An idea whose time has not come.
So glad I stumbled onto this rather humorous albeit very informative post this morning whence surfing the morning Active Rain features. Having been in the Manufactured Housing Industry for the past 3 decades I can fully appreciate some of the adventures and misadventures many home inspectors experience.
I was a design build general contractor for more than 30 years and I have been a home inspector for more than 10 years. I have seen a lot of interesting things in houses over all those years.
At a recent inspection, I found a type of window installation from the 1930’s that I had never seen before. Being a child of the 60's, I am not unaccustomed to seeing things I have never seen before, and that is part of what makes my job so interesting. However, this window installation was particularly unusual.
Most of the windows in the home were slider type windows.
Now anyone looking at the picture above would not be thinking it was a slider---because there is only one sash---more consistent with a casement type window.
The way this design works, is that the window slides into a pocket in the wall. But this installation is more complicated than at first appears. When you slide the window into the pocket one way, another attached sash with a screen comes out of the pocket on the other side.
Pretty cleaver don’t you think?
The actual installation represents serious problems in terms of energy efficiency. Not only do we have the poor insulating qualities of the window itself, but now there is an uninsulated pocket on both sides of the window. Also, the window is more vulnerable to wind driven rain finding its way into the pockets on both sides where it can then find its way into the wall structure. In this particular home this was not too much of an issue due to roof overhangs and locations out of the weather, but on the weather side of the home it had been proving to be a problem—and there were stains on ceilings in rooms below to attest to it.
Some ideas never take hold for good reason—I suspect this was one such idea.
Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Click on the Rose
to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group
PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)
all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.
My WORDLESS WEDNESDAY pictures and some selected POEMS & STORIES.
WA State, Home Inspector Advisory Licensing Board
Comments(5)