I've been doing a lot of thinking about the stained glass windows. For eighty years they served their purpose and did it well. They aren't energy-efficient, but the church congregation put plastic storm windows over them in winter and removed it every summer, and all was well.
When the church was closed and sold, the new owners no longer removed the plexiglass in summer, leaving it on year-round, and the heat build-up is what caused the lead in the stained glass windows to soften and sag. Until that point, the windows were apparently in great shape.
So...am I trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist? Do I really need to put expensive plain glass ($30,000-worth) on the outside of these windows? Can I continue to use the plexiglass storm windows (maybe with an ugly layer of insulation with them) in winter and remove them in summer? It's a pain and would require scaffolding, but it's doable. Although some damage has occurred to the stained glass, will it stop and not get any worse if I start removing the plexiglass in summer? And can I just get away with fixing the worst of the damage and leave the rest alone?
When I remove the plexiglass, I could insert a screen over the bottom section of the window that opens, to keep the bugs out. If I'm still worried about heat build-up in winter, I could vent the windows to the inside, and plug it up in summer so mosquitoes can't get in.
The great cathedrals and churches don't have glass over their stained glass. These windows were designed to function the way they do, and maybe, in the spirit of honouring history, I should just let them do what they were meant to do and not tamper with them.
And if they're not totally energy efficient, well, the $30,000 would buy a lot of propane. Right?
Have I just bought back ten years of my life?
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