Steel Factory Window Salvage

Christian's "new" Vintage Colonial farmhouse comes with the immediate challenge of deciding how to enclose the exposed interior plumbing along the outside of the front porch. I wondered about how to close the porch in and yet allow one to see the original porch architecture, still let sunlight into the dining room behind it, and heat the space which includes the door to the basement as well as a fuse box.

A wall of glass windows seemed best and installing a recycled steel factory window with a ventilator would turn this porch into a lovely green space I thought. A large steel factory salvage window which cost about $1,000 could be filled with thermal and tempered glass (just the bottom windows) for $680 and the sandblasting with an anti-corrosive mat primer added after is about $275.

The window below came from "Recycling the Past" an hour away, and will be installed to the left of the open space; creating an alcove for the fuse box area. Christian and Bill cleaned it of old glass and glazing. The center four glass panels swing open to ventilate on very warm days or late dinner evenings.

The sides of a casement window need to be at least 7/16" to install safety (thermal) glass and
glazing. The sides of our window measure a full inch and Bill will show Christian how to install the glass panes and glazing. A similar new steel casement window built 5' X 8' without a ventilator or installed glass would cost about $6,200. Ours was the last one like this I could find anywhere and we bought it before the farm because of another interested buyer!

Above is our window open and another just a bit too big below...

 An inspiration...(picture via Pinterest)

Update...

Below are photos of first repairing the porch foundation and floor before installing the window...

 

 

 

 

Here is the new porch foundation supporting the new window and a view from the inside out...

Update...The room painted