I'm in northern NY. The last time I enquired wooden storms could be custom-made by a local woodworking shop for about $125 each (figure it's probably about $150, by now). That included glazing; if I wanted them unglazed they would have cost about $25 less. Keep asking around, there's bound to me somebody local who makes them. The hangers can be ordered online. There's a hardware store in Philly with a website that stocks them the hangers). If you need the name, I can get it for you.

HTH
Molly~

kennf, if you really want to get fancy the storms can have the same muntin configuration as your windows. I had one wooden exterior storm made by Coyle Lunber. My husband and my carpenter are now using that as a model to make storms for the rest of the windows. It's important to make the frame slightly larger to allow for adjusting the storm frame to an out of square opening. You can also glaze the entire storm or have a removeable window/screen for the bottom half of the storm.

I would really recommend a removeable window/screen for the bottom half of the window. We had that on our last house. Changing storms and screens was so much easier when you didn't have to go up a ladder to do it.

kennf,

For noise reduction and energy conservation you might try to specify insulated glass for the storms. I live in an older (1760's) house and was able to modify existing storms by removing the glass (circa 1950-60) and replacing it with double pane, insulated units - I did have to add some thickness to the storms to accomodate the added thickness of the glazing (plywood is amazing stuff!). It works well for me but I'm in a one story house.

Dad

Dad, if you make the frames thicker, to accomodate the glass, do the storms still fit flush with the window framing? Were you able to use the same hangers? My windows look as if there is just enough room for the standard storm to fit. If I beef the frames up, the storms will rest proud of the facade of the house.

Just lurking. I grew up in a house my dad built from the foundation up. He made the windows & storms. Do you ever open your windows? We did and had to changed the storms & screens every spring & fall. They were heavy. I was real happy we were one story.

Do you live in an area with 'nuicence' ordinences? Some places are very restrictive - zoning or homeowners. If you do get them to work for you.
Have you tried talking to the neighbors? They may not be aware of how irritating they pets are. My dad had schnauzers so my sons had to have schnauzers. I didn't realize how yappy they were until I remarried. My 2nd husband had a shih tzu. That dog and the replacement are both very quiet.
What about plantings? That's long term but I've been at homes where the sound is reduce alot by shurbs.

I just lurk here alot --- I'm having storm windows made by Adams Architectural -- they do a lot of preservation work. These are combination storms -- solid wood (no finger-jointing) They LOOK like the old the wood storms that hang on the outside of the window but you pop out the glass in the spring --from the interior -- to open up the screens.

Price is reasonable -- about $150-175 per window. And they do ship all over the country.

Cathy

Corgilvr,

I used the 3/16 plywood on the inside of the storms; cut back to fit the sash's overlap with the storm window frame, and to create the interior side inset for the panes. It looks weird until it's installed, but then it looks right (from both sides - I did have to change the hook & eye placement a little bit though). The exterior is flush with existing exterior sash - the interior fits flush with the stops for the storm pane (some minor scribing/trimming may be needed). I used the same hangers (but labeled the storms with a sharpie as to where they went).

The exterior side of the storms got glaziers points and glazing compound to hold the panes in place, it works for me (4 years and counting)
Dad

Cathy - how big are the windows that Adams made for you? I got a quote for a combination window that was absolutely out of sight (and not in a good way).

Barbara

We have maybe 5'longx2-1/2'w we had storm full length,screens 1/2 of window.Each wibdow was about $900 a window.Downstairs 9/6 windows upstairs is 6/6 and all old glass.We have about 22 windows some smaller.We also had 4 casements old looking put in above kitchen sink had storms made for them,beautiful job.

Barbara -- my largest window is 29x67 and it was $156 -- here are the stats. 1 1/8" preservative treated clear pine, mortise & tenon construction --no finger-joining. Charcoal permanent screen and single strength glass inserts. They are primed on both sides.

I thought they were fairly reasonable. I will be picking them up at the factory so I have no shipping costs --lead times at the moment --6 weeks.

Cathy

Do you have existing older storms (buried in the basement/attic), they can be converted to insulated panes if you are a little bit handy, for about half the cost.
Dad

Has anyone ever encountered wood storms that are designed for the two window frame to remain in year round and inserts to be changed and removed with the seasons? I havea house around a hundred years old that has these storms. I had a local cabinet maker recreate missing windows but he would not attempt to recreate the locking mechanism in the top portion of the frame. I have been on a hunt on the internet to find these antique metal "locks". It really is simple. There is a housing that is insert to the underside of the frame and seated in that is a flat lever that is turned downward to "lock" the top storm into place so it will not fall. The mechanism is accessed through a drilled hole on the front inside (top) portion of the frame where a screwdriver fits nicely into a slot in the metal causing it to turn. I really would like to find this type of hardware for my new windows. A latch and hook would hot really work since these frames butt up agains the double hung windows.

Anyone? Please?

Sounds exactly like the turn screws used in wooden storm/screen doors to keep the panels in. I have them on my old ones (probably c 1930-1960). You might look for old odd-sized doors at salvage places and buy them just for the hardware.

If not, hunt for screen door hardware; it might turn up something as it is very common on storm/screen doors. (At least it is here in the Northeast.)

HTH,
Molly~

Cathy - my largest window is 48x67. The price quoted from Adams?? 595.00! I just don't see why that much extra width makes it that much more expensive. Odd.

Thanks for sharing.
Barbara

Could be for the set-up charge.

Wow Barbara --- that is a HUGE difference. I have found some strange pricing at times with them.

My custom screen/storm doors were super reasonable when compared to other all-wood Victorian scren doors. In fact, they were several hundred dollars cheaper than anyone else.

But I priced a new window for my kitchen and it was $1200 as compared to Pellas Architectural series at $800 and there were no storms for it.

Still haven't done anything with the kitchen window -- current one is 20 years old or so and is a piece of junk!! I'll regret not getting it done this summer when the cold Iowa air rushes thru!!

Cathy

what I do is build wooden storm windows for the older homes in my neck of the woods (Boston and Suburbs).
Most people have combination windows, but for those that have the wooden double hung, single pane, such as yours, they prefer the wooden storm windows because they are better insulation and look better.
As far as how much money they save- I haven't a clue. The "ROI" is probably longer than you'll live :) but, nonetheless, they look good and they do work.

As far as what something like this costs - it depends.
If I go out measure, build, prime, paint, put on weatherstripping, install, provide installation hardware and the window is similiar to the one pictured, i.e., two panes of glass, I would charge between $150 and $190 per window depending on how difficult it is to measure and install - that is, if it's three floors up (gulp) I charge more.

If it's just building and priming and the homeowner is measuring, installing, painting, etc. it would probably be about $125 if just a "one over one".
Also, if there are more panes (i.e, muntins) - like 4 over 4, or 6 over 6, etc. it gets more expensive, because it takes longer.

Bob
j.gaughan@comcast.net

We have 7 wood combination windows we would like to sell. Because they are custom made we are having difficulty finding an outlet. Any ideas? 5 are 23 3/4 by 45 3/4 and 2 are 23 3/4 by 33 3/4.

We have a 2 story 1930 Dutch Colonial revival - PO had alum triple tracks put in top floor and wood storms for bottom

The windows to the home are 6/1 config yet the storms were 2/2 - odd - They had hanging hooks over each window that have not worked in yrs due to the windows not fitting properly. each Fall/Spring we had to put them up/down - very heavy & tedious task - dh put really long screws in casements to make them stay up - summer we put in the sort of beat up 1/2 screens

We just had the ext of the home painted -painters removed all storms - we realized the cost to rehab the storms (strip, chaulk, paint) & screens would be quite a bit of $$$
The old alum triple tracks were in rough shape - So I did a lot of research - including getting quote from Adams Architecture - however they use pine - and they did not come painted - My other concern w/custom wood storms was I'm finding wood today is far less superior than old wood & too green - I've had so much shrinkage w/newly installed crown molding etc that I did not want the risk w/custom windows which when they shrink would cause signicant loss of energy value

The Best triple track storm is made by Harvey - they cost more than the off the rack storms but they do have the market cornered w/the efficiency rating -link below no I'm not in anyway affliated - just lots of research led me there

The good news was also when they were installed our detail oriented painter did not notice they were up - This guy notices everything!

good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: harvey

We live in a 1960's house with. Single pane Pella windows. We have about 75 windows and can not afford to replace all windows and thought storm windows might help our heating bill, most windows are 42x54
We live inn Chicago area. I need recommendations and a guess on cost per window. We remove in spring.