House in Progress Diary

I've never seen those windows called piano windows, but I've seen other high windows on a wall referred to as such, because they were placed high on a sunny exposure so that a piano could fit underneath and gain the benefit of the sunlight. Most windows were too long for a big piece of furniture to sit under them, so a high window allowed for something big and relatively tall like a piano. It was often a more decorative window too, I believe.

I haven't heard much about Jeld-wen, we've been looking at Marvin and Loewen. They both seem high quality, they aren't cheap though. Most of our windows were replaced with 70's aluminum sliders, so we have about 10 to replace.

Yeah, what Jordana said. I think the Petch House has a "real" one in the traditional sense. Greg may have posted about it sometime last year I think.

In the Sears Craftsman home I grew up in, our tall player piano was actually tucked right in between those two windows with the top of the piano coming right underneath the bottom of the window. When these homes were built, gathering the family around the piano was probably a common scene and maybe that's what brought about the name and maybe even existence of piano windows.

Jeanne,

Don't be too quick on dismissing custom windows. Try giving Adams Architectural a call. (www.adamsarch.com) They are across the river from Rock Island IL and they make good stuff. The other suggestion might be to look for salvage? I look every week at demolition sales Chicago (www.demolitionsales.com) and Murco (www.murco.net) Maybe you'll get lucky? I see that Island Girls have joined houseblogs, I visit their site pretty regularly too...

I can't find anything to cite, but I've always understood the term 'piano window' to refer to one with a high sill *under* which an upright piano could be placed. (not neccessarily two where a piano would go between)

We were once surprised to find windows that fit our bungalow on ebay: These almost have the dimensions you need (click on my name)

I'm pretty sure Enon Hall used Jeld Wen windows. There was a severe problem with them and the factory sent a repair person to completely rebuild them. I'm pretty sure Bill & Gay were pleased with the results.

I bought the JeldWen zap pack kits to replace the sashes in my 1925 house. I had to special order the sizes, and they were about $400 per opening. I also found out that each special order item has a unique serial number in an inconspicous place in the glass.

The windows are well made and I'm very pleased with them. I had a bit of a problem with one side of the zap pack, and decided to leave JeldWen customer service a message at 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon.

Imagine my surprise when they not only answered, they transferred me to tech services where someone also answered!! The guy walked me through getting the window installed with the problem and sent out a replacement zap pack for free.

Piano windows usually refer to a bank of windows (3 or 4) high up on a wall. This allowed people to put their pianos on that wall without blocking the windows. I think you might have semi-piano windows ;-) I have some in my living room, with my tv under (although my mom is trying to talk me into taking her piano)

Custom casements might now be as expensive as you think. I'd talk to a local carpenter. They are a pretty easy design (at least mine are).

Hey Jeanne

I have a garage full of bungalow windows rescued from our alley, and some of them are casement windows. They're the traditional wood with three vertical sections of glass (like our front windows). You're welcome to any of them, but I don't know off-hand what size they are.

Cheers,
Alicia (hello house)

I also recently purchased a couple of all wood Jeld-Wen windows, though double-hung not casement. These were a ordered a custom size (to replace original windows) and were called their "Custom" series (which replaced the Pozzi line). So far I have been impressed. They are well designed, seem durable and were very well packaged. I've only had them in for a few months but my experience with Jeld-Wen has been very good so far...also they were a bit cheaper than Marvin or some of the other big name window mfgs.

The "piano" windows in our '26 bungalow are even higher on the wall -- about 70" from the floor. Since the floor has been replaced and the wall replastered, I can't tell if there were built-ins underneath, or whether they were really tall. Right now we've filled the space with barristers' bookcases. Maybe someday we'll have built-ins. Sigh.

Is it really important that the windows open? Originally, the stained glass windows were fixed, right? Why not mount fixed panels of glass (like storm windows) with the original stained glass mounted on the inside? It sure would be a lot less $$$!

Just my (cheapskate) opinion, of course!

We used Custom Window and Sash in Skokie and had our stained glass window sashes remade to size for $85 each. Then we had the stained glass rebuilt and cleaned for just under $300 for both. You may not need this.

We plan to put storms on the outside to proect the windows long term. We had them capped while our other windows were being done. Just wanted to mention he rebuilding option because it wasn't as expensive as we thought and they did a really nice job.

I think 1912 Bungalow did a post on "piano windows" once also.

Over at www.oldhouseweb.com someone posted a VERY nasty link about Jeld-Wen Windows!
Some guy sold his completely rotted windows on Ebay and the whole aution was basically a huge complaint about the horrible quality of those windows. Not enough, within days there were HUNDREDS of comments, more than 90% confirming his opinion about the quality of those windows. So I'd say BEWARE!

I've heard that Loewen has had some problems and horrible customer service. Not a good combination. Have you checked out Jeld-wen or Marvins. I heard both companies have great customer support when problems come up. It would really suck to spend the big bucks that Loewen is asking and no customer service when there's an issue.

I would disagree. I've had Loewen windows for a few years and they're great. I had one window that needed service and they were great to deal with. I would recommend taking a second look at them.

We are in the process of "fixing up" a 1912 Craftsman. When we took of the beautiful oak trim in the living room so that we could drywall, written on the trim it says "Piano Window" in someones handwriting. Needless to say, we found a 1904 Grand Upright for sale in the newspaper. $100. So cool!