Problem Areas

Here are some problems I have been thinking about for 16 years, but have had the money do do anything about (or found a competent craftsman to help me!).  They are all on the least visible side of the house, which is probably why I have not done anything with them yet.

The first pic is of my kitchen windows.  When someone decided to modernize the Victorian kitchen with no built-ins they wanted the sink under the window instead of on the common wall with the bathroom (which is to the right in this picture).  To do this they chopped the upper window frames in half and added these wonderful pieces of wood and lovely storm windows in the openings.  On the inside there is a cabinet with sink and counter.  I'm afraid of what is under there after all these years--probably rotten floor boards.  The plan is to turn the kitchen back in time to around the 1930's - - - some day.  I have the stove and Hoosiers!

All this will take is a competent window craftsman to replicate the upper frame and some inside trim pieces.  Of course, the window frames need serious work, too, but I can handle that.  I would then have to build storms and install them.  I am working on a design that lets me remove the bottom pane and insert screens in summer, but not on the downstairs windows unless I find some nice window pins.  Anybody seen any that aren't just big nails?

The following are the basement windows that are just below the kitchen windows above.  The frames have been removed and the sills built up with concrete and chintzy metal framed windows put in.  The bottom one is really scary--being just two pieces of plexi.

To do this right I would have to have the new sills chiseled off and frames and sash made to match the other windows.  There is a lot of water that accumulates here from an adjacent downspout.  This used to be a cinder drive between the houses--the other house is not very far away, behind my board fence.

One reason nothing has been done is because the washer/dryer is right there.  The plan is/was to move the laundry to the second floor as part of an enlarged bathroom--which has not yet happened.  You know how it goes--you have to find the one thing that can be done before all the other things can be done and do it to get the ball rolling or you end up with everything torn up and an unliveable house.  I need one working bathroom at all times, so need to get the downstairs one finished first.  That is my "first project" and I need a serious kick in the pants to get that room cleared out and get to sanding the walls and then laying the tile floor.  (I have had the tiles for years, now.)

Here's what a basement window done correctly looks like.  I made a new sill, repaired the stonework, and built a screen.

Disclaimer:  The Google AdSense ads that appear on the left for replacement windows are way too numerous for me to block.  I do not endorse replacement windows when original windows are repairable.  Heck, I never endorse them!

Storm Windows Finished

They're done! The hardest part was fiddling around with the hooks and eyebolts to hold them in.  There wasn't a lot of room between the storms and the windows, and there was a quarter-round trim piece holding the windows in, so had to screw to that.  Not being able to stretch out the length of the hook makes the storms a little jiggly.  The maid's room feels warmer already.  Next is replacing some torn insulation and eradicating some bird condos

Fall is so depressing.  It's my most unfavorite time of year next to winter.

The only saving grace is fall crocuses.

Installing Spring Bronze Weatherstripping

While the putty is drying on the storm windows I have finished two coats of exterior paint on the multi-paned windows and shaved the edges down a little to make room for the spring bronze weatherstripping.

I purchchased a box of it and the bronze nails to install it with here.  It is a little hard to work with if you are doing this by yourself, and another person holding the ends down would have helped a whole lot, but I got 'er done.

It's really easy to cut with tinsnips.  I laid it on the floor after measuring around two sides and the bottom of the opening, standing on the coil with one foot and measuring and cutting and holding it down with the other foot.  The nails go through it like butter and they are placed about an inch apart.

At the corners, to get a nice crease, I nailed down to near the bottom then placed a block of wood in the corner and hit it from two sides with a hammer to bend the bronze.  At the end, instead of cutting off the excess I just bent it to a 45 degree angle.

For the top piece I measured about an inch longer and bent the ends and stuck them behind the side pieces and hammered them in.

The hardest part is the last--bending the weatherstripping to have "spring".  You take a screwdriver or flat scraper and insert it under the strip and pull towards you all along the length of the strip.  I then inserted my windows and temporarily tacked them in with scraps of wood because I will have to take them out again next week sometime when the putty finally dries and I give the storms two coats of exterior paint. 

I had intended to also add the missing outside sash trim at this time, but don't have the router bit I need ($97!!) to put the right profile on it.  I had a carpenter lined up to do this for me but just before I was walking out the door he asked me what profile I needed.  I said that I had indicated which one in my email, but I guess he didn't read it, because he said he had no panel bits at all.  Oh well.  Greg!  Come to Michigan and bring your panel bit!

By the way, I'm loving the fact that Blogger finally got their act together and made picture insertion so much easier!  You all know what I mean!

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.

I Had a Senior Moment Yesterday

I forgot to show the window I had made for the place where the '50's door had been removed. Here it is with a shot of the interior of the stairwell.




I called the only window-maker in town, the one who is supposed to be so meticulous and works on all the historic homes to replicate my existing arched window for the missing one and make the large picture window. The idiot made all the measurements and never came back to measure again, then made the window wider and shorter than the other, and with 10 lights instead of 12!! Didn't notice until they were gone after the installation and I looked at both windows from inside. Of course, they volunteered to re-do it, but it was the end of October and I had already closed up the wall around it and didn't want to have the area open for an unknown amount of time, so I settled on them making a new basement window frame for free. Then I discovered that they didn't make the outside window sill stick out far enough to put the molding piece under it. They also hadn't made the inside window frame correctly.
I made repeated calls and the owner was always--get this--vacationing in Las Vegas. I finally drove over there one day and dropped off the bad frame and a tracing of the part they had done wrong and told them to deliver the new one. FINALLY one day I got the call. They sent over a brand new employee who had never talked to me before and who didn't know I had waited over 6 months for these parts. He said he was the Customer Service Representative. Hah. I told him what I thought of the service and of the part he had brought over that still wasn't right. He got all upset and wondered why I was. He promised to bring me the correctly made piece, but that never happened. Needless to say, I will be looking for another window-maker for my kitchen windows.

The Invisible Stained Glass Window

Right after we removed the cement steps that used to provide access to the second floor when it was a separate apartment, we went to work rebuilding the wall and replacing the windows that had been removed to create this entrance.






These are the lovely (dated 1959) windows that were put in when our stained glass window was hocked. The story we heard was that the people that were attempting to buy the house, while living in it, defaulted on their loan and then hocked all the stained glass--and probably everything else of value, like the chandeliers and sconces. Compare this pic to the 1929 pic in the above link to see what the stained glass window looked like. This is what we put in as a "placeholder".

Someday when I can remortgage the house again maybe I'll have a new window built. I would like to learn the stained glass technique myself and replace the small oval stained glass window. (It looks like this window has a pattern in the 1929 pic, though why someone would put in a stained glass window that cannot be enjoyed from the inside is beyond me.) For now you just have to squint and imagine a full-blown Victorian swirls-and-jewels-and-rainbow glass window up there.