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Our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design, with expert advice and insider neighborhood knowledge.
Ask the Remodeler: Clearing the fog on replacement windows
Plus, how a pump can boost the irrigation system watering the lawn.
Q. My partner and I have a question about our windows. The home we bought 20 years ago had “newer” windows that had replaced the original windows in the house. The house was originally built in the ’50s, part of the GI Bill housing for veterans. Over time, some of these newer windows have developed a haze or fog in between the two panes of glass. Is there any way to deal with that without full window replacement? Hoping for an easy and cost-effective solution.
K from Norwood
A. I wish I could say there was an easy solution to that problem, but unfortunately, there isn’t. Hard to tell how old the windows are, but they sound like early generation Thermopane windows. This is when manufacturers started using two panes of glass to better insulate the interior from the elements.
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What can happen over time is the exterior seal fails and moisture gets in between the two panes. Sometimes, you will see the actual moisture, usually in colder months, but in the long term, the moisture leaves behind a film on the inside of the glass. That is impossible to remove since it is in between the glass panes and you are stuck with foggy or hazy windows.
The only option is to replace the windows, which is not the worst thing since windows and doors have come a long way in terms of performance. What I would recommend is to have them replaced with window inserts (most likely that is what you have now since they are a second-generation window), which would keep the cost down. Window inserts are installed from the inside without having to remove exterior trim. It is also minimally invasive on the inside, which serves to make the replacement quicker and thus less expensive. Window inserts can be all vinyl, which is the least expensive option. A little pricier is a window insert that is clad on the exterior and wood on the interior. This allows you to paint the interior the existing trim color. It also makes the window look more like an original part of the house.
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Q. We’re hoping you can help us untangle a dilemma before we make an expensive misstep.
We’re planning to install an underground irrigation system at our home, a 1950s house (on municipal water) with a very large yard that’s become a real chore to water with hoses and sprinklers. We’ve consulted several irrigation installers and plumbers to get quotes and advice, but we’ve hit a confusing snag: our water pressure.
One plumber measured our municipal water pressure at about 35–40 PSI [pounds per square inch] and warned us that it’s too low to reliably support an irrigation system. He advised that even with a booster pump, the improvement might be short-lived. His reasoning was that our water line lacks enough reserve capacity — the pump could give a quick boost, but then the pressure would quickly drop again.
I’ve also spoken with several other professionals, including from our town water department, who were surprised by that claim. They told me that booster pumps are designed for exactly this scenario — to increase low pressure — and they hadn’t heard of them failing in this way.
Our plan is to install an irrigation system with about 10 zones, so we want to make sure we have enough consistent pressure to support it. We’re stuck. We’d hate to spend thousands on a booster pump and irrigation system only to discover it won’t work as intended.
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Is the risk of failure real, or is this plumber being overly cautious? And is there any way to confirm whether an irrigation system will function reliably with our current water supply before we commit?
Thank you for helping us water our way out of this puzzle.
Marissa, Walpole
A. I talked to our plumber about this one just to be sure. We typically work around existing inground irrigation systems but don’t install them. However, we do install the occasional water pressure booster pumps when a particular neighborhood has low pressure off the street and we are adding bathrooms, etc.
To date, we have never had a complaint that the system isn’t keeping up with domestic water needs, especially with modern pumps that are variable speed and can ramp up and down as needed. In addition to that, most of our clients who have irrigation systems have them coming on quite early in the morning, before the whole family is up showering and getting ready. That makes for a lot less strain on the systems’ water pressure.
All that said, I would side with the various professionals you have spoken with and the town’s water department and say that a pressure booster system is exactly what you would need installed. The installer would have the best answer as to what size booster you need based on the area to be covered and the number of zones, pressure off the street, etc. This should be on its own designated circuit, so there’s some electrical work involved in addition to the irrigation and monitoring system.
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Mark Philben is the project development manager at Charlie Allen Renovations in Cambridge. Send your questions to [email protected]. Questions are subject to editing.
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