Under the Gun

I think our string of good weather is running out. The forecast for Tuesday is slightly colder than today and after that the forecast is for rain or snow showers.

Tomorrow we have to hit it hard if we are to finish the south wall. The south wall only needs two rows but of course the bottom row is done twice so essentially we have three rows.

I think we have just enough shingles left to finish. I better measure twice and cut once because I do not want to stop and go buy another whole bundle just for a couple of shingles.

We were making good progress today but then we came to the very last small odd shaped shingle. It took forever to get it right. Since it was an interior corner it was important that the fit was tight to keep the rain out.Sometime in the next year we will be replacing those two ugly banks of windows. Who would put a bay window and bow window in the same room? I'm hoping for double hung windows in the same configuration as the windows in the living room which are 8 over 8 flanked on each side by 6 over 6 windows. That would leave the original dining room bay window as the only bay window in the house. The windows in the family room/library are 1960's era windows so they are not original for that room nor the house.

FYI....I still have not located the hinges.

Back to Stripping Windows

It rained.....no wait...it drizzled all day so that means inside today.

I am still working on stripping the windows on the outside but with todays weather I figured I would just start stripping those same windows inside the house.

Who ever painted the interior the last time it was painted, painted every surface flat white. They not only painted everything flat white but they did so by spray painting. Needless to say all the trim has to be stripped if we are to achieve a nice semi gloss finish.

While taking a closer look at the window I noticed that calamine pink color. Look closely in the area by the sash rope. I started stripping the paint on the sill using my lighter duty heat gun. Immediately the paint started coming off in large sheets leaving little residue behind. Then I remembered I didn't take a before photo.....so I stopped and snapped a quick photo.
I removed the sash stops once I had removed all the paint from the trim on each side of the window. I now could easily move the sash up and down. This also allowed me to get to some of the harder to reach areas on the outside. Then it was on to scraping the paint off the sashes.I realized the wood was different than the wood in the dining room when I stopped to snap another photo. Notice how the wood is dark........now moving to the dining roomThe window on the right has some of the paint removed from the left side. Notice how it is lighter?

Hmmmm.....the dining room wood appears to be birch or popular. The living room wood is maybe redwood, fir, or ???? The grain is very tight and hardly noticeable. I lightly and quickly sanded just to see the results and wow I think it will paint up beautifully.

Now I know some of you will say....."It's blasphemous to paint wood trim." I believe this trim was always painted since it does not have a coat of shellac or varnish present. So by painting the trim I will be restoring the trim to it's original condition. That condition of course will not be calamine pink but semi gloss white.

Tomorrow we will be back at B & G's for more post and top cap work. Let's keep our fingers crossed that when we leave their house tomorrow the only remaining work will be the spindles.

I can see clearly now...the pane is gone.

Look...no glass!!! I kind of jumped ahead in my sash renovation so I will digress back to where I left off in yesterday's post.

After I arrived home from work last night (3am) I sanded for 20 minutes and swept up the scrapings and went to bed. Today when I awoke, bright eyed and bushy tailed....yeah right....I numbered the panes with a china marker in anticipation of removing them all at the same time. I removed the remaining glazing points and lifted the first pane out of the opening. It was at this point that I noticed the sash immediately got kinda wobbly. So I think I will just remove one pane at a time. I scraped any residual paint off the pane and then washed it with warm water. I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Pad to remove the dirt and grime. I swear by those things. They work great on white kitchen cabinet doors that mysteriously get Hershey's chocolate on them.

I then moved on to the rotted corner on the bottom of the sash. It appears the rot was in the area of the mortise and tenon joint. I removed the rotted wood which left me minus an entire corner of the sash.

I used paint stirrers to form a corner. I then double checked to make sure there was no left over loose debris. Wax paper was then placed on the back side and up the sides where it was stapled in place. I figured the staples would leave little holes that could easily be filled. I used wax paper because it won't stick to the epoxy and can be peeled off after the epoxy hardens.

Before opening the can...open a window. The fumes are intense. I mixed the 2 part epoxy according to the instructions. The instructions are kind of vague. Use 1/4 can of filler to 1/4 tube of hardener. That's great if you need that much filler. So you really need to guess the amount of filler and hardener based on the ratio of 1/4 can to 1/4 tube. The trick is not using too much hardener but at the same time using enough. The more hardener the quicker the filler sets up. I prefer two part epoxy that uses a 1 to 1 ratio. Paper plates and plastic putty knives are my choice of tools when it comes to mixing epoxy. When all is done, you just toss the plate and if you clean the putty knife off with a paper towel before it hardens you can reuse it. It is very important to completely mix the two parts. Without the hardener the filler will stay soft, so mix well. Once the filler and hardener touch.....don't dally. You will notice that the filler will start to thickens. Don't answer the phone, don't change the radio station, and don't take a break. If you do, your putty knife will be permanently attached to a grey blob on a paper plate.

Using the putty knife, I pushed the filler into the void and leveled making sure to push it into the opening. I slightly rapped the end of a screwdriver on the side of the sash to coax the filler into the hole. Know that you cannot get the filler completely smooth. It is better to have it slightly higher than the desired finished surface. After the filler hardens you can use sandpaper to smooth and level.

Tonight when I get home (3am) I will remove wax paper and inspect the back of the sash. I am sure that I will need to fill some voids on the back side.

Time invested...20 minutes last night and 1 hour today. Total so far 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Casement window project begins with a blast of wind....

I knew this was going to happen. Yesterday I removed some of the casement window sashes in the sun room. I covered the window opening with heavy gauge plastic and then reinstalled the window screen to hold it in place. I toe nailed a nail on each side, top, and bottom. The weather report was calling for milder than normal weather this week so I felt this was a good time to start a project that I had slated for spring time. Boy was I wrong. Ironically it was exactly 1 week ago tonight when we had a 9 inch snow fall. Remember this photo??? Well probably not. I decided why show you the same photo, when I could show you the same photo but different!!!! This one shows how long his tail feathers are and how deep the snow was 6 days ago.

We are currently under a tornado watch. Thunderstorms are moving through the area with some of the storms moving at 51 knots. No way are those little nails going to hold that plastic and screen in place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The casement sashes that I removed are the ones in the sun room that face the front. They need to be scraped and sanded. Some have been partially scraped but none sanded. All the glazing needs to be removed and re glazed. I noticed in some areas that caulk had been used instead of glazing.

Only one area of rot was found and I think my two part epoxy will repair that nicely. It worked great on the rotted area on the bottom of one of my dining room sashes.
Tomorrow I will start scraping and maybe fill the rotted area. I am sure it will take at least a week to scrap and sand all six sashes. Another week to prime and paint and another to glaze.

In the mean time, I need to decide what kind of hinges I want to use. The front door, side door, and garage entry door all have large strap hinges. I have already purchased smaller strap hinges to use on the shutters that my father and I made. I might use those same strap hinges on the sun room windows. I'll have to dig one out and try it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they work because that would continue the "look" plus they didn't cost an arm and a leg. I will need 16 pairs to complete the entire sun room.

Back to Weather Undergound's radar. Oh I probably forgot to mention that we are not home. We are at work 75 miles away. Just in case you thought......what a dummy...why doesn't she just go and check on her windows or add a couple of extra nails. I would if I could. But I can't so I won't.

Frustrated with fenestration

fen·es·tra·tion noun
An architectural term for the arrangement of windows, doors, skylights, and other glazed openings in a building. Is derived from the latin word fenestra for window.

I love buying old books off of eBay. Especially those related to houses or gardens of the 1920's, 1930's, 0r 1940's. Yesterday I received a booklet I purchased called, Forty Practical Designs for the low cost house, copyright 1939,by The House of the Month Service. Out of 40 designs, I would live in 38 of them. Of course with some changes to make them more usable in the 21st century. You know 2 maybe 3 car attached garage and rooms a tad bigger but other than that I wouldn't touch a thing. Especially the windows and doors.

Today's newer homes have in MHO, uninspired windows and doors. My biggest window gripe is the undersized window. You'll find these windows on the back of houses and on attached garages. The side entry garage with smaller windows than the rest of the house is at the top of my DON'T DO list. Those windows should flow with the rest of the home...same size...same window treatments. Number 2 on my list is the use of arch top windows. They are soooo over used. What should be a focal point, loses it's gusto when repeated. Also the term palladium refers to a 3 part window consisting of an arch top window flanked on each side by a shorter rectangular window. This window configuration was named after Andrea Palladio, a 16Th century Italian architect. The window really gained favor after it was used by Thomas Jefferson. So often today, palladium refers to any arch top window. Rarely is it configured correctly.

So what does this have to do with The "Gear"?

Well....my fenestration has me frustrated. The last couple of days I have been trying to accomplish several overdue tasks in the yard but I keep getting sidetracked. My windows in the sun room are not symmetrical. The sun room has 8 windows. Six of one size and two of another. Notice in the below photo how the window on the left is narrower than the center and right side window. Why oh why couldn't they have put that smaller window in the middle?????? I can only speculate that the original design called for it to be in the center, but somewhere in the communication between the designer and installer/carpenter, that idea was lost.

So now I am perplexed as how to go about disguising the fact that they are different. I'm thinking mullion the three windows together using trim to mimic the living room windows.

or

Maybe I should just get back to stripping, edging, painting, planting, etc. and forget about my fenestration frustration.

Double hung windows...let the fun begin

Over the last 3 or 4 months, I've read just about everything there is to read about double hung windows. I even bought a DVD, on double hung window repair, off of eBay. I now know just enough about double hung windows to be dangerous....so I guess it is time to start refurbishing THE DOUBLE HUNG WINDOWS!!!!!!

Removing the sash stop wasn't too bad. Three little nails and poof they were out all in one piece. Even the bottom sash came out fairly easy, once I was able to cut the proverbial cord. Holy cow. I don't see how a sash cord could ever possibly break, especially once it is encased in a bazillion layers of oil base paint.

Now the parting bead was a WHOLE different story. It came out in splinters. As a matter of fact some of it is still in place. I'll need to use a small chisel to remove the remaining parting bead.

The top sash is a different story. It is firmly stuck in place. I will need to score the paint on the outside before I can even think about removing it. But since Mother Nature hasn't cooperated this past weekend, removal of top sash will have to wait. I was in no hurry to remove the wooden storm window and let all the warm air out of the house while I tried to remove the top sashes of the three dining room windows.

I spent the majority of the Easter holiday weekend with heat gun in one hand and scrapper in the other. All three sashes and sash stops are paint free. We have removed the loose glazing compound and the two broken panes. Over the next week I'll try and get them sanded, primed, and glazed. AND if it ever decides to quit snowing and warm up, I'll remove the top sashes and strip the outside trim. Who would have known a week ago that it was 80 degrees. Only in Michigan. Where's global warming when you need it?????