In a message dated 9/4/2003 8:29:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
Howdy, folks. Hi, Pam! How's cracks? I know I've been quiet for a while.
Hope y'all didn't miss me too much.  We did, but don't worry yourself too much.
Anywho, Mr. Pam and I attended a meeting last night for improving downtown
Phelps so folks would be think it's pretty and inviting. Sounds like it must be
not so godawful already, and try to be careful you don't screw it up with too
many Histo-Presto types pontificating, driving up real estate prices, painting
funny colors, etc. During the conversation, a couple questions arose to which I
responded that I had a great source of information Liar, liar, pants on fire!
(BP, of course!) and would see what I could find out.
So...question 1: One woman knows of publications like Old House Journal, but
she doesn't know of any that relate to old commercial buildings.  The Great
and Powerful Clem (Labine), founder of OHJ and great brain behind us all, now
publishes something called "Clem Labine's Traditional Building," which is much
more useful and less nauseating than OHJ these days, and there is frequently
commercial-related stuff in it, and from time to time issues or articles devoted
to various non-residential building types and the kind of work they need.
There's also a "This Old House" magazine with tips from Norm and the gang, which
I read as long as my gift subscription held out.  The Dover Publishing people
have reprints of 19th Century pattern books which show commercial buildings
and details, in addition to residential stuff. She would like to know some good
mags, trade journals, reference books, etc. that would cater to this.  What
brought this up is that apparently Cornell students (engineering, architecture,
we're not sure) have a requirement to come to Phelps to view the downtown (all
1.5 blocks of it) because it has the most examples of different styles and
eras in such a small setting.  Sounds like a nice place.  That must be why I've
never heard of it. We, of course, know nothing about it.  Everyone agreed that
it was purdy neat that a high falutin' school would have little old Phelps on
its curriculum.  Keep a sharp eye on the interlopers.

Question 2: This same woman (she's retired with lots of time on her hands)
was recently in Bennington VT and noticed that all the downtown buildings have a
double pane thermal setup where the 2 windows have a 3/4" or so metal gasket
inbetween.  These are insulated glass windows, often called (by me, anyway)
Thermopane. Our downtown businesses are concerned with heating/cooling costs
They are the only people in the world with this concern. and she wanted to get
more information about these particular windows.  Would anyone know of good
references for this type of thermal setup?  I was wondering if they were custom or
a commercial standard design and possible sources for the materials.  The
(well, one) problem with insulated glass is that it takes (or used to take) a
very long time to get to the "payback" point, where the amount of money you save
on heating/cooling equals the fortune you spent to remove your historic
windows that have been there for 100 years and replace them with new Thermopane
windows.  The (well, another) problem with insulated glass is that the seals
between the two sheets of glass have a limited service life (maybe 5 years, maybe
15, maybe 20 at best; who knows, but it sure as hell ain't as long as the
original windows were there) and when the seals fail, the space between the glass
gets all steamed up and looks like shit, and you have to replace the whole damn
window AGAIN with yet another custom made window (glass and frame), or spend
the rest of your life looking at fog.  The (well, another) problem with new
windows is that they're built using shit: sometimes plastic (it's a better
insulator than wood! it doesn't have to be painted! it doesn't rot! it's cheaper
than wood!), sometimes wood (which is never as good as the original wood in your
original windows, unless you pay billions of dollars for very high-end
custom-milled wood sash and frames), sometimes aluminum (much stronger, lighter and
cheaper than wood! more durable than plastic! doesn't need painting!), and
they NEVER look as good as the original windows: mullions are too wide,
improperly spaced, glass is either too perfect or has oil-canning (funny reflections
that make the glass look like the cheapest plastic you ever saw), etc.  John
Leeke will no doubt have more (and better) reasons why new windows are NFG, and
I'm surprised he hasn't erupted yet.  Best yet, have John come up there and
explain to the locals why they should keep (and fix) the windows they have rather
than spending a fortune to get shit.
Ya gotta be real careful not to wind up with a bunch of well-intentioned
people with more money than sense who have unintentionally messed up what sounds
like a nice, more-or-less pristeen downtown.   As soon as Christopher gets his
gunwales fixed (and the ice melts), we'll all cruise on up the river for a
look-see.  Meanwhile, keep us posted.

How much snow you got so far?

Ralph