Wood Window Replacement

My home is 24 yrs old and has Marvin wood casement windows. During my annual window painting exercise, I noticed that all the west facing windows and a few on the east side have loose joints in the lower half of the window frames. On a few windows the pins that hold the mortise and tenon joints together are loose and beginning to protrude above the frame. Almost all the windows have developed horizontal cracking running with the wood grain especially where the bottom brick mold meets the brick sill. Scraping revealed cracks on the exterior of the wood, but nothing on the interiors as they appear to be fine. Over the years I haven't had to do anything but paint as they have been faithfully maintained otherwise. In addition to the wood cracking, I now have one window where the seals have failed and the glass is foggy so I'm beginning to think this is going to begin happening regularly due to their age.

I know I can replace the glass in these windows, but my question is whether

24 years is about the expected life expectancy for wood casement windows? If I need to replace them I know I can get the exact same windows from Marvin in either wood or vinyl clad, but is the clad window worth the extra expense.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

Reply to
kosta
Loading thread data ...

Mine are 80 years old. A couple have had to be replaced due to lack of sufficient maintainence.

Bob

Reply to
Bob F

Expensive but I'm replacing mine in 30 year old house. Vinyl cladding is also relieving me of painting chore. I think window lifetime is about 20 years. I've know of folks having them replaced after 7 years and my installer said this is more due to shoddy installation than window construction. Also new windows with e glass save in utility bills keeping heat out in summer and in in winter. Coating on outside of glass reduces need for cleaning. Quality windows with long warranty should set me for life - unless I live to be 100;) Frank

Reply to
Frank

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.