Oh, I just love my house. And in celebration of her upcoming 150th birthday, we are replacing some of the windows on the first floor.
Well, actually, the windows have a story attached to them. They were purchased for an addition that went south (think: contractor going out of business and skipping with our deposit etc etc). So for several years the windows languished in the barn. What to do, what to do.... You see, they are new construction windows (Andersen Series 400 for you millwork junkies out there) as opposed to replacement windows, so their addition into existing window holes takes a bit of finagling.
BUT the first one (of 7) is in and now we know how to do it!
We removed the old one, took out the channel for the weights, re-framed and voila (just like that ha ha) the new one was inserted (thanks to our friend Oliver for his timely arrival on the scene and his help! ) and we will be able to re-use most of the inside and outside trim ( the new ones are a bit wider oh, and a bit shorter, did I mention this was a bit of a challenge?).
We chose to replace the one on the northwest corner of the house - that one really takes a beating with the weather.
As we were disassembling, we were marveling at the great workmanship of those carpenters in 1860. The beautiful stout boards, the (still) straight and true framing and the wonderful square nails. It was exciting to try to envision the original workmen and their surroundings. Such a different world.
So now, the window goes up & down, stays up without a paint stick or curtain rod, opens from the top & the bottom, no more aluminum storms - and when they are all in, they will make the house much more energy efficient! Yea for modern technology!
And as an added bonus, the storms are going to be made into a greenhouse :-)
The old and new finally meet. Hopefully it will be a good marriage. We feel so much more snug in our old house now that it has new windows!
ReplyDeleteAnderson 400 windows are wonderful. Really, really, really great for cleaning. :-)
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