Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Windows -1.0
Winter is fast approaching – well, approaching, anyway – which prompted me to renew my more or less annual fixing of the windows. Our house has the old, double hung wood windows that slide up and down, counterbalanced by cast iron sash weights on ropes hung over pulleys and moving up and down in cavities in the wall. Gratifyingly 19th century in all respects; no space age polymers, no tilt-in convenience. My grandfather would have recognized these windows.
Of course, they let in a non-gratifyingly 21st century breeze, left to their own devices. So after taking the window out (one of the most useful things I learned my senior year in college, courtesy of my friend Bobby Olson), I’m putting in spring bronze weatherstripping, which let me tell you is not easy to find, since the only market for it is retro-cranks like me who refuse to replace their old windows with space age polymers.
