We initially hired a handyman to fix ours, and then I ended up doing most of the work myself after they screwed up the stops. It turned out to be remarkably simple once I got over my fear of hacking out the stops (ours were glued in by some idiot in the past, but the hardware store sells new ones that you just paint to match). We had to replace the rope on one and tune up, paint, and strip the hardware on the others. I highly recommend the book "Working Windows" by Terence Meany, which guides you step by step through repairing old windows. They're very straightforward as long as you don't have issues with rot (in which case you do need a professional to help repair or replace them---we replaced the sashes on the two windows with rot issues in our house, and had them custom built by a local shop to match the originals). That said, we have neither screens nor storms where we live, so it was really just the windows. Those may make it more complicated, though I'm pretty sure you can order custom sized storms and screens for far less than a new window would cost. (The place where we're getting our screen door makes them, and I'm sure other shops do too.) Good luck!

zaz

I will preface this by saying I am an old house/window snob :)

We have a 1930 Dutch Colonial that went through a whole house reno 5 yrs ago. During the process there was examination of our old windows - many were painted shut/inoperable. Naturally our GC rec all new windows or at least the Marvin sash kits
The more I researched the more I became convinced our 1930 single pane windows were best for our home for many reasons. Yes the are not "energy efficient" however doing the math on return on investment left us married to the deal for a LONG time before seeing any return.

We had the Greenwich window doctor come & rehab 30 windows - they put in all new parting strips, re-weighted where needed (this guy carries around cast iron weights in his car!)- all new roping, chalking & glazing where necessary. It was a long process and not cheap - I think about $200/window- I have absolutely no regrets for choosing this route. I personally cringe when I see the lovely aesthetically pleasing older windows being torn out for vinyl replacements or fake muntins - Yes that is the snob in me.
Soon after the reno was done, I replaced all the storms with Harvey triple track - while I'm not a fan of triple track they do the job and were more cost effective than their custom counter parts

Marvins are great product! I am surprised by your price points we did use them in our kitchen reno as the prior owner had enclosed a screen porch & decided to put aluminum picture windows with casements - Wrong on many levels so I a quite pleased with the Marvins

Old house forum, This old house are also great resources .

I'll step down now

Good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: window doctor

I replaced 6 windows in my 1919 Craftsman with Marvin, custom made wood windows, 3 over 1 and 5 over 1. But, my prices were much more than yours- they were $900 and $1500 each, and I installed them. They have true divided lights, and I opted for the aluminum cladding on the south side of the house due to the sun killing the previous windows.

The others I will be restoring myself with the help of the book artemis mentions. I too, am an old house snob- self admitted, but I also am realistic. The windows on the south side of my house were in horrible shape and had to be replaced. There was no way around it. I opted for Marvin because I couldn't get the cladding with the local company (these are also difficult to reach which is probably why they weren't taken care of). I opted for custom (ie: more expensive) wide grain fir to match that in my home. You would never guess they weren't original- they are so identical to the previous, only better.

I agree with jejvtr- if you can salvage them, try to do so. They fit your home and are really not that energy inefficient. Good wooden storms are not hard to make, just have to remove them in summer. I'm still trying to figure out a way to custom make my own storms with moveable parts, and screens, so I don't have to remove them. Insulation in the spaces where the sash weights are, make a huge difference, and I installed interior plexiglass storms in the winter which help tremendously with air infiltration on the windows I haven't yet gotten to. I also recommend Spring Bronze for all the double hungs- tightened mine up nicely.

By the way, most window people who tell you how inefficient they are usually are trying to sell you new windows. With a bit of work and a good storm, you can actually make your current windows nearly as efficient, while still looking like they belong. :)

Thirded on rehabbing your existing windows if possible. The windows on my 1930 house need some work but they are basically still in very good shape after 80 years. No replacement window is likely to give me that kind of service life, even custom wood ones because the old growth wood originally used is so very hard to get now. The ones I have fixed up so far (with the help of the Terence Meany book mentioned above) look great, are way less drafty, and need only one finger to operate. Storm windows for those that don't have them are on the to-do list though. You are so lucky to still have the wooden storms and screens!

We are just finishing a kitchen renovation in our 1910 house. We could not bear to toss out our solid old 6x6 windows, and had one new one built to match the others. My good friend the house painter is wonderfully skilled and made both the new window look old and the old windows look new, if you know what I mean: they met in the middle! Ugly triple-track Harvey storms go over that until we figure out what to do with the rest of the front facade. We are happy that we didn't throw out our old windows.

lynn

Probably doesn't apply to many, but IF you have twin houses on the block, watch for neighbors who are installing new windows. Beg for the discards.

We scored a whole set of duplicate storms that fit our windows exactly. DH screwed the neighbor's set to our set and voila! Double Pane! Add in unsightly tape along the edge for the winter and you're set for -20 degrees. Not everybody's solution, but worked for us. We stalled off our rehab for an additional 10 years.

Another old window snob here. We have 100 year old replacement windows on our 1825 house (plus a few from the 1840's) and they are still going strong. I bet the "new" replacement windows would not last that long. We had 2 different companies come (10 years ago 2nd floor and last year 1st floor) and performed a mechanical restoration on the windows (new cords, weatherstripping, etc.). One company was better than the other. We reglazed them ourselves (last year's project 35 six over six windows!). It takes time but it's worth it. With a good storm they're great. We had to buy a new custom window in the attic - six over six divided glass - a squirrel long ago tried to gnaw his way out of the attic. That put us back $1200.

Here is a link that might be useful: window mechanical restoration

Now I remember! It was all about the storm windows.

I decided against trying to repair our old windows because i really disliked the storm windows and the only way to get rid of them was to get new windows altogether.

I wanted true divided light, but was told Marvin does not make them anymore. If you are 6 over 6, that is 6 times as many seals that have to hold up. They had maintenance issues.

At least our muntins are real wood and have a profile. I was sure I wanted Marvin, but their muntin profiles were too plain.

I just miss the layers of paint!

Here is a link that might be useful: architect series wood muntins

We had our 1924 windows professionally restored and are very happy with the result. You really can do it yourself if you have the time and want to save the cash for other projects. Our DIY skills are limited, yet we restored the original wood storms on the first floor ourselves over the summer and they came out great.

Previous owners installed triple track storms on the second floor and we would not want to hang storms up there each fall and take them down each spring. We are currently saving up to replace the second floor aluminum storms with wood storms with upper and lower removable screen panels to take full advantage of our double-hung windows.

Here is a link that might be useful: year-round wood storms

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I'll be the voice for change. I have triple pane windows and the comfort difference compared to single pane is huge. When the heater goes on the room reaches the correct temperature and then it stays there for an extended period of time, generally. With the single pane windows the heater went on and stayed on almost all of the time. I don't live in an area where we have storm windows so I am not sure how they work.