The Window Preservation Standards Collaborative has been working diligently to produce the first Window Preservation and Weatherization Standards. The task has turned out to be more time consuming than anyone thought.

The founder, advisers and stakeholders are posting statements needed to complete the draft for peer review here at the Forum:

http://www.ptnresource.org/WPSC_forum/

If you want to see how the document as a whole is shaping up you can see the outline here that lists all the topics and standards, with links to each one for your review:

http://ptnresource.org/WPSC_forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=219

The forum has many brisk conversations going on simultaneously and the expanded group of over 100 collaborators are now writing standards as well. Once each Standard is edited and reviewed by the founders, they are put up for all to see and comment on.

In February the development phase for the first edition ends and the final editing and publishing phase begins, which is expected to take about ten weeks.

Publication of the National Window Preservation Standards book has been rescheduled for spring 2013. We received comments from several window specialists that they could not participate in the Window Preservation Summit in July because that was in the middle of their busy season and they were flat out with work. A few requested the opportunity to participate during the slower winter season. The new publication schedule allows for a full two winter months of comment and revisions on the drafts at the Window Preservation Standards Collaborative’s (WPSC) website.
We were delayed in getting the report on the energy performance testing, which is now expected by the end of the year. The testing is a key element in the Standards project and the results will be an important part of the Standards book. The book will also catalog 150 to 200 individual topics and standards on a wide range of work methods and window treatments.

Everyone with a professional interest in window preservation is invited to review and comment on the drafts of the Standards. At the website’s discussion forum:

http://www.ptnresource.org/WPSC_forum/

where the draft of each topic and method standard is posted as an individual message. You can read the draft of each topic or standard and post a comment on it. Several of the drafts of topics and standards are now posted, and many more will be posted during the coming weeks. To view the drafts go to the link above, click on “Getting Started” then click on “Review & Comment on the Drafts” to learn how to participate.

Any working tradespeople with ten or twenty years of window work experience can even submit a favorite work method or window treatment to be considered as a Standard. Here is a direct link for details:

http://www.ptnresource.org/WPSC_forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=150&p=336#p336

The Window Preservation Standards Collaborative is a group of working tradespeople. Anyone with a professional interest in window preservation is welcome to pitch in.
WPSC public website:  http://ptnresource.org/WPSC/
WPSC discussion forum:  http://ptnresource.org/WPSC_forum/

The Preservation Trades Network supports the WPSC as one of its formal initiatives.

–John Leeke
207 773-2306
JohnLeeke@HistoricHomeWorks.com

New York Times Reports on Historic Windows

“Old Windows Find a Following”, the article written by Katie Zezima in the New York Times, demonstrated that a new conversation about windows has begun.

WPSC member Bob Yapp said, “I’ve restored thousands of windows over the years. I have never replaced a single window because I want my historic houses to be energy efficient without spending a fortune. I can’t get that performance with disposable replacement windows.”

Here at the National Window Preservation Summit in Pine Mountain Kentucky, our new, cutting edge, preliminary window  testing  data is verifying what most people in historic preservation have known for years, old and historic windows can cost effectively be made as or more energy efficient than new, disposable replacement windows.

We are pleased that the conversation has begun on a national level.

The Window Preservation Standards Collaborative

In the Fall of 2010 the top preservation trades people in North America and Europe gathered for the International Preservation Trades Workshop in Frankfort, Kentucky. Among this astounding group of artisans were some of the top window restoration experts in the country. Five of these window experts, Duffy Hoffman, John Leeke, Jim Turner , David Gibney and Bob Yapp met and decided it was time to create national standards for the repair and weatherization of old and historic windows. We call this endeavor the Window Preservation Standards Collaborative (WPSC).

You can always get the latest information on current project activities by clicking on “Forum” above, or on this link:

WPSC Forum

–John Leeke, WPSC co-founder