Victorian Cottage - transom windows

[matsuscha]

John - again not sure if I'm posting to the right place - but now that I love the plans for my little house, any tips from anyone on how I find the transom windows so integrated here keep me from making the 'traditional' error of making the windows cost more than the home?-I've bumped out the "post=dining area" & added two ft on each side - chaned the open area to include 2 more french doors rather than sliding glass...(those transoms are $600 @ where door = apx 325?)  

the transoms & light is the biggest reason I loved this plan for our site!
help! thanks!
caroline  

[matsuscha]

I didn't mean to just John - ANYONE - I love the forum!

[Amanda_931]

If you have a place to store bulky, fragile stuff like windows, buying as you find bargains can be the way to go.

When an acquaintance of mine designed and built a house for a friend, they did the rounds of the semi-local building supply people, also the semi-local window manufacturers, looking for windows that had been built to order but not accepted for whatever reason, and then jiggered the plan to suit what was available.  I think that they had to buy one or two new windows, but that house (one bedroom, with a big bay window in the dining room) had something like 11 windows in it--counting the bay window as 1.

"boneyard" is what the building supply people called their surplus.  

An old co-worker discovered more than he needed in one design series that had been especially made for a house whose owner had gone broke or something on the back lot of a window manufacturer.

In both cases they saved a lot of money--better windows than they had planned on buying, for at least a third less than their original estimate.

I bought a manufacturer's sample for the barn--but then had a couple of windows made for me--oops.

There are always windows and patio doors at garage sales, junk stores, on the road where someone has been remodeling.  These might be useful, but more for cold frames than windows.  You'd probably want the kind of windows that are replacing the discards for your house.

But the Habitat stores, recycling affairs may have stuff comparable to what is in the boneyards and back lots.

[Amanda_931]

Hmm.  I'm used to old buildings--hospitals, the old Customs house in Nashville, with transoms over the doors into a hallway.  These things opened with long rods.

Just read Andersen's definition--Fixed windows.  Also some other company's pictures showed fixed windows.

If that's what you want,  easy enough to order glass (double pane!) from the glass company, using John's instructions on how to mount them--in the part about sun-rooms.

If not, then you get to go looking, or graciously climbing up the ladder every time you want to open the awning--or hopper--window over the door or other windows.

[Daddymem]

Tall windows with custom grilles can give you a similar look probably for less than a window and a transom.  If you get DH then you have an "openable transom".  When I looked at John's plans again, I see various windows with the custom grilles from 3DHA which I imagine would be the same ones in Chief Architect: craftsman.  You may also notice that the "reality" Victoria's cottage doesn't have all those transoms...could be because of cost too?  Window grilles can be on the outsites of the pane or on the inside and they can make pretty much any style you want so you could probably pull off the look pretty easily.

[John Raabe]

Transoms can be pricey. As will be windows and doors in general.

However, builders have told me several times that the most cost effective way to design for a new house (where new window and doors will be used) is to work with a local manufacturer and have them gang the windows and doors together so they go into a hole as a single unit. Usually such a company has a person who will work with your entire plan and work out the best way to have the transom and grid look that you want.

On a recent house we used Anderson's lower cost series of wood windows and our local representative got a very nice transom look out of the product by ganging fixed and opening windows together.

See the view from the south yard in these photos:
http://www.countryplans.com/bjork/

Then, in another house in the photos below we used single windows that were taller and setup the grids to work as transoms. This is using a 9' ceiling.







If you want to see other pictures of the above house you can download this larger PDF file: http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/weiner-04.PDF

[Amanda_931]

I don't see anything but the French Doors opening, no sign of screens.

What am  I missing?

[DavidLeBlanc]

I think the windows above the french doors and the windows above the windows on the side of the house are separate windows and not part of a single assembly.

Amanda; People don't open windows any more - they turn up the a/c

[Shelley]

John's suggestion of a longer window with the grillwork designed in such a way to give the impression of a transom is definitely the least expensive.

Start dealing with separate windows and the $$ really adds up.  

Only thing that I can think of that would be less expensive is to fabricate them yourself.  Fixed pane for light only.  Wouldn't be smart if you're hiring out the carpentry, only if you DIY.

[John Raabe]

Western Washington is relatively bug free and neither of these houses have (or need) AC.

Not everyplace is so blessed and sliding doors are easier to screen than french style swingers. The cream colored house has sliders that look like french doors and has removable screens that are up part of the year.

The transoms and main windows on that house were assembled and shipped from the factory. That was cheaper than ordering and then installing individual windows. However they are separated by frames and trim - each is not one glass panel (as it is in the stained house).

[DavidLeBlanc]

A minor digression: French doors are much easier to screen now with the invention of pull out screens mounted in the frame of the door. They're not all that cheap (yet?), but they seem to do an excellent job.

I think the number of bugs in Western WA depends on how close one is to fresh water. I've run into (and been surprised by) people who complain about a mosquito problem here. I think I've seen one (1) mosquito in the 9 years I've lived here.