In the April 10th Oregonian, Fred Leeson reported that a condo building in the King’s Hill Historic District, was having all of its windows replaced. In many instances, preservationists would be up in arms when hearing of this, but this is more a case of “I told you so.” Apparently the 1960s apartment building had its original aluminum framed windows replaced with vinyl a little more than a decade ago. Now the 10- story building has significant problems related to water intrusion – caused by poorly sealed windows. Not only will the windows have to be replaced (again) the stucco exterior of the building must be replaced as well.
While this is a fairly large apartment building, this same sort of thing can happen in any older building or home and that is why we always encourage people to use storm windows and/or repair their existing windows, sealing air leaks along the way. Don’t get on the vinyl treadmill, as this case exemplifies, you’ll only end up replacing them again and as a result, you’ll never recoup the cost.