Picture Window Replacement Opens Up the Views in this Kansas Log Home

The biggest improvement at this Minneapolis, Kansas log home came from taking things away. Its living room window walls had been assembled from a grid of smaller units, with rails and dividers crossing the view of the deck and trees, and failed seals had left several panes fogged from the inside. The homeowners wanted a clearer view and a house that held its temperature better, and both goals pointed toward fewer frames and more glass. 

The living room now has Pella® Lifestyle Series picture windows divided by just two vertical lines each, with custom trapezoids filling the gable above. Pella Windows & Doors of Kansas carried the same approach through the rest of the home, adding a two-panel picture window in the dining room, double-hung windows in the rooms that need fresh air and a triple sliding patio door on the south side. Brown exteriors and stained wood interiors tie every unit to the log walls. 

Insulating glass relies on a seal around the edge of each unit to hold the insulating gas between the panes and keep moisture out. When that seal fails, the gas escapes and moisture can work its way in, which leaves the glass looking cloudy from the inside where it can’t be cleaned. It also means the window is no longer insulating the way it was designed to. 

That was the situation at this home. The homeowners wanted to stop losing energy through failed glass, and they wanted a clearer view of the land around the house. Those two goals shaped every choice that followed, from the style of window in each room to the type of glass. 

The biggest change happened in the living room. The original window walls were built from a grid of smaller units, with horizontal rails crossing the lower windows and more dividers running through the glass above. Each line interrupted the view of the deck and trees. 

To open those walls up, the homeowners chose picture windows arranged with only two vertical lines across each wall. A row of three tall rectangular picture windows now sits at the bottom of each wall, joined at the factory into one unit. Because picture windows don’t open, there’s no sash or hardware taking up space, so more of each opening is glass. No grilles were added, which keeps every pane clear from edge to edge. 

The same thinking carried into the dining room, where a two-panel picture window replaced an older pair of operating windows. Without sashes meeting across the middle, the view out to the porch is now uninterrupted. 

Above each row of rectangular windows, three custom-shaped trapezoid picture windows step up along the slope of the roof. The two living room walls mirror each other, so one set angles to the left and the other to the right, filling the gable with glass that follows the shape of the house. 

Each set of three trapezoids was assembled by the branch and joined on site with steel-reinforced mullions, which add strength to the joints in a tall, wide assembly. Mullion covers and clear caulk finish those joints so they read as slim lines rather than heavy frames. Because the upper windows sit high on the wall, the installation team used scaffolding and an elevated work platform to set them safely. 

Every window and the patio door use insulating glass with SunDefense™ Low-E and argon gas sealed between the panes. This Low-E coating is designed to block more of the sun’s heat than standard Low-E glass while still letting in daylight, which helps a room with this much glass stay comfortable through Kansas summers. The argon slows heat transfer through the glass in every season. 

All of the picture windows have tempered glass on both panes. Tempered glass is stronger than standard glass and breaks into small, less sharp pieces if it’s ever broken, a sensible choice for large panes near the floor and overhead. The upstairs bathroom window, which sits above the bathtub, was also ordered with tempered glass for the same reason. 

Outside the living and dining rooms, the homeowners chose double-hung windows for the rooms that need fresh air. Sixteen of them serve the upstairs rooms, the primary bedroom and primary bathroom, the kitchen sink, the laundry room, the basement and the garage. Two more sit high in the living room on the second story. In the primary bedroom, two double-hung windows were joined at the factory into one wide unit. 

Each double-hung window has champagne cam-action locks that pull the sashes together as they lock, helping create a tighter seal against drafts, along with sash lifts for easier opening. Brown full screens with InView™ screen cloth are designed to be clearer than conventional screen cloth. Like the picture windows, the double-hung windows have no grilles, keeping the glass clear throughout the house. 

On the south side of the home, a new triple sliding patio door replaced the original door. The two outer panels stay fixed while the center panel slides open, giving the opening a wide spread of glass with the entry point in the middle. 

The door uses the contemporary style, with slim square panels and no grilles to match the clean look of the new windows. A keyed lock lets the homeowners lock and unlock the door from outside, and handles are finished in champagne on the inside and brown on the outside to match the frame on each side. A brown sliding screen with InView™ screen cloth keeps the view clear when the door is open. On the inside, a wood trim cover gives the frame a wood finish that blends with the surrounding logs, and a pine quarter round finishes the base of the door. 

Every window and the door were installed full-frame, meaning the old units were removed down to the rough opening rather than fitting new windows inside the old frames. Log walls are deeper than most framed walls, so each window was ordered with jamb extensions that carry the frame through the thickness of the wall to the interior finish. 

Before installation, the branch stained the interior wood of every unit so the new windows would match the warm tone of the logs on arrival. On the exterior, the new windows were sized to fit inside the existing log trim, and brown frame expanders fill the space between the window and the trim so the original exterior details could stay. Inside, the existing casing was reused and touched up with stain. In the living room, dining room and at the patio door, the openings were fitted with custom trim and jambs while keeping the interior trim in place. 

The aluminum-clad exterior finished in brown protects the wood frames from the weather, and brown sealant around each opening blends with the frames and the log siding. 

This project started with fogged glass and window walls broken up by too many lines. Now the living room gable walls are filled with clear glass divided by only a few slim lines, and custom trapezoids follow the roofline from wall to peak. New Low-E glass throughout the home replaces the failed units, and stained interiors blend every window into the log walls. The result is the clearer view the homeowners asked for, along with new insulating glass in every window.