The Story of a Townhouse Sustainable Retrofit

How Historic Preservation, Design and Sustainability Interact

The stained glass window was salvaged from an upstate source and installed to create the illusion of an exterior window in the long, narrow townhouse parlor level. The photos below show how the intricately carved window surrounds were carefully removed so that insulation could be blown in, reducing air infiltration that made the kitchen feel cold and drafty.

Key goals in renovating the townhouse were to:

• Preserve and recreate historic details

  Preserving and restoring hardware and doors reduce construction debris, (reducing carting costs and waste to our landfills).  More importantly, original 2" thick doors, quarter sawn oak floor boards, brass hardware and detailed carvings are unsurpassed in quality and artistry. Intricately carved window surrounds were removed in order to blow insulation into the cavity around the windows.

• Lighten Dark Spaces

  Reflective mirrors and wallpapers and LED lighting systems brighten narrow, deep areas, while multiple staircases landings are an opportunity to install salvaged 19th century stained glass to relieve the monotony of the townhouse stairway and create the illusion of depth in the narrow hall. Making the most of every nook and cranny, pavement at the front and back of the building was removed and greenery installed around newly created eating and sitting areas.

• Ensure that the house would not be too cold in the winter.

  Row houses can be cold for 3 main reasons, (other than mechanical failure). 1) When a staircase runs from building bottom to top, a “stack effect” creates a slight draft, almost like a wind-chill effect, that makes the house feel cold and uncomfortable. 2) The walls are not insulated leaving small gaps not be evident to the naked eye, creating a path for cold air to finds its way inside, 3) Replacement windows are often sloppily installed, leaving small gaps in the window pockets. Aluminum replacement windows are particularly problematic since the metal frames conduct the cold to the interior space.

  The photos below shows our journey to track down why the kitchen was so cold when outside temperatures dipped below freezing—we obtained an infrared camera, showing just where the cold spots were.

The infrared photo on the left shows the corner of the kitchen above the bay window. You can see in the blue areas where the are was as low as 50°F, revealing areas where the exterior mortar had decayed, letting cold air infiltrate. Once the cold spots were located, we could repair the exterior. The photo on the right shows the same corner as it would appear to the naked eye.