Operable transoms are great for circulating air/heat/cool if you dont have independent venting in each room and prefer that room's door closed.If you have this type of venting, then the rule is there are no rules , go with the fixed glass if that is what you want.If you are concerned about lack of circulation by having fixed panes, you might consider louvers in the transom space.

On your other issue using the 18" stained glass insert, i would match the other transoms up to the 18" size of the stained insert.

Great pictures, great house. We are also making our build old as our footprint is from a 40's cottage. I like the picture of your "triple d" (dog diggin' the deck).Best of luck on the rest of your build.

Wow, thanks for the quick response, sierra.
On the interior doors, there will be plenty of venting in the rooms, and there won't even be actual doors in the doorways. The transoms would be purely aesthetic, honestly. I suppose you could say they would let more light through between the rooms. I just want to make sure it's not going to look silly (and to have some back-up on that point before I talk to my builder about it ; )

In that case, My opinion would be to put in the glass inserts, maybe even beveled glass.Just my thoughts.

Whew! Just came inside from another hot day of stripping antique windows. *L* We are also building a new old house. One thing to take into consideration is that the old windows while pretty are hardly energy efficent. The two that I'm tending to today had plastic bags taped over them to save the heat. That said, I'm using 2, possibly 3 on the outside walls. One arched transom above the front door (which is tombstone design door wood & is new), one spider web window which is real neat (but is killing me w/20 layers of paint) & perhaps a small one made out of bullseye glass in the downstairs bath. Builders gonna flip but we are installing them. The upstairs will all have non opening transoms. They are all different patterns (same size) but we don't care, think it will look rather pretty. If it doesn't it's just a little drywall or clear glass (maybe I'll add a frosted design?). The door knobs are antiques too but the old fashioned locks are new.
I purchased my transoms off e-bay. Even with the shipping they were cheaper then buying local. You could always buy one to get an idea on how it would look. My purchases were clear with small designs in the middle.
Have fun with your new old house! :)
KAT

Typically I post over on the buying/selling forum, but read over here as I know one day we will build another house. We do have transoms like what you are describing--just a decorative feature over the door openings. I've left my camera at work, but will try to take a pic tomorrow. If I recall correctly, our builder framed out the doorway higher than it would have been. It's much easier to take a picture rather than describe it. I've seen some houses with just the empty space above the doorway. It looks "okay" in very contemporary places, but I'm not a fan.

We are framed for transoms, but the only ones up so far are the back exterior doors. We chose not to put them on the front of the house, but will have them over all the doors inside. I don't know if these photo's will help. We also have 10' ceilings. If you have specific questions I can get my DH to answer you because I don't know all the measurements, etc. He's building our house. You can e-mail us directly. My e-mail address is listed on the forum my page.

BACK OF HOUSE

INTERIOR BACK OF HOUSE

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FRONT PORCH

Also, tell your GC that the transoms don't have to be operational. It's your call. We will have ours operational on the interior doors only because we live where the summers are so hot and if we can get the air circulating, it's better for us.

NOTE: on the front door. It will be a double beveled glass door and the height is as you see the temporary door. We went back and forth on whether to put transons in the front and side lights vs double door. My DH made the final decision on what it is now and it looks fine to me.

We have five of them in our interior. We love them!!!

Here is a link that might be useful:

In our previous house (craftsman influenced) we had stationary glass transoms above the interior doors. Loved the look and glad they had glass.

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In the current house, we have transoms on the exterior, but not on the interior (style decision for this house). Our architect lined up the tops of all the transoms and the garden gate (in gable).

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Hope this helps.
Cameron

We have transoms above the doors into the master bedroom, study and spa. They all have glass. The opening from the kitchen to the hallway does't have a door so we trimmed above it to look like a transom but without glass. The front entry door has a transom and side lights but it's all one unit- don't know the transom size. Tom

Hi owlathome,

We are in the framing stage. We will have 9' ceilings, and our transoms will be 14".

We are building in northern Arkansas. Seems I read that you are building in north Arkansas as well?

Thanks for all the responses, especially the pictures. They all look great! I think you have all helped me make up my mind about the transoms. I'm going to buy the stained glass one for over the front door, and that will determine the height of all the others. And, I think I will go with fixed glass over the interior doorways.

Jenny, what a coincidence! About where are you? I am in Stone County, south of Mountain View. If you'd rather email me privately, feel free to: ejnich@mvtel.net.

Here is a link that might be useful: Owl's progress blog (pics)

Owl,
We are just up the road from you in Baxter County. I will send you an email.

@dyhgarden, this is an old thread, but do you have the paint color of your house? So pretty!

Are you completely done? I see this is an old post, but I'm just starting "New Old House" build and would love to pick your brain!!! mrswellshsclass@gmail.com -Brandy