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PROVO, Utah — Some Provo residents are starting to see the big picture when it comes to the windows on their homes. The city's redevelopment agency is helping homeowners eliminate a danger lurking in many of the community's quaint old neighborhoods.
Megan Weffer looks out one of her brand new front windows and says, "It brings in a lot more light and I'm shorter so now I can actually see out the windows."
Her 3-year-old son, Troy Weffer, is also enjoying the new windows. He has a lot more light to play in and read by in his bedroom these days. And, more importantly, Troy and his three siblings are a lot safer in their rooms.
Dad Lloyd Weffer, a businessman, will tell anyone who asks, "I would definitely do it for nothing else than for the kids, for the safety of your kids."
The Weffers applied and were approved this summer to participate in the city of Provo's "Egress Window Program."
Four small windows on the front of their 1954 home were replaced with new egress windows. The upgrades meet building codes that require windows to be big enough for firefighters to get in and out with oxygen tanks on their backs.
Lloyd Weffer says, "In case something happens, that's really a relief to us."
Cindy Sweeten is a management analyst with the Provo City Redevelopment Agency. "If you drive around Provo and look at some of these older homes, you'll see that a lot of them have the need for these windows," she said.
It is a need the city is trying to meet with its window program. Low- and middle-income homeowners who qualify for the Egress Windows Program get a loan to pay for the new windows and other safety upgrades like smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.
If the home is one the family plans to live in for a while, Sweeten says, "these windows can be free if you live in the house for five years. You don't have to pay anything for these windows."
"As a result of this, we don't have to save up for so many years to make something like this happen," says homeowner Ben Weinheimer.
Weinheimer and his wife, Emily, have five children. One is just 3 weeks old. When they bought their 1940s brick home, they knew they'd eventually need to expand into the basement.
"We were in a situation when we first moved in that we didn't use this bedroom (in the basement) for our kids at all because there was no easy way to escape in case of a fire," says Ben Weinheimer.
Now, the Egress Window Program is making it easy for the family to create two small bedrooms in the basement, one for their soon to be teenage daughter.
Standing in front of the new basement windows, Weinheimer says, "the windows basically doubled in size, and this is big enough that she can get out, her siblings can get out now … it's not very tall."
"It brings all these homes up to code" says Sweeten, "and it protects the health and safety of the family."
Sweeten knows there are plenty of qualifying families out there. That's why she asked for and got an extra $75,000 in funding in 2016, just the second year of the program.
"I would like to have applications piled on my desk, but I don't," says Sweeten.
She is hoping the program's success stories will get others interested. It's already made the difference between a house and a home for the Weinheimers.
"It feels really rewarding to be able to put down roots and know that our kids are going to grow up in this house," says Ben Weinheimer.
The Provo Redevelopment Agency will have completed eight home window projects by the middle of this month. There is funding for another seven or more homes, but the city needs time to review applications and hire contractors to do the work before the weather gets too cold and snowy.
Details about the program are available at the Provo Redevelopment Agency's website.Email: solney@ksl.com
