Kurt Riegel has had a life-long passion for historic preservation, restoration and local history. His years of experience and education have made him an expert on these topics. He currently holds a Masters Degree in Historic Preservation from The State University of New York at Buffalo.
Early in life he took an interest in historic grave stones and set out to learn the proper techniques to repair and clean them. He has attended formal training sessions held by recognized experts in the field and suppliers of the materials used. Today he has become one of the nation’s foremost experts in the field of historic homes and grave monuments.
Later he began learning the art of repairing and restoring historic window sash. This was once a common skill and finding someone to restore damaged and weathered windows was simple. In today’s throwaway, mass produced world though this has become a nearly lost art. Only a handful of experts in America are now capable of handling this work, and Kurt is among them.
The Riegel Restoration work shop is equipped and the staff is trained to handle a full range of window sash restoration tasks ranging from simple maintenance of loose glazing to full restoration involving complete removal of all old paint, repairs to damaged components and the application of historically appropriate finishes. Every effort is made to preserve the irreplaceable original historic glass and other features. Where old glass is missing or damaged we stock salvaged historic glass to allow the original historic character of your sash to be preserved.
While still in his teens Mr Riegel began rescuing discarded window sash, doors and other architectural treasures from homes that were about to be demolished or had been recently remodeled using inferior modern building materials. Today he has amassed a sizable collection of such materials and offers them to building owners who need to replace items that are beyond repair or have been replaced with newer poor quality parts. Visit our Architectural Salvage page for more details.
Kurt Riegel Repairing a Sash.
John Kessler Stripping Paint.
Branden Law Glazing a Sash.
Kurt Riegel repairs a broken stone.
John Kessler mortars a stone into a base.
Branden pulling a sash.
Briar Palm preparing jambs for restored sash.
John Working on window frame.
Briar and Kurt pulling sash for a client.