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Paneful project under way at Ward House
By Dinah Cardin/ dcardin@cnc.com
Friday, February 10, 2006 - Updated: 03:21 AM EST

Windows in the 1780’s Joshua Ward House on Washington Street are getting much needed repairs and restoration from Window Woman of New England. The brick building, home to the Higginson Book Company, underwent a major restoration and renovation in 1979. From all appearances, the windows received scant maintenance since that time, and suffered from broken panes, painted-shut sashes, and other ailments.

    "Some of the window sashes are probably original to the building, many were replaced with newly constructed sashes in the 1970s renovation," said Alison Hardy, owner of Window Woman. "Some of the new sashes are not holding up as well as the antiques, primarily because the newer wood is not as solid and weather resistant as the old-growth wood."

    The repair and restoration process is slow and methodical.

    "Because the building is occupied, we want to cause as little disruption to the workers as possible, " said Hardy. "We’ve been working on two windows at a time, and there are close to 50 windows. We’re finally down to the last few on the first floor."

    Since there are no storm windows, each window opening has to be boarded up, which makes the offices rather dark. The windows are brought back to the Window Woman workshop in Topsfield for repairs.

    Each window is inspected and, generally, each gets any weak glazing removed. Any areas of rot are addressed with either replacement or epoxy repairs. The windows are repaired, re-glazed, primed and painted before being re-installed.

    "We make sure that each window can be opened and closed easily, which is not always easy with antique windows," said Hardy.

    Window Woman of New England is a woman-owned business, and currently employs all women to do the labor intensive and meticulous work of window repair.

    "Typically, employees come from an artistic background as they are sensitive to maintaining the original fabric of the window, while restoring it to a condition where it can withstand the elements for another 100 years or more," said Hardy. "We work on historic homes, but enjoy working on commercial projects like the Ward House and the Hawthorne Hotel."