Custom Blinds & Shades in Mebane, NC

That growth splits the housing in two. A large share of the houses went up in the last couple of decades. The center of town is about a century older, and the window questions change from one side to the other.

Old South Mebane is the grid of numbered streets just below downtown. It was listed on the National Register in 2011, and its nomination dates the houses from around 1900 to the early 1960s. The styles run from Queen Anne and Craftsman bungalows to Minimal Traditional cottages and Ranch houses, mostly wood frame. The survey found the one-over-one double-hung sash was the usual original window.

A one-over-one sash is a good candidate for an inside mount if the jamb has room to clear the sash lock. Age is the complication. A frame that has stood a hundred years may have racked out of square, so we measure the width at the top, middle, and bottom and compare the diagonals. If they disagree by much, an outside mount gives the cleaner result.

The nomination also says many of these houses now have replacement sash. A new unit fitted inside an old frame gives up depth and width compared with the original. If replacement windows are coming, put them in first. Measuring for treatments before that means paying for the measure twice.

Downtown is a separate National Register district, roughly two blocks of brick commercial buildings on Center, Clay, Third, and Fourth streets, built across the first sixty years of the 1900s. Many have offices or apartments upstairs. Those upper windows sit in solid brick. A roller or Roman shade for one of them is built to the drop we measure, because a stock length rarely lands right.

The newer subdivisions are the easy part. Window sizes repeat from room to room, so a whole-house order prices quickly. The conversation there is mostly about dark bedrooms and privacy from the house next door.