1st floor bars on windows...
Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions about how it is living with bars on the windows? We’re looking at buying a 1st floor unit in a brownstone, and the windows all have bars. The living room’s are nice, all curlicue, but the bedrooms’ look like jail… any advice much appreciated!
Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions about how it is living with bars on the windows? We’re looking at buying a 1st floor unit in a brownstone, and the windows all have bars. The living room’s are nice, all curlicue, but the bedrooms’ look like jail… any advice much appreciated!
I commented on your other post too. I have bowed-out bars on the front, living room windows of my center Slope parlor level and more ‘jail’ like bars on the back bedroom windows. I thought both would bother me but now I hardly notice them. On my bedroom windows I hung nice wooden slat blinds. These always stay down and I adjust the slats for privacy and light. An added bonus of the shades is that they obstruct my view of the bars. (Shades were from Smith and Noble.) Personally, I like the security of having bars on the back windows.
There are really only two important things to weigh here:
(1) How the bars look (which you’ll get used to)
(2) How easy it would be for a burglar to break into your apartment through a window with no bars (which you may or may not ever get over, depending on how serious the break-in is)
To me, it’s a no-brainer. Keep the bars. You can always switch out the bedroom bars to something more attractive.
You will probably get tired of the bars at some point – I had a gate on one of the windows in my old apartment, and could only stand it for a year.
We now have a rear-facing first floor apartment (which is arguably the most vulnerable to thieves), and elected to put in an alarm system rather than bars or gates. Installation (wireless) was cheap, and the monthly payment is only about $30.
I heard several people had problems getting mortgages on houses with bars on windows. Apparently the bars on windows will prevent you from using window as a second way of egress in case of fire.
Just a month ago there was a fire on 86th st and 20th ave in house with child protection bars on the window. Several people died because they could not get out.
You can always change them out with something that you think looks a lot nicer.
Take them off… I work in washington dc and Capital hill has so many nice homes/ brownstone , but those bars are hideous ! Maybe because I am a correction officer? I think you should lose em.
i just noticed you posted something earlier mentioning that the unit you are considering is actually stoop level. Stoop level IMO, is a lot less harsh than a real sidewalk level apt. So long as the bedroom isn’t in the front, you should be good.
I lived in a street level apt with bars and absolutely hated it. It felt like a jail cell (didn’t help that the apt itself was only 8.5′ wide) and there was of course the soot / street noise / privacy / lack of light issue. If you are sensitive to any of this I would think twice.
The one thing I can add from personal experience is that make sure at least some of the bars have bump out for AC units, unless of course you have central air.
I live on the parlor level with bars on the windows. I love it and see no downside but if the building isn’t set back a little from the sidewalk it may not seem private enough. No problem with bars – feels very safe and doesn’t look bad to me. No problem with rodents – plenty of feral cats around to deal with them. One of the windows has bars that accommodate a window ac. I don’t think it’s any noisier than apartments on higher floors (on the front of the building). Apartments in the rear are probably quieter.