool, parting bead, stile, rail, etc.). There is tons of info on the internet of things.
You will need to become proficient with stripping, scraping, sanding, painting, glazing, etc.
You will need to find a good hardware or window shop that has knowledgeable staff and are willing & able to procure the parts and materials you will need (lots available online too).
You will need some specialty tools, like this "wood sash paint cutter":
and various other common woodworking tools.