Quote on storm windows

We had someone come out from Trillium Glass in London to look at the stained glass windows. Trillium was recommended to us by St. James Presbyterian in Forest, who had their stained glass protected by vented storm windows, which we thought would be just what we need. We want to protect them, give us more insulation, and stop the heat build-up that is warping the lead. 

Aaron seemed very knowledgeable and experienced and easy to work with. He would do all the prep/painting and clean-up, and his windows would be thick-paned and powder-coated white to fit the exterior of the church really well, so you wouldn't see nasty silver aluminum. He had some great ideas for venting so that warm air could be channeled into the sanctuary in winter and vented out in summer. Humidity and cold will always be a problem in this location, though, and the R-value of the storm windows, while it will be better, won't be wonderful. 

It turns out Trillium can also help fix the stained glass itself, if I run into tricky bits. Aaron thinks the lead, though misshapen, is still in salvageable condition. Not a lot of the solders have popped. Apparently they have a vat they can dip the windows in to easily remove the cement, which would save me weeks or months of work. I'm wondering what it would cost to have a vat of my own, actually. I have 55 window sections to process, which is practically an industrial scale, so I may as well set up a commercial venture to do it... 

I'm also finding more cracked and broken glass than I first identified, and matching the glass may be difficult. One of the worst breaks is in one of the name plates (poor Ms McRorie), but Trillium can do hand-painted replacements if necessary. Ultimately, we need to decide where best to put our money, and where we'll get the most bang for our buck. Decisions won't be easy, I think. 

My husband found some inexpensive scaffolding that will be safer to work on than ladders. It has already come in handy putting up the front light fixture. It's a cheerful yellow and can double as a workbench. He has also splurged on a band saw so that he can make replacement frames, as many of them are rotting and splitting. As he is removing the stained glass frames from the apertures, we're finding the original installers didn't stain or protect the wood throughout, but only where it was visible. This means the unprotected wood has been absorbing water for the past 80+ years. Even if we can salvage most of it, matching the stain to the old sills and baseboards will be tricky. They won't have the same patina, of course. And any new pieces he has to make will be of a different kind and age of wood, so it will take the stain differently. So...do we just do our best and end up with mismatched stain for a patchwork look? Do we sand it all down and lose the patina but maybe get better matching with the stain? Or do we throw caution to the wind and paint the wood one uniform colour? (which would be easiest but sad.)

Decisions, decisions!