In 1993, Bill Hepburn and his family moved into an 1890s Victorian farmhouse in Crawfordsville, Indiana with restoration in mind. Bill and family quickly discovered that the original 100-year-old windows were cold and drafty, even with ugly aluminum storm windows that were ruining the character of the house. He started looking for off the shelf window replacement solutions that:
Bill soon realized there it was one or the other – historic appearance or contemporary performance. He found that replica windows never had insulated glass and were usually poorly weather-stripped. Conversely, windows that were efficient, looked too contemporary – nothing like his old windows. That is when Bill began to investigate building his own windows. He envisioned the best of both worlds – a historic appearance with contemporary performance.
The problem all along was that insulated glass is inherently thick and you need two pieces in a double hung window. So, to make room for insulated glass, he designed the window from the inside out, ending up with a thicker design, which necessitated slightly modifying the original jamb to make them fit. The resulting Magnum window includes insulated glass, state of the art weather-stripping and balances as well as the deep profiles characteristic of traditional windows. Once the design became reality, Bill realized other owners of historic properties would want the same solution and Heirloom Windows was born. The outcome is a beautiful, traditional appearance with modern functionality and performance.
As the years have gone by new materials and technology have appeared on the scene and being a small company, Heirloom Windows is nimble enough to immediately implement the best products and processes. "SPACIA" VIG (super thin insulated glass) and "ACCOYA", decay proof wood, have changed the whole game. Heirloom has embraced and integrated both in their design. The combination of these two products allows the manufacture of a reproduction window exactly the same thickness as the original, but with super high performance insulated glass. Thus, they can be installed directly into the original jamb with no modifications, making replacement "DIY easy" and available to everyone.