WOOD WINDOWS- DESIGN OF SUPERIOR WINDOWS, FABRICATION, & INSTALLATION

Olek designs and custom fabricates superior wood windows, using traditional joinery and balancing techniques, adapting the better aspects of insulated glass technology where important, and rejecting the serious degradation of window design and construction that has been foisted upon the public over the last century. We fabricate, finish, and install windows to last for hundreds of years, in any design or style, from flamboyant Gothic, to Palladian fanlight, to traditional double hung, double sash weight balanced designs. Our windows' long life is attributed to mortise and tenon joinery using solid rot-resistant lumber. Only highly rot-resistant species of wood known for stability in use, such as white oak, Spanish cedar, Honduran Mahogany, Black Walnut, and Cherry are acceptable. On our banned materials and hardware list are pine, African Mahogany, finger jointed lumber, spring balances, and doweled joints. We also suggest storm windows as an alternative to insulated glass, for their largely ignored thermal efficiency, long life, and low maintenance. Where insulated glass is demanded or required by Landmarks Preservation, "warm seal" insulated glass units are specified in place of earlier type aluminum seals, which are the primary cause of leakage and the motivating factor for the degradation of window construction standards in this country.

CUSTOM WINDOWS IN ANY DESIGN OR PATTERN

 

 

We make windows in any appropriate wood or finish, and can faux finish windows to match interior antique woodwork and patinate it so new windows will be indistinguishable from their surroundings. We custom design one or hundreds of windows, and embrace unique designs, large scale windows with unusual balance systems. We have fabricated operable windows up to 12' high x 50' wide, forming a window wall for a brownstone. We fabricate in any shape; round, oval, elliptical demi-lune, rectangular, and even flamboyant arched windows, with hand carved muntins.

 

 

12' high sliding wood windows, look like Double Hung. 4" thick for Gramercy Park townhouse rear elevation

 

GLAZING IN ANY TYPE OF GLASS- LEADED CAMES, PERIOD WAVY ("RESTORATION") GLASS, OR MODERN-

 

 

We can also glaze the windows with any type of glass. We have large stocks of actual period wavy glass from around 1905 salvaged from old windows. The wavy appearance of this glass is realistic, unlike the too distorted restoration glasses made by mold blowing, or not distorted enough restoration glass. The sizes available are up to 5' x 6', far larger than any German restoration glass made today, which is limited to 34" x 24".

 

Olek also custom fabricates panels of leaded glass, actually leaded came glass, in any pattern, and any color available today. We match antique textured and colored glass as well in leaded came glass panels.

 

Of course modern plate glass, annealed or tempered, or cut in various geometric or asymmetric shapes is available in our windows. We can provide the higher efficiency coated glass, such as tin oxide or other coated glasses, and are knowledgeable about their specification and relative advantages and disadvantages. Non-reflective insulated or non-insulated glass unit glazing may also be furnished.

 

This Landmark District Townhouse selected non-reflective glass to enhance its Park view.

 

WEIGHT BALANCES ARE SUPERIOR TO SPRING BALANCES-

 

If you would like your windows to be as easy to open in 50 or 100 years as they are today, weight balances with chains are for you. If you prefer the savings and don't mind the inconvenience of difficulty opening them after a few years, spring balances have their advantage. But if you still want to open the windows in five years, be prepared to replace the spring balances or resort to using another ancient window opening device, after struggling to lift the full weight of the windows- a stick of wood, to hold the sash open. This cheaper solution is especially dangerous around little children, who can smash and break their fingers fooling with the wood stick.

 

Never having been painted, windows at the Hispanic Society of America were rotten.

 

WHY WINDOWS ARE ENGINEERED TO LAST 15 YEARS BY OTHER MANUFACTURERS-

 

Windows were crafted before the Industrial Revolution, and up to Victorian times, to last hundreds of years. What happened, why do they last 5-15 years now? They have been deliberately "engineered" by manufacturers and their trade associations to increase their profitability over the long term. Aside from greed, the manufacturers seized a golden opportunity when insulated window glass units were invented several decades ago. They were hailed by the window industry as great innovations by providing energy savings. The Building Codes accepted them, the industry trade associations accaimed them. But the dirty little secret behind the short and brutal lives of windows today is that insulated window glass units used glass with aluminum seals between inside and outside panes, which conduct cold between the inside and the outside, and cause the buildup of condensation. The condensation ruins the silicone or polyisobutylene seals between the glass and the aluminum, typically causing seal failure in less than five years. A fact conveniently ignored and pushed under the rug by the insulated window manufacturers. So the thermal efficiency is short-lived, and in fact not as energy efficient when new as storm windows anyway.

 

Window manufacturers seized the golden goose, and downgraded all the components of the windows to fail at precisely the same time (or earlier, shame) as the insulated glass units. Profitable innovations included:

 

It is sad, but American culture still fosters the use of throw-away windows, the antithesis of "green" building. Our woodwork standards in fact embrace disposable windows, where everything is expected to last 10 years, or as little more as possible. The technology has been developed centuries ago, for windows to last for hundreds of years. Following traditional joinery and craft rules still results in durable and trouble free green windows.

 

Garage door fabrication	T.D.L. Windows for house.

	Windows used heavy restoration glass for some panes.

All wood custom architectural woodwork, T.D.L. weight-balance D.H.D.S. windows, custom siding. The terraced front walls and rear yard took advantage of a zoning ordinance to allow greater building height, with 10'6" first floor ceiling height, 9' + second floor, and 11'6" third floor.
Wood Windows Gallery
182 Washington Valley                                                               22 Grammercy Park Window Fabrication
Hispanic Society