Window replacement costs in Providence

Providence is old-house country. Roughly three of every ten houses across the metro went up before 1940, and the median one in the mid-1960s.

If yours is in a local historic district, the Providence Historic District Commission treats replacing original windows as a last resort. Its policy says it's seldom necessary to replace every window in a building. It also says old wood windows that are repaired, caulked, weatherstripped and fitted with good storm windows can be as energy efficient as new double-glazed ones.

Replacement does get approved. New windows should match the originals in design, size, configuration and number of panes, and the commission accepts non-traditional materials that do that. What it won't permit are frame-within-a-frame and vinyl systems that narrow the opening with heavy frames and miss the historic profile. Most properties get staff review. A building staff calls singular, or a window model the commission hasn't approved before, goes to the full commission with a contractor's evaluation, a photo survey and scaled drawings.

The commission also points to something that matters well outside the districts: how the house was framed. It notes that houses built in the early 1800s were framed in ways that make modern replacement windows complicated, while buildings from the later 1800s take them more easily. The commission also asks whether the windows there now are originals at all. Many are earlier replacements, and those aren't treated as significant. So two old houses on one street can need very different window jobs.