EF Advertising Group, Inc.

I can see clearly now.
An inventory of windows and solutions; we hope.

This is a collection of photographs that focus on the widows of the house. We first started and inventory and critiqued each window, made a working list of what was salvageable and what need replaced.

We started in the basement and started to replace or restore any window that was beyond repair. Our score was five windows out of five to be replaced.

We started at the basement and worked our way to the third floor. The goal was to ID and number each window. From that sketch, we made a decision what could be restored and what could be replaced while still keeping the look of the house intact.

So off to the basement we go. We plan to make the basement weather tight. The original basement door was awful so we opted for a 9 pane metal door as a temporary to secure the back of the house. Why? The original door fell in with a light push. The same critique applied to the basement windows. Four of the five were still in place. One, near the tower was removed long ago and filled with a poor selection of brick. We did find some of the stone they had removed under one of the additions and a few under the veranda.

Now the decision was what do we replace the windows with? A contemporary double paned weather tight window or original wood windows? We gave this considerable thought and decided to have a window manufacturer create each window in a vinyl base with double glazed class. The purpose was we wanted a air tight window and not have a problem with rot in the future.

Each basement window was a different size. So our spec was for each to be the original design and shape. We asked for a awing type window that allows us to introduce fresh air into the basement without the worry of rain entering the basement. We believe, just like the Victorians, they would have welcomed anything that would have made those windows weather tight and maintenance free.

The easy part was the basement. The real challenge was taking inventory of each window and making a decision on what could be restored and what needed to be replaced. I did some quick sketches as shown above of each window and we tag the window with a number and a small description of its condition. As odd as it is, the front window (number 1 in the drawing) of the parlor isn't really a window. It's a large plate of glass with a white primed board glued across the middle. The entire window is glued in place. I was told the last people in this house tossed most of the woodwork out of the parlor onto the front lawn and sold it. The window was in their way, so they tossed baseboard right through it.

Not all was lost. I was told by a good friend that if we managed to secure the house and owned it, we could have all our woodwork back. He purchased the majority of it. It's all in their basement and because of what we are doing, they gave it back to us.

I decided to save one original window just to give guests an idea why we replaced them. I plan you use this window in presentations when the curious stop by. Although some people think we should go pure on this, we wanted something that was little more practical and useful. We were also worried about break-ins and theft. We feel that the true Victorians at that time would have welcomed any new window that was easier to take care of, economical, and was energy efficient. The original windows were in bad shape and leak like the Titanic. We wanted to strike a balance between restoration and re habitation.

I took two years of architectural courses before I change my discipline to something that was more creative. I guess I must have falling asleep when the subject of old foundations was presented in architecture class. I had never in my 48 years of touring the planet had I experienced a double walled foundation.

But to my surprise, this was a wonderful combination of design and engineering is its purist form. As you can see in the photo above, the foundation is made up of two sandstone block walls. The average block is 36" by 18" tall and weighs about 75-90 pounds. I had removed the original wooden window to find two walls of sandstone and the space between the walls was filled with broken sandstone and sand. You can see the rubble on the left and right sides of the window in the above photograph.

It was clear to me the reason why this was done was that the outside wall took the brunt of the weather and the rubble in between acted like a insulator. The interior wall remained a comfortable temperature. I think this is a sound approach and it does work. The stones are easy to set and the foundation is sound.

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We would welcome any additional information about this house. If you know anything about this house, the neighborhood, or photographs,
please email us at:

victorian house@efadgroup.com