Need Wooden Storm Window Help?

Wooden Storm Windows

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The seasonal chore of taking down wooden storm windows and swapping them with the screens in the Spring then reversing the process in the Fall was part of a discussion the other day.

Though these “old fashion” storms perform better and hold up longer then contemporary double-hung replacements perhaps you’d rather not deal with them any more.

An option to discarding your homes original and functional storms and buying new, lesser quality and not inexpensive storms is getting someone else to take care of this chore for you. We’re fortunate to have a campus right next door. One quick email elicited several students within hours willing to unburden you of this task.

If interested in having someone else do this for you let me know.

rick(at)BeloitNPA(dot)org

Belt-drive workshop — Still in production

Saw this and had to share. This is too cool, at least for me.

Before the advent of electric powered manufacturing it was all done by steam or water powered, belt driven machines. I’ve seen pics of belt-driven manufacturing here in Beloit.

Anyway, there’s a woodworking company that restores and puts back into production belt-driven woodworking machines for their window and related products manufacturing.

Not a Luddite. I enjoy and work in new technologies. I am though astounded by the level of sophistication of early manufacturing. Early industrial design had an elegance to it. Note the decorative striping on the machines. Also note, both father and son in the video had all their digits. Wonder how common or not that may have been “back in the day”.

Belt driven workshop

Garagescape or Porchscape?

Happened to be driving by a ‘planned residential development’ today and saw the perfect example of what I’d heard once defined as a ‘garagescape’. You likely only need the picture to illustrate the concept.

I make no secret of my bias, I love old houses and neighborhoods. Residential developments such as these leave me completely cold and help define ‘Generica‘. I can hear the prospective home owner talking to their realtor. “Yes, we’re looking for a three car garage with a house attached. Our garage is the priority as we’ll be miles from absolutely everything and anything we’d ever care to do we want to drive there.” They’re clean, new, fully modern and ‘efficient’ homes I’m sure, but one’s ‘quality of life’ is greatly influenced on where one makes their home and I find these… well, interesting. No doubt our old neighborhood shows it’s wear-n-tear after eighty to a hundred years or more. I wonder what condition this development will be in half as many years.

Me, I love a ‘Porchscape’ pedestrian neighborhood. Likewise, this term is best described by some pics of a neighborhood that looks warm, interesting and inviting even in the snow.

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