Windows Upgrade

The Manse as it originally was. 

In mid-June of 2008, another project long in the works came to fruition when replacement sashes were installed in most of the windows of the Manse.  Over a year earlier, our Library Director Daniela Pulice, at the direction of the Board and the then-new fundraising arm of the Building Committee, had begun the process of applying for a New York State grant to underwrite the cost of new windows. Not only did the staff feel a breeze through closed windows behind the circulation desk, but also an energy audit of the building showed that we were losing heat in the winter and cold in the summer through the ancient windows on the Manse.

We had learned that New York State had set aside $14 million in additional funds for library construction.  After a rush caused by thinking we might finance our needed building expansion with NYS funds, reality set in.  The Mid-Hudson Library System that was to handle the grants in our region would only receive a portion of the $14 million, and they had to divvy it up among all the libraries in the five counties they serve.  To make each grant go further, a library had to be able to say that (a) they would do the project even if they did not get the grant and (b) if they did get a grant, the library would still have to pay at least half the cost of the project. In practice, Mid-Hudson stretched their funds by making winning applicants pay three quarters of the total cost. So there was no way we could ask for enough of a grant to pay for our whole building expansion. After much discussion the most pressing need seemed to be the windows and also repair of the soffits (the soffit story will be a separate post later). 

But we knew that anything we did now should not have to be changed when the Manse is renovated as part of building expansion.  So, while the Building Committee looked at window replacements from various suppliers, we also asked our architect, Donald Mac Donald, to let us know what we could do that would not have to be changed; he told us "sash replacements" that matched the current building.

We were excited when the grant was approved, although it was only for $6,600, and we expected to pay $25,000 for the window and soffits together. In fact, our grant did not come from the fabled $14 million, for Mid-Hudson Library decided that we had asked for too little money for that fund--but Mid-Hudson had other state funds that were used for our grant.

When we got ready to redo the 2nd floor (see post below), Friend of the Pleasant Valley Free Library Joe Lukaitis became the committee member who, with the advice of Donald Mac Donald, actually chose the windows and arranged for the sash replacement to be made.

We not have enough money available to do every window in the Library, but we also declared some windows off limits because these windows would be lost under our current expansion plan when they would become part of interior walls.  Even with not all windows replaced, the improvement in air conditioning was noticeable immediately. Because the replacement windows are designed to insulate, they will eventually save their full cost, although it will take quite a number of years.  

One concern throughout was that we did not want to change the appearance of the Manse with the replacements.  It soon became clear that this effort had succeeded; no one who did not know the story even noticed that the replacement had been made.  

We hope to similarly make a new wing for the Manse that looks like the old. Someday we may have a much larger Library in the same location, one that visitors to Pleasant Valley for the first time will not recognize that it is new, since it will be designed to look like a very large 19th-century Manse.