Awning windows

[fan-of-fans]

My house has the original silver aluminum awning windows from 1975. I am not sure who the mfr was as I can't find it on them anywhere. The problem I am having is it is getting to the point where whenever I open them, something in the crank mechanism breaks, and it is a bear to get them to close and stay closed. Otherwise, they were nice for the amount of airflow, as you have airflow through the whole window unlike single or double hung windows. I have replaced a few cranks.

I was wondering why these windows fell out of fashion? It was rare to see them after the 80s, very few homes in the 90s have them except for maybe sunrooms and now I never see them.

The only thing I don't care for is due to the design the screen is on the inside of the glass, so if the screen gets dirty or coated with pollen, you have that inside the house with you when you close the window. Eww.

 

[tomturbomatic]

They fell out of fashion due to their terrible thermal efficiency which became noticeable when heating costs soared in the 70s. Not only the metal frames, but the single panes of glass as well as the less than perfect air seals contributed to the inefficiency. There was a big development near my high school and a lot of the homes had them. They have largely been replaced by vinyl sliders. When our home was built in 1955, the two big windows on the front were awning-type. I remember mother writing to friends and family back north about how nice it was that they could be left open in the rain and no rain came in. Fortunately, the windows on the sides and back of the house were standard double hung so installing air conditioners later was easy. The basement had steel casement windows and when my parents put in a studio for my brother and me, getting a casement unit to fit was expensive. Steel casements were just as inefficient if not more so.

 

[polkanut]

You can still buy awning style windows, just not in metal frames anymore.  Now most often wood or vinyl is the material of choice.

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[sel8207]

why they got rid of them

My father, in Miami, got rid of his because they block no noise from the street or airport, and they are not the least hurricane resistant. He replaced all of his with heavy hurricane resistant windows from Home Depot. Now, no aircraft or road noise, and I'm sure the air conditioning runs less. Les.

 

[circlew]

One room in our house, the "sunroom", had these. They were always iced up all winter, and the room was cold in winter, and hot in summer. They also got hard to operate. My parents had them replaced sometime in the early 80's with metal framed double hung windows with insulated glass. Much nicer in there after that.