Not Quite a New Window
Several weeks ago, the folks from the Wooden Window came and measured our arched window over the front door for replacement. You may recall we are replacing that window as part of our work this year.
Last week they called to tell us the window was ready, and Noel obtained the permit for replacing the window. We've been very excited about this window because what was in that space was half a window plus some painted drywall, which is pretty typical for old-house previous-owner fixits, but also not a great thing to look at every single day every time we walk down the stairs. The new window has hinges so we can open it in the summer for air circulation, and no part of it is made of drywall, concrete, duct tape, or fake wood paneling.
We couldn't schedule time to replace the window last week because we were out of town, but this morning we had Wooden Window on the schedule bright and early.
The first thing to do was take out the junk in the window opening. Noel did this before the installer got here. This also involved locking the cats upstairs and putting the dogs in the back yard so that when the installer arrived there would not be a tragedy involving our new window and a rambunctious animal.
That is somebody else's dog across the street there. Just so you know, our dogs were in the back yard, doing what dogs do in a back yard, which is to say laying around in the dirt.
It wasn't clear to us in advance how cleaned out they needed the window opening, so when the installer got here he had to clean it out a little more. He had a vacuum with a nifty little paint scraping attachment on it so the paint chips just got sucked away.
And this is our new window. Or should I say, this was our new window, because the best laid plans were about to gang agley, if you know what I mean.
Wooden window installation is actually quite straightforward. You just heave the thing into place, attach it, and maybe slap a little caulk around it for good measure.
Though you might be looking at this image and thinking, "something looks a little off here."
And indeed, something was a little off. The window. The shape of the arch was not the same as the arch in the opening. By, like, an inch of depth on the low ends. That's not something you can make look right with judicious shimming and caulking. The window will need to be completely rebuilt.
As I said to Noel, I was really glad we hadn't been responsible for mismeasuring the window. Mistakes happen in construction and somebody always has to pay for it. In this case, our only real cost is the delay in getting our new window.
posted by ayse on 02/21/12