Wood Windows

The Alameda district. The two dormer casement window assemblies with arched-top transoms are slated for replacement. If you wish to see more of the details in these photos, you can enlarge them by clicking on them.

All the pine wood windows made over the past 30 years by the various window manufactures have been sorely tested in climates…

…and exposures like those frequently found in the Willamette Valley. While we hear our client’s sometimes cursing the product name…

…of their particular brand of window when the water damage has cost them thousands of dollars…the problem is by no means…

…exclusive to any particular manufacturer. We see ALL the various brands of wood windows suffering the consequences of direct and…

…consistent exposure to moisture. It’s almost always due to an architectural design that offers no overhang or eves to help deflect even the mildest precipitation.

Being up on a hill where the effect of wind is frequently compounded by laterally moving air-masses turned near vertical, and a lack of frequent maintenance just…

…exacerbates the propensity of wood products succumbing to the destructive effects of frequent and direct exposure to water. And out-swinging casement windows come…

…with their own inherent vulnerabilities in the form of having the reveal between the sash & the jambs exposed to the exterior like an outswing door. Whereas single-hung, double-hung and horizontal sliders typically have that spacing covered with some sort of overlapping stop material.

Not that we’re complaining about all the work these factors bring us, it wouldn’t hurt if folks were to employ our consultation services when designing homes in the Northwest.