New Bedroom Windows

Here we are this morning, with the old aluminum window taken out. Someone took out the centre of the frame to put in the aluminum one. So the first thing I had to do was remake some of the pieces. You can't see it in the picture, but it was really windy this morning. The door kept slamming...



Here's the frame primed with the new pieces I added back in. The sill is 9 degrees, so I had to match the angle, and rabbet it out. For some reason I measured the window wrong, it ends up that the old ones were 30 1/4" wide, instead of 30. I had to cut the stool a bit, and rabbet out 1/4" on the top, and 1/2" on the bottom. I used an old baseboard I had for the pieces.



Here are the windows in. They didn't take too long to put in, after everything was prepped. The jambs are vinyl, and there are clips that hold them in. The sashes pop in after you get the jambs in.




Here they are from the outside. I still have to do the trim for the middle. The original was 5/4" fir, the piece needs to be 7 1/2" wide. I was going to use cedar to get the full thickness, I may have to biscuit join 2 pieces to get the width. I still have to fix the sill, it has some rot, so it'll need epoxy.


Hopefully we'll get the living room side done next week, I'll be twice as many frame pieces to rebuild, since it has 3 windows. The windows are Marvin sash replacements, in douglas fir. We have to stain the outside with Sikkens, and the inside with Waterlox. Oh and I still haven't built those window planters...

New French Doors

Here's the wall before. We've been planning doors since we built the deck. Took a while to order them, and then they sat in the yard for a couple weeks waiting to be installed.

Inside with the plaster and lathe removed, as well as the cellulose insulation. The insulation was messy and hard to clean up. I didn't want to remove all the plaster, but there wouldn't have been much left on this wall anyways. I need to do quite a bit of electrical on this wall, we're adding outside lights. and speakers. There will be volume controls for the outside speakers, and the speakers in the dining room ceiling.

We did the header wider than the doors, between the existing framing. We then added the framing for the doors.

Here's the wall cut open. I salvaged some of the shingles for reuse. Might be able to make something from some of the sheathing. It has a lot of nails in it though.

Here it is from inside. The room is so much brighter, even though it's north facing.

Here's me priming, to add more membrane. It takes 2 people to apply, the membrane, well it's easier with 2 anyways.

Here we are lifting the doors. They're really heavy, felt like I could hardly get them up the stairs.

Here I am lounging on the job. I'm actually holding the doors in. There are blocks to hold it in place.

Here they are from the inside. You can see the blocks on the inside. The wall is really out of plumb, it's 7/8" from the bottom to the top of the door. You can also see the oak parquet that someone added. We're going to remove it eventually, to expose the fir floor underneath. The parquet is good while we do the renovations though.

Here's Steve shimming the door. I would have never got it done without his help, he's a carpenter, and installs doors all the time.

Here's the construction cat trying the doors. I think he like the out swing doors, since he can open them. Well not when the hardware is on them. It took 3 days to get to this point, still a ways to go. It's going to take a while to do all the finishing. We haven't found hardware we like yet, so we just have a deadbolt for now.

Bathroom window surprise

We've got some new replacement sashes, to replace the aluminum windows that someone put in. So, on Saturday, I took out the aluminum window, and prepped the frame for the new sashes. I already stripped the trim on the outside, and the sill. I had a little bit of trouble getting the jamb liners in. I was using roofing nails to attach the clips at first, then switched to screws. The problem came when I went to install the parting bead at the top. It was way too small. So I measured the opening, then measured the window. It was only 30" wide, instead of 34". We couldn't leave it like that, so Deb came up with a temporary solution, until we can get a new sash. We took out the stool (the sill on the inside), and put the aluminum window back in there. The previous owner cut the ends of the stool off, so we need to replace it anyways. It works for now. Really aggravating though, these weren't cheap sashes. I talked to the window guy this morning, and he admitted that it was his fault. They're ordering new sashes, so it's probably going to be at least 4 or 5 weeks. Hopefully we'll have better luck with the rest of the sash replacements. I went out and got the stain for the windows an everything. Oh well, you can't rush this kind of thing.