Gated by the Old House exterior paint work with Dennis. No storm work happens until Dennis is fully demobilized. Dennis does his standard paint scope, which includes removing the existing storms, painting the casings, and reinstalling the existing storms. Then Caleb takes over: measure openings, order Allied units, remove the existing storms, install the new ones. No coordination with Dennis on the storm replacement, no scope adder on his quote.
Stays: the original 1830 wood interior sashes and their wavy old glass. Dennis repaints them lead-safe. They are the historic part of the window and they are not in scope for replacement, ever, on this project or any future version.
Changes: the failing exterior aluminum storm windows get replaced with new Allied Window Saver storms, mounted to the outside of the wood casing. Allied is quoting on the storm assembly only, not on glass. The wavy glass stays behind the storm, protected, exactly where it is.
Chipping paint on the interior sashes is almost certainly lead-based on an 1830 home. Disturbing it triggers EPA RRP rules and is a meaningful health risk without proper PPE and containment. The plan keeps you out of all lead-disturbing work, with Dennis handling removal, prep, and repaint as part of his existing scope.
Premium storms have 3 to 8 week lead times. To hit mid-August installed, the order goes in the moment Dennis finishes prep on the second window, not after his whole job wraps. Measure as soon as the first opening is stripped clean.
Wood casing painted white, paint visibly weathered with hairline cracking around the bottom corner. Storm panel sits in a triple-track frame with oxidized aluminum finish. Bottom rail looks intact but glass shows haze and waterline residue suggesting the unit has not been cleaned in years. Surrounding shrub will need to be tied back during work.
Same triple-track style. Visible damage to the right vertical track at midspan, possibly a separated joint or split frame member. Consistent with the off-track failure described. Casing paint is in worse shape than Window A, with peeling on the side jamb. Reachable from the ground with a step ladder, no extension ladder required.
Default assumption: same vintage and condition as A and B. Confirm during walkthrough with Dennis.
Product: Window Saver custom low-profile aluminum, integrated screen, factory color match (bronze or putty for the Old House).
Period-correct enough that the Park Service uses them. Triple-track means summer venting and a screen in one frame, which the wood-storm options do not give you.
Product: True wood storm with concealed slider. Mortise and tenon construction, 100-year design life.
Most authentic option. Best for a front-elevation visible window. Bedrooms are not your most prominent facade.
Product: Custom clear-pine wood storm windows, made to match historic profile.
Overlaps with SpencerWorks on function. Worth a quote if you want a second wood-storm bid.
Bedrooms need year-round function. Summer venting was the primary urgency. Triple-track with integrated screen means one frame that does both jobs. A wood storm requires taking it down in spring, storing it, installing screens, then reversing in fall. Three windows times two swaps a year is real labor. Allied solves that without sacrificing the historic read.
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Allied Window Saver storms · 3 units | $1,350 | $1,950 |
| Shipping to Litchfield CT | $150 | $300 |
| Stainless install hardware, caulk, shims, sealant | $60 | $120 |
| P100 respirator, plastic drop cloths, gloves, HEPA bags | $50 | $90 |
| Touch-up paint matched to Dennis's color (small can) | $15 | $30 |
| Existing storm disposal (scrap metal recycling) | $0 | $25 |
| Project total · 3 windows installed | $1,625 | $2,515 |
| Professional install · 3 windows (CT) | $2,700 | $4,200 |
Fully professional install of equivalent custom storms in CT runs $900 to $1,400 per window all-in, roughly $2,700 to $4,200 for the same three openings. The DIY install on the Allied units saves $900 to $1,700 and is well within beginner-to-intermediate skill range. Dennis's exterior paint quote is unchanged by this project: no scope adder, no coordination, no bundled work. Storm replacement happens entirely after Dennis demobilizes and his paint has cured (at least 30 days).
Storm install happens after Dennis demobilizes plus 30 days of cure time. If Dennis's job pushes to late summer, the storm install pushes to late fall, which is colder and wetter weather for caulk to set. Summer venting gets lost this year regardless.
What to look for: Dennis hedges on a firm start date, his quote is more than 60 days old without renewal, or his August schedule is already booked with other clients pushing this work into October.
Allied's tolerance is tight on custom units. Off-square openings on a 190-year-old house are normal, not exceptional. A misordered storm becomes a $500-plus paperweight you cannot return.
What to look for: any opening measures more than 1/4 inch difference between top, middle, and bottom widths, or between left, center, and right heights. Visible racking or sag in the casing also signals trouble.
Only two of the three windows are pictured. If Window C is a different vintage, has a screen panel where the others have storm panels, or sits in a deeper jamb, the order needs to reflect that or you end up with one storm that does not fit.
What to look for: visit Window C and check sash count (4 over 4, 6 over 6, 2 over 2), exterior frame profile, jamb depth, and rough opening dimensions against A and B before any measurements get sent to Allied.
Lead paint chipping is the surface symptom. Underneath could be cracked glazing, broken sash cords, or rotted bottom rails. None of that kills this project, but it changes Dennis's interior scope and could push his timeline.
What to look for: visible cracking in the glazing putty, sash that will not stay open without propping, or soft wood at the bottom rail when Dennis exposes the interior side. Especially relevant for the wavy-glass originals you want to preserve.
Allied offers a finite set of factory color matches. Since Dennis paints first and you order Allied storms later, this is actually easier than it sounds. You will know his exact final color before placing the order. Risk only materializes if Allied cannot match his color or you order before confirming.
What to look for: Dennis using a custom paint mix (anything outside Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore historical lines) that Allied's factory finish library may not match. Or you placing the Allied order before Dennis has applied his final coats.
Dennis's standard scope reinstalls the existing storm windows after painting. If he does this with heavy caulk, oversunk fasteners, or galvanized screws that strip on removal, removing the existing storms later turns into a chiseling project that risks chipping the freshly painted casing.
What to look for: after Dennis demobilizes, inspect each storm. Heavy caulk bead locking the storm to the casing? Fasteners driven flush with the painted surface? Galvanized rather than stainless screws? Any of those make removal harder.
A more ambitious version of this project: rip and replace the entire exterior window assembly (storm housing, exterior casing, sill, jamb extensions, weather barrier) while preserving the original wood interior sashes and their wavy old glass. The interior side of the house stays exactly as it is. The exterior side becomes a clean, modern, fully-sealed assembly that does not need a storm window at all.
This is a real preservation strategy and it is the right call if you want to permanently solve the lead paint problem on the exterior, gain meaningful thermal performance, and not be on the seasonal storm window treadmill. You keep the part of the historic window that actually matters (the original sash and wavy glass viewed from inside), and you let go of the part that does not (the failing aluminum storms and the lead-painted exterior casings that need maintenance every 10 years).
Cost is the catch. Per-window all-in runs $3,500 to $7,000 when you include exterior carpentry, custom millwork to match the historic profile, integrated weather barrier, and a finish carpenter who knows how to do this without disturbing the interior sash. Three windows is a $10K to $20K project, not a $2K project. It also means committing to a finish carpenter and possibly an architect, not just Dennis and a storm window vendor.
Worth knowing this exists as the right answer if you ever do whole-window restoration on the Old House. Not the right answer for this project, this summer, this budget.
Sequenced order of operations before any storms get ordered or installed.