Double-Hung Windows in Richmond, VA

In a modern double-hung, both sashes slide and both tilt in on pivots so you can wash the outside glass from the room. That matters most on a second floor or on a Fan rowhouse where the back windows face a narrow side yard. Replacement units are made to the measured opening, and HomeGuide's national guide puts them at $350 to $2,500 each installed. The span covers a basic vinyl insert at one end and a clad-wood full-frame unit with simulated divided lites at the other. Ask to open and tilt a sample before you order a houseful.

A single-hung looks the same from the street, but only the bottom sash moves. HomeGuide puts single-hung windows at $300 to $2,100 installed, a little under double-hung. You give up the top-sash vent and inside cleaning of the upper glass. On a first floor, where you can wash the glass from outside, that trade is often fine. Our view: put double-hungs on upper floors and in rooms where you'll want to vent hot air out the top, and save the money with single-hungs on the ground floor and in rentals.

Grilles carry the look of a house more than any other option. Colonial patterns (six-over-six, nine-over-nine) suit Georgian and Colonial Revival fronts. Prairie grilles, a border of narrow lites around a big center pane, fit Craftsman and foursquare houses. Two-over-two and one-over-one match many Victorian rowhouses. Grilles between the glass are sealed inside the insulated unit: easy to clean, but flat from outside. Simulated divided lites bond bars to both faces of the glass with a spacer between, so they cast real shadows. On a street of original sash, simulated divided lites are the closer match.

Some double-hungs come with a slim blind sealed between the panes and worked by a slide on the sash. There are no cords, which helps in a child's room, and the slats never collect dust or grease, which helps in a kitchen. The catch is repair: if the blind's mechanism fails, the fix may mean a new sash or glass unit, not a new blind. Ask what a blind failure costs to fix before you choose it. On west-facing rooms that bake in a Richmond July afternoon, a lowered blind between the panes takes the glare off without a curtain.

Balances are the springs hidden in the jambs that do what iron sash weights did in old wood windows. A block-and-tackle (channel) balance uses a spring and pulley inside a metal channel. A spiral balance uses a wound rod in a tube. A constant-force (coil) balance uses flat coil springs tied to a pivot shoe, giving the same pull at every height. Each is sized to the weight of the sash, which is why a heavy triple-pane sash needs heavier balances. When one side fails, a parts supplier's advice is to replace both sides together so the pull stays even.