Making Storm Windows

Following are the steps I'm using in making storms for these windows, which I had made 15 years ago to go in the wall that was repaired because it was rotten from the water eating away at it for years (previous owner).

First I measured the space, bought the wood, cut and mitered it, then routed a channel on the inside edge of the outside of the window with the bit in the lower right of this fuzzy picture (sorry!).

I am a router novice, but am learning.  I made two passes a little over 1/8" deep each to make a nice deep shelf for the glass about half-way through the depth of the frame.  It ended up being about 1/2" deep.

Then I assembled the frame with glue and corner clamps and then secured it on the back side with flat screw-on corner braces, since I don't have a fancy biscuit-cutter for joining.  Note to self:  Never use the table saw for mitering again!

After painting an undercoat on the whole frame I purchased glass and put it in with glazier's points.  Gotta admit, that routing looks sweet!

Then I smushed glazier's putty around the frame, covering the points.  It's ok to be a little messy at this point--just don't get putty all over the glass.

Then take the putty knife--be sure it is not rusty and rough--and start at a corner, tilting it at an angle that meets the top edge of the frame on the other side and is tight to the bottom of the frame on the other.  Easier done than said.  It is about a 45 degree slant on the knife.  Just keep it nice and firm--use two hands if that helps--and slowly drag it to the other corner.  At the corner, lift the knife up making a nice bevel in the corner.  If your putty is fresh, this will go quickly.

AAAACCCKKKK  I don't believe it!  I ran out of putty 8 inches from being finished!  This was a new 8 oz container and it didn't even do two windows roughly 36" by 34".  Must keep that in mind.  I'm going out later and was going to stop at Meijer's on my way home, so will have to add another container to the list.  It will take days to dry, so adding the final 8" won't be a problem.  I have to put another coat of paint on the multi-paned windows anyway and then put the spring bronze weatherstripping around the opening.

I'm going to hold the storms in with hooks and eyes as I don't want to climb a ladder and hang them from the outside, although this would be the best way to do them.  These windows are going to be fixed-in-place windows so I'll just have to remove the inside moldings if and when the storms need attention in the future.

Another Blast From the Past

The winter after we bought the house and had painted the kitchen just to have some fresh paint to look at disaster struck! I believe it was February, and an extremely cold night, we awoke to the sound of rushing water. A pipe had burst in the maid's room where we had removed the second floor kitchen and capped off the pipe to the former sink and there was water everywhere. It had been running for a while and had run through the wall to outside and down, covering the kitchen window, through the floor to the kitchen ceiling below, and on through the kitchen floor to the basement. It was so cold that the water had frozen on the back (interior) stairway and I almost went flying through the door to the kitchen on my way to the basement to shut off the water. (The FO's in their infinite wisdom had not installed any shutoffs in this kitchen.)


We did little plumbing work the next day and a lot of cleaning. The water had made a real mess in the kitchen, pouring through the ceiling and even getting into the cabinet and ruining my drawer of recipes. We took pictures and this is our card for the next Christmas.



The next year we had gutters and downspouts installed. There had not been any on the house for quite some time and you would not believe the amount of water that rushes off a house with a roof pitch like mine!
Sometime after that we started work in earnest on the maid's room. We took out the rest of the plumbing and the falling plaster and discovered that the exterior wall was rotted because of the lack of downspouts and gutters. We removed the rotted windows, one a replacement because the original had rotted. (Duh!) We removed the rotted sheathing and real 2x4's and kept the rest of the wall jacked up with one of our handy Model T jacks. I love these things and buy them whenever I see them. They keep coming in handy for times like these.

We doubled up on the studs and re-sheathed the wall.


I had windows made to match the originals and we installed them and insulated the wall. When I finish this room it will be the only insulated room on the second floor.

On the other side of the left-hand wall is the upstairs bathroom. The plan is to take out that wall and make a nice big bathroom. On the right of the windows is a closet where a washer/dryer stacked unit will go and I will learn plumbing and hook everything up so it drains correctly to the stack without having to put in another stack. The plan is to put my nice '20's pedestal sink in front of the left-hand window and a deep old porcelain wall-hung sink under the other window for laundry purposes. The tub will go along the wall opposite the windows with the head at the chimney. For heat I hope to find a wall unit like the ones you used to see in bathrooms that runs on gas and doesn't need to be vented. I have some old porch posts and gingerbread salvaged from a house in my neighborhood that I plan to use to separate the laundry functions from the bathroom functions somehow. I also want one of those nifty built-in ironing boards and one of these.
Oh yeah, I plan to make interior storm windows from some salvaged patterned glass for privacy. The toilet will stay in the old bathroom and I'll break into the wall under the attic stairs and put in storage shelves and drawers.