By Arrol Gellner
Just after World War II, a contingent of salesmen descended on America's decaying neighborhoods of Victorian houses, which were then at the nadir of their popularity. Modernist architects had declared that ornament was bad, leaving Victorian architecture, the most ornate in U.S. history, beneath contempt.
The clever salesmen capitalized on this fact as they peddled the latest invention in retrofitting materials -- asbestos-cement shingles. These babies could cover up Victorian evils in no time, provided the installers ripped down all that nasty gingerbread first. The new shingles were fireproof, rotproof and came in pastel shades of pink, blue and green that never needed painting.
You can literally track the shingle salesmen's conquests through many old Victorian neighborhoods, where sometimes not a single house escaped unswathed. Domino-like, owner after owner fell in line, some no doubt simply because so many of their neighbors had already done so.
Fast-forward two decades. Architectural tastes were once again changing, and Victorians were now being prized for the very ornament people had earlier been persuaded to do away with. Alas, vast numbers of houses had long since lost their lavish gingerbread to the asbestos-cement shingle installers, and what seemed like a sensible improvement at the time began to look a bit drastic in retrospect.
Today there's an exact analog to this story, involving a retrofitting product that may surprise you -- vinyl windows. Like asbestos-cement shingles, vinyl windows are a quality product that's functionally unassailable, but one whose aesthetic often leaves much to be desired. Ironically, it's now Modernist-era homes that are being singled out by a vinyl window industry touting the worthy goal of improved energy efficiency. Persuaded by such apparent logic, smart homeowners who wouldn't dream of, say, putting shiny aluminum windows in a beautiful old Victorian, think nothing of putting fat white vinyl ones in a California Rancher.
While this may not seem like a big deal from the vantage point of the present, rest assured it will be a few years down the road. The doughy look of vinyl windows is fine for today's neo-traditional home styles, where their thick plastic frames are a good likeness for wood windows. However, they're literally a glaring anachronism in Modernist-era homes, whose slim-lined aluminum windows were deliberately chosen to complement the sharp, clean styling of the era.
If your house currently has single-glazed aluminum windows and you're looking to replace them for better energy efficiency, first bear in mind that new windows are not a panacea for big heating bills. Saving energy is always a worthy goal, but unfortunately windows represent a relatively small fraction of the heat loss in an average house. Increasing your attic, wall and duct insulation are generally much more cost effective ways to increase energy efficiency -- never mind the sales pitch.
If replacing your aluminum windows still makes sense for other reasons, consider using top quality double-glazed aluminum units instead of vinyl, and make sure you insist on the same finish as the originals, whether it be bright, bronze anodized or colorcoated.
Aluminum windows are at least as durable and maintenance-free as their vinyl counterparts, with the added plus of matching the originals. In view of past lessons, it's a choice worth thinking about.
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