Renovation & Replacement
In many aging buildings, existing windows are leaky, single-glazed sash with conductive framing systems. They can be difficult—or even dangerous—to operate, promote unhealthy condensation, mold, or mildew formation, and force occupants to keep their distance from exterior walls due to glare, drafts, and noise.
Setting aesthetic and performance goals for a successful window replacement involves considerations for thermal transmittance, condensation resistance, acoustics, ventilation, view, and solar heat gain.
Historic window replacement requires easy customization of window sash and durable finishes in a wide range of colors. These needs have made aluminum a logical choice for historically influenced window replacement work. Factory-applied anodize and baked-on fluropolymer finishes for the metal offer long-lasting options to match existing color schemes, or return exterior and interior surfaces to their original colors, after years of chalking, peeling, or repainting.
In many historically influenced replacement projects, the windows being replaced are tall, double-hung, sash used for natural daylighting in buildings constructed before the advent of efficient, artificial lighting.
When upgraded from single glazing to insulating glass, these tall, hung sashes get quite heavy, often making replacement double-hung windows difficult to operate, and prone to premature wear of counter-balancing mechanisms.
Projected windows offer an easy-to-operate alternative. These vent types are compression sealed, low air infiltration does not require high operating force, and smooth-operating cam locks, keepers, friction hinges, or butt hinges are long-lived. Wausau’s 4250i INvent™ Simulated Double Hung can even offer the ‘offset’ glass plane appearance of hung sash, with optional between-glass blinds for privacy and control of solar heat gain.
Wausau offers a range of operating window types with beveled exterior glazing rebates, replicating the look and texture of old existing putty-glazed steel, bronze, or wood sash. These products, including Wausau’s popular Invent Retro™, 2250-E Epic™ and 3250-H Heritage™ series, are available with matching beveled muntin grids.
Wausau’s Energy Modeling Tool provides comparative building energy performance - annual energy use, peak demand, carbon emissions, daylight, glare, and condensation - to optimize product selection. Developed by the University of Minnesota Center for Sustainable Building Research, simulations use COMFEN from
Lawrence Berkeley National Labs’ Windows and Daylighting Group.
Complete re-cladding of the building envelope calls on Wausau’s engineering expertise, for product selection, energy modeling, substrate inspection, and code interpretation. Our in-house registered professional engineers work with the building design team to ensure a safe, weather-tight, and easy-to-install, new envelope system, whether sleek 6250i-HRX unitized thermal window wall and curtainwall, or 3-inch face 7250i-UW unitized thermal curtainwall.
Wausau supports your renovation goals, providing architectural support resources, Autodesk Revit® BIM models, experienced local sales representation, and a monthly technical e-newsletter. Contact Wausau’s market managers at: education@wausauwindow.com ; government@wausauwindow.com , and healthcare@wausauwindow.com .