Liberty at 617-782-9410.
     Another window specialist is Healy Construction of Natick, which installs B-Glass windows, converting your old windows to double glazing (two layers of glass) without changing their appearance. For information, call 508-655-8878.
     Still another window treatment is an inside storm, made by InnerGlass of Simsbury, Conn. Its interior storm is made of glass with a compression fit do-it-yourself installation. The window is squeezable, with spring-loaded sides that can be inserted between jambs. For information, call 800-743-6207 or 860-651-3951.
     If you want to reglaze your own windows, there was a new tool at the show. It's a great idea, and avoids heat methods to soften the old glazing.
     It's called the Prazi Putty Chaser, and consists of a router-type cutter that fits into an electric drill. A handle gives control, and the cutter removes just the putty, without hitting the wood or glass.
     It's made by Prazi USA of Plymouth. For more information, call 508-747-1490.
     Restoration Resources of Boston deals in "quality architectural antiques," a sort of high-class wrecking company.

Among its items are mantels, doors, columns, stained glass, woodwork, hardware, plaster ornaments, sinks and tubs, street lights, phone booths, and more. For information, call 617-542-3033. 
     Do you have a tin ceiling in your old house, or have you thought about one? Richard Kessel of Lynn has a big inventory, one of the few places in the area that you can get such a variety. For information, call 617-592-0400. 
Restoration Seminars
    Winding up the home show season is Restoration and Renovation Boston, March 12 to 14 at the World Trade Center. 
     While this is a home show with exhibits stressing how to fix up an old house the proper way, it also features workshops. 
     The workshops are three hours long and require preregistration and a fee. Deadline for preregistering is Feb. 20. 
     The seminars are:
1. Repairs and Treatments for Wood Windows, March 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
2. Federal Period and Neo-Classic Floorcoverings March 13 from 9 a.m. to noon.
3. Authenticating and Restoring Antique Furniture, March 13 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
4. Decorative Painting, March 14 from 9 a.m.to noon.

    For the last 30 years, Western civilization has been in a mad race to improve everything. In some cases, we have succeeded. In others, this "progress" has been of questionable value. A case in point is windows. Not Windows 98, but old windows- 1898.

    The window has been reinvented many times since the early 5Os, and very few of these "improvements" have withstood the test of time. They all replace the old rope and pulley suspension with various combinations of springs, strings and plastic things. My experience is that within two to fifteen years, the springs stretch, the strings break, and the plastic things disintegrate. Conversely, you may be living in a house with windows close to or over 100 years old, which may still work or could work with a little TLC.

    Repairing modern windows takes special training and parts available only from the manufacturer, if you can find them. On the other hand, I can repair old wooden windows, even those deteriorated by years of neglect, with standard materials carried in most hardware stores. It is not even that difficult for the do-it-yourselfer as many homeowners have learned in my classes.

    The replacement window industry has created such powerful advertising that most people have been

brainwashed into thinking that new windows will be superior in every way to old ones. My 15 years of experience in repairing both old and new windows and my training in energy auditing have taught me otherwise.

    Replacement window salespeople usually claim that you will realize substantial energy savings with their products but what they don't tell you is that you could realize the same energy savings by restoring your old window system. The "R-Value" (resistance to conductivity) of an original wood window, plus a good aluminum storm is the same as a double insulated replacement window. For those in historic buildings where exterior storms are either undesirable or not allowed, there is a wide variety of inside storm products available that can accommodate any situation and be unobtrusive.

    Another thing they don't tell you is that the double insulated glass that they use is subject to seal failure, which causes fogging (the glass becomes opaque). It must then be replaced to the tune of $85 to $100.

    Modern windows may work fine until something breaks, and when it does, they can become dangerous because double insulated glass sashes

are very heavy. Their suspension system depends on complicated combinations of springs, strings and plastic things, and when any one of these little parts fail, the result is a guillotine. I've gotten calls from rental unit owners who have had to help pay medical expenses for a tenant who was injured by a falling window.

    I have seen entire buildings full of replacement windows with manufacturers who have gone out of business. This happened commonly during the boom years of the 80s, and now these windows are starting to fail.

    I have received countless calls from people who bought an old house with "new" windows, only to discover that many of them don't work, the previous owner left no record from where they came, and no manufacturer's marks can be found on them. These are usually the low-end vinyl replacements, which are sold by hundreds of companies that come and go each year.

    I simply ask people to realize that new windows are not automatically better than old ones. There are excellent ones on the market - but you pay a high price for them.

    I can restore an old window for the price of a cheap replacement, and in my opinion, the restored old window is a much better investment because it will last much longer.

FOR MANY WINTERS, RAW WINDS WHIPPED through a pair of tall casement windows into the cavernous second-floor ballroom of Chris and Joan Hagger's home in Wayland, Massachusetts. Then, six years ago, their classic Colonial Revival became This Old House's fall TV project and contractor Tom Silva came to their rescue. He replaced the windows which had been installed in 1888, with modern aluminum-over-wood copies. The drafts disappeared and the Haggers were delighted.
    Their joy was short-lived. Within a year, the inside sills were wet. Worse, water seeped down through the ballroom's ceiling to the first floor, dribbling onto antique wallpaper and damaging trim around the front door. The Haggers called the window manufacturer's local dealer, who sent repairmen out several times. They tried everything - caulk, weatherstripping, even duct tape - to no avail. As the Haggers' frustration grew, they remembered that Tom had raised doubts about the design of the windows, with weep holes facing up instead of down, before he installed them. Finally, the dealer agreed to replace the replacement windows. When Tom arrived last September to do the work, he could only say, "Everything that could go wrong went wrong here."

    Like many people, the Haggers thought that once they had installed new windows, they would never have to worry about them again.Even the cheapest replacement windows slide smoothly, latch securely and don't rattle in the wind. There's no putty to repair, no flaking lead paint to worry about and no hassle with storm windows.
    Consumers are inundated with advertisements from regional window companies that promise miracles. One brochure mailed to residents in upstate New York announces inexpensive "maintenance free" windows made of "sturdy vinyl, scientifically assembled to stay perfectly intact." Follow-up salesmen assure buyers their new windows "will not pit, rust or wear out."
    Such claims have helped make replacement windows a $3 billion business. Last year, more than 22 million were sold in the United States. That's a million more windows than went into new houses. But many of those windows are built so poorly they will not last as long as the ones they replaced. There are fewer than 10 major window manufacturers in the United States, but there are more than 3,000 companies making windows. "If you and I wanted to make insulated glass...we could do it in our garage," says Bill Lingnell, a window-industry consultant in Texas.

    About half the residential replacement windows sold in the United States are made of vinyl. At first glance, vinyl seems to make sense. Manufacturers are justified in their claims that it insulates well and never needs painting. But vinyl isn't nearly as rigid as other window-frame materials, such as wood and fiberglass. Worse, vinyl begins to soften and distort at 165 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature easily reached in the space between a window and drapes on a sunny day. Although all window materials expand and contract as temperature rises and falls, vinyl moves more than twice as much as aluminum, wood and fiberglass. Vinyl expands seven times farther than glass with each degree. That action can pop seals between the frame and the glass. Andersen Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of windows, has never made an all-vinyl window for sale in the United States. "Vinyl simply is not suitable for use on its own as a window material," says Mike Compeau, a spokesman for the company.
    Last year, Environmental Building News, a newsletter for contractors and architects, evaluated all the framing options used in windows and advised readers to "avoid 100 percent vinyl window frames" because of their "durability problems."
    Vinyl windows have been on the market for only 15 or 20 years. According to Hakim Elmahdy, the chief window expert for the Canadian government's Institute for Research in Construction, "There is not enough data or track record for these windows to say, yes, they will last 50 years."
    Yet the demand for vinyl windows has doubled since 1989. They're inexpensive; as little as $78 will buy a 2-by-3-foot window and families with terrible

windows and not much money can easily conclude that the replacements are a good deal even if they don't last a decade. "We won't spec a house with vinyl windows," says noted architect Robert A.M. Stern. "We won't even use a vinyl-over-wood window. We only use windows that are framed in wood. And we paint them or stain them. We don't leave a natural finish. The paint seals the windows."
    But even wood is not without drawbacks. In the past, wood windows may have survived well because houses were built and maintained differently. Lead paint, now outlawed, was a flexible cladding that kept water out. Heat was cheap and houses were drafty - circulating air dried up moisture that might otherwise have supported rot funguses in wood. Radiators were placed under windows, helping to bake frames and sills dry.
    New materials, such as fiberglass and composites made of wood fibers and vinyl, seem promising. But their track record is short too. If there's one lesson to be learned about replacement windows, it's that new and promising doesn't always work out.
    With so many worrisome replacement windows for sale, homeowners who hunt for bargain-basement deals may be setting themselves up for an expensive lesson. The crew of This Old House has learned from experience that quality products are more economical in the long run. To sort your way through the maze of window options, consider following these steps:
    First, find out if you can save your old windows at a reasonable cost. In Boston, David Liberty makes his living promoting the notion that it may be best to repair what you've got. "Some of these windows have lasted for a hundred years. If they're replaced, the replacements might wear out in just eight or ten years. I can fix the existing windows so they last another hundred years." For about $175, Liberty says he can often get a drafty, stubborn

wood window to work smoothly again.
    Think about doing the work yourself. Freeing a stuck window is sometimes as simple as cutting through paint layers with a utility knife. Replacing broken cords or sash weights is easier than it might seem, especially after doing it the first time. A neighbor who has already tackled this job might be a good coach. If you don't want to repair your own loose putty, Liberty suggests calling a painter.
    Don't think of window replacement as a way to save a lot of money on heating or cooling costs. Research shows that old windows can be made virtually as energy efficient as new ones for less money. A Vermont state study last year funded by the National Park Service analyzed eight ways of upgrading windows, from adding metal weatherstripping and storm windows to putting in vinyl replacements. All achieved similar energy savings, but sticking with old windows proved to be as much as seven times cheaper.
    Second, decide if the entire window needs to be replaced. All that may be needed is new sash, the part that frames the glass and slides up and down in a double-hung window. Or you might need new sash combined with a secondary frame that fits inside the old window frame. This option works only if the existing window frame is sound, something a replacement company may fail to mention. "You can't put new windows into a frame that's rotted, or the rot will continue to grow and get into the structure of the house," Tom says.
    Secondary frames with new sash are popular because they can be installed without prying up all the trim. A homeowner can do the job in less than an hour. But secondary frames may reduce overall glass area sometimes by 15 percent. From the outside, the windows can look clunky, especially if older

windows are nearby for comparison. And the loss of light may be noticeable if glass area is significantly reduced. "The space becomes duller and darker, not lighter" says Bill Rose, a researcher at the University of Illinois.
    A partial window rebuild does not stop what may be the most significant source of drafts - air that sneaks in through gaps between the window and the rough opening in the house's framing. A 1995 study by the American Society for Testing and Materials found that such gaps account for up to 40 percent of a house's air leaks. To plug them, all the window trim must be removed. Then the spaces can be filled with low-expansion polyurethane foam or covered with casing tape (used to tape joints between sheets of insulated sheathing).
    Third, turn to a nationality known window manufacturer and compare warranties. A big company has a reputation to protect, Quality manufacturers tend to offer warranties for their windows, and they put their name on their products where it is visible even after installation. Because a typical house changes hands every seven or eight years, some manufacturers of low-quality windows offer warranties that seem too good to be true. Because the homeowner is likely to move before the windows fail, "you can offer a 20-, 30-, 50-year warranty if it's nontransferable," says Eric Jackson, a marketing manager for Tremco, a manufacturer of insulated-glass components. Labor to replace the window, often more costly than the window itself, may not be included.
    Fourth ask questions about insulated glass. About 90 percent of all replacement windows sold incorporate insulated glass, one of the most vulnerable parts of a modern window. Often called twin-pane or triple-pane, insulated glass consists of two or three panes held apart by desiccant-filled spacers and sealed on the outside with butyl rubber or silicone.

    All insulated glass will eventually fail because no sealant stops all moisture. When the desiccant has absorbed all it can, the windows become cloudy. The Sealed Insulating Glass Manufacturers Association tracked 2,000 windows in a 15-year study. About 11 percent of the lowest-quality windows and 4 percent of the top-rated windows failed. The cause of nearly every problem was moisture next to the sealant.
    Relatively simple manufacturing steps - supporting the glass on rubber blocks, drilling weep holes and sealing the inside edge so condensation can't flow into the glass pocket - minimize problems, but most of these measures can't be seen once the window is assembled. A buyer's best clue is a sticker indicating that a window meets the standards of the sealed glass association (less than a fourth of all insulated-glass makers are members). A new study tracking 17,000 windows with these labels has found only four failures in three years. Labels from the American Architectural Manufacturers Association and the American Society for Testing and Materials also indicate windows that should last. And think about buying singlepane glass windows with storm units: They are often equal in energy savings to windows that use insulated glass, and the storm unit will go a long way toward protecting the primary window.
    Fifth, keep a vigilant eye on your new windows. Homeowners should check regularly to see whether joints are opening up or the surface is bulging or becoming stained. If problems develop, the value of buying from a company that stands behind its products will be evident.

    Tom Silva's father, Philip was out of luck when wood rot got to a window in his eight-year-old house. Tom tried to track down the manufacturer for a replacement only to discover that the window came from a cut-rate lumberyard that used dozens of suppliers, usually the cheapest. No one knew who made the window.
    The Haggers got their pair of new windows from a major manufacturer even though the one-year warranty had long expired. "It wasn't easy," Chris Hagger says; it might have been less trouble if he had called the manufacturer directly rather than the local dealer.
    Hope Sage, who lives on an island in Maine, has nothing but praise for how another major manufacturer reacted when she noticed black powdery mildew on most of the 48 wood windows she and her husband bought for their retirement home 10 years ago. The company sent two people to investigate the problem and concluded the culprit was a tin-based preservative used for four years in the late 1980s. The preservative " just didn't do what we expected it to," says Gary Daniels, the manufacturer's director of corporate research. The company has since switched to an iodine-based product, but it is replacing windows for Sage and all other customers who complain about windows bought during that period, even though the one-year warranty expired long ago.
    "Think wisely before choosing the brand," Tom says. "A company that sells windows should be able to point out the differences and discuss them. If one person is offering to put in the exact same windows but for a far lower price, ask why. What are they leaving out? You need to know, without waiting a year or two to see what problems develop down the line."