Making a Difference
Amy McAuley
By Gwendolyn Purdom | From Preservation | September/October 2010
Amy McAuley dabbled in politics and retail and worked as a stagehand before she discovered carpentry. The 39-year-old Portland, Ore., resident started her own business, Oculus Fine Carpentry, in 2003. While working on her first preservation project—the c. 1856 Alvin T. Smith House in Forest Grove, Ore.—she restored all the windows. McAuley found the experience so fulfilling that she sold her power tools and decided to specialize in historic window restoration. It didn't take long for new customers to find her: "People looking to restore historic windows would tell me, 'Nobody here does it; can you help?'"
Using handsaws, backsaws, and other hand tools, McAuley has since fabricated new window sashes and repaired window rot and loose joints in barns, lighthouses, and other structures. She even helped persuade the Salem Historic Landmarks Commission to save the original windows in the 1883 Oregon State Hospital instead of replacing them. "I think the public takes for granted the history that's wrapped up in historic windows," says McAuley, who has started teaching a growing number of craftspeople at workshops. "As long as my body can keep up with it," she says, "I want to do this forever."
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Comments
Submitted by Jacqui at: September 29, 2010
John, there are lots of ways to make older windows more efficient. For wood see http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief09.htm Keep in mind more energy is lost through a roof and from inadequate insulation, which can both be remedied without damaging a historic structure's integrity. In addition, the imbedded energy in a window makes it more environmentally friendly to repair them than put in a "replacement" windows. (Plus, there is a reason you have to keep replacing them!)
Submitted by Mr John u goodman at: September 29, 2010
I also am fasinated with Antique windows but not their energy ineficiencies. Have you resolved that problem?
Submitted by Debbie at: September 28, 2010
You go girl! I also learned how to restore the windows in my first home, which was a 1920's bungalow. In my second home, a 1780's log cabin with an 1830's Greek revival addition, the windows were also saved and restored. Keep up the good work!