If your windows weep every winter morning, you are in good company around Cornwall Park. The neighborhood's housing — a mix of 1920s-to-1940s originals and mid-century additions spread between Meridian Street and the park's old firs — largely predates double glazing, and even homes that got replacement windows in the 1980s or 90s are now living with failed seals and fogged panes. In Bellingham's damp marine climate, old glass does not just leak heat; it grows condensation, and condensation grows mold on sills and sashes.
What Old Windows Are Costing You Here
Single-pane wood windows lose heat roughly twice as fast as a modern double-pane unit, and Bellingham heats for most of the year — our summers are short and our gray season is long. But comfort is usually what brings Cornwall Park homeowners to us before the utility bill does: the couch you cannot sit near in January, the bedroom that never warms up, the constant wiping of sills. Traffic noise from the Meridian corridor is another quiet motivator; modern insulated glass takes a real bite out of it.
Aluminum sliders from the mid-century era have their own failure mode — the frames themselves conduct cold straight through, which is why they sweat so aggressively. If you can see water beaded on metal frames on a cold morning, no amount of caulk will fix that; the frame material is the problem.