I am a home owner who has just bought a house with single hung tilt windows installed approximately 1999. These windows appear to be a builder grade and I cannot find any tag or marking showing who the maker is. I am having a hard time finding parts after perusing various sites on the internet. In particular some of the "shoes" are broken and I need at least one other plastic part that I will describe and show in a photo. The windows have a mechanism that uses a spring to help lift the windows. This is not a coil mechanism or a balance (no pulleys), but rather a simple spring that is attached to window vertically and within the frame by a fixed cord that is screwed into the top vertical inside corner of the frame. This cord is then attached to a plastic connector about halfway down the inside of frame with the string end wound around the plastic connector. The connector is then used to connect the string to the top of the spring. The bottom of the spring is then attached to a shoe (pictures attached). Please note that the shoe is made with a protrusion which is used to latch onto the spring. The spring end has a final loop of the spring bent to be at a 90% angle to the other spring coils and serves to attach onto a side of the shoe. I also need some plastic pieces that connects the spring to the string. I have attached photos. Has anyone seem similar window mechanisms and offer any clues as to the maker of the window. Does anyone have any ideas on where I might find those replacement parts? Thank you very much for your help John Dorman

I recently purchased an older condominium which has older brass door knobs throughout the interior on all of the doors. I proceeded to the local hardware store, purchased some polished nickel door knobs and began the process of replacing. I removed the first existing brass knob and inserted the first new door knob pawl only to find it was about (+/-) 1/4" too long. This replacement door knob set was any common polished nickel knob you could find at a Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace, etc; for replacing interior doors knobs with. My assumption is that the standard distance between the face plate of the door and the center point of the door knob has grown over the years; which explains why current knobs will not fit these antique doors. Therefore, I'm under the impression I have two options: 1. Replace the entire antique door altogether, which I prefer not to do because they're in great shape and are really good looking. 2. Find some replacement "antique" knobs that have the shorter pawl length. I'm wondering if anyone else can comment on their experiences with this and if anyone has been able to find some current, modern or contemporary knobs to fit their older doors.