New Windows and Other Small Projects

Remember those new windows sitting in our garage?

Last Sunday, we carried them upstairs and ripped open the plastic wrapping like two five-year-olds on Christmas.

You know you’re a real DIYer when the lumber yard doesn’t even bother with last names.

We’ve never installed windows like this before. Bradley’s installed commercial windows, but never vinyl windows that open and close and have a screen. Good thing they came with instructions!

The whole process was pretty easy. Here’s how it went:

Remove old single-pane windows. We took out the bottoms first, then the tops, and then the storm windows.

Everything we removed was stacked in a keep pile and a throw pile.

The single-pane windows were keepers. We’re thinking about repurposing them for something else — a hanging screen maybe?

We saved a bunch of pulleys from the windows. Not sure what we’ll use them for, but we love the way they look.

Storm windows and screen went into the toss pile. They’re ugly. We’re superficial. It was the only logical choice.

The header was first siliconed and then screwed into place.

Then the window slid right in.

Bradley leveled the window, then shimmed it.

And then he poked his head out to make sure everything was OK on the outside.

After that he screwed the windows to the frame.

Silicone went all around the outside and inside.

And viola! New window:

He did the same for the other two windows:

And that’s it! The Smurf room’s windows just got a major upgrade from crusty single-pane energy wasters to brand new low-e windows. Best part: we can actually see stuff now! The super old glass was really bubbly and wavy. The new glass gives us a great view of the mountains. And it’s easier to spy on the neighbors now.

Just kidding about the last part.

…no, I’m not.

Here’s some more stuff we accomplished last weekend that we never got around to blogging about:

We put door stops in the guest bedroom to keep our French doors from crashing into the walls. Super important now that we’re putting up big metal door handles that could put dents in our walls. We went with a really simple black-and-grey metal doorstop because the floors will be black — we’re hoping they won’t be noticeable.

The guest bedroom closet doors are fiiiiinally up:

The bottom isn’t perfectly level, but that’s just a matter of adjusting the hinges. We’ll get to it eventually. Right now we’re just super happy that both doors are up and able to open and close without making us cry.

We were going back and forth on whether we wanted to sheetrock the hallway ceiling:

After much hemming and hawing, we decided to go for it:

First sheet is up! The rest are going up this weekend.

And, finally, Bradley officially lost his mind:

I think he was just a little burned out.We got a lot of stuff crossed off our to-do list, but it meant long days and not a whole lot of rest. To recap, here’s what we did last weekend:

• Ripped up the stairway carpet.
• Exposed a brick wall.
• Insulated part of the hallway.
• Put up closet doors.
• Installed 3 new windows.
• Sheetrocked 2 trimless windows.
• Put up a bit of ceiling sheetrock.
• Installed door stops.
• Demolished the master bedroom / purple room divider.
• Sat in a bucket.

And then we drove to Brooklyn where we made a couple of door handles. Here’s hoping this weekend is just as productive. Stay tuned for updates on all our half-started projects.

What we learned from this project:

• Installing basic windows like ours is super easy. And Lowe’s charges $99 per window to do it. *CoughRIPOFFcough.*

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