I purchased this house recently. Don't know how old are these windows. The house is 150 years old.
The window sash panels fall down with no resistance. This is true for all the windows. Could all of the balances have failed? Is there some reason they could have been removed or "disconnected"? How do I go about identifying/investigating/fixing?
This old house needs some TLC. It's 150 years old and has been through a lot obviously. It's in a cute but by no means affuent town. My next door neighbor bought their house for $15k and I bought this one for $40k. That info is to set expectations for what I can justify spending for rehab. So far I've done much gutting inside and outside and have put a new steel roof on top.
Inside needs extensive work. For example, all the floor joists in the living room need to be replaced. I will salvage what I can of tho joists as they are 150 year old 3" thick oak. Everytime I remove things added in the last 60 years I think I make the house nicer.
But this post is about the siding. Photos show what I am working with. The original house is double brick with plaster applied on both interior and exterior surfaces. I am in the process of removing the masonite siding. Beneath that are furring strips of varying quality and degree of secure attachment to the walls.
Note that three sides have plaster beneath the furring strips but one side has new-ish (1940s) yellow brick.
The options that I am considering:
I had a structural engineer come and look at the house and this was his recommendation.
Fill the nail holes and stain the brick (I don't like that yellow one bit).
For siding, I am considering Everlast composite, Celect PVC, and EDCO steel.
It could be a combination of the above. I could put new siding just on the front for example. Looking for feedback and ideas.
I am leaning towards applying a product to fill in the nooks and crannies that would be impossible to clean. I am not trying to "seal" it but instead make fewer crevices for spills to get stuck in. Basically I want to make it more smooth and less textured. I figure now is the time since it was just installed. Does this make sense? What's a good product? Google points me at CoverTek and LVT-Protect. I used a high-quality LVP product (Kahrs)