ksdaddy Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Our house is too small and is a ragged out old dump. I bought it in 1983 for $13,000 and haven't put much into it. The old 1959 wooden windows are rotten, they stick, they are drafty.... pretty bad. I put plastic on them every fall. Our bed has no headboard and typically in January the pillows stick to the frost on the windows. So today I went to Lowes and bought a couple Pella windows for the bedroom, basically smaller versions of what we had but double glazed vinyl. I terminated the old rotten windows with extreme prejudice (although I saved the sashes in case we break one of the other old ones). I had to shim the rough openings to narrow the opening up but as luck would have it, a 2x4 on each side gave me the perfect rough opening. The new windows are shorter so I also had to frame in underneath. It was soooo easy to put that window in! I did one this afternoon and I'll do the other tomorrow morning. I had to add sheathing boards under the new window (where I framed it in) and of course since it was built in 1959 the boards were closer to 1" than the regular 3/4" boards nowadays. The good news is that a couple weeks ago the electric company cut down the big red pine in my front yard, which was under the wires. They had trimmed it many times over the years and by now looked like Hell; from a distance it resembled a question mark. I asked them to leave me the trunk, which I cut in half, loaded into my half ton '82 Ford pickup (a comedy in itself) and took it to a guy with a portable sawmill. For $45 he cut it up into nice stack of 1" boards. I used part of one board for the sheathing. I think it's so cool that a tree that has been in front of the house since about 1970 is now part of the house. There will be some piecing in of sheetrock and some mudding/painting but I can do that at my leisure. I may build guitars but I am not a carpenter so when I do something right it's cause for celebration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 My house is 108 years old, two storys with a full attic, then a widows walk on top of that. The gas company loves me, but I love this big old haunted house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I may build guitars but I am not a carpenter so when I do something right it's cause for celebration. Congrats on a job well done. There is no better feeling in the world - well there's one actually, but..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Time for celebratin' is when the second winder is in. Like Yogi Berra once said, ... I think... "It ain't over 'til the lady of the house says it's over." Sounds like a nice project KSDADDY. There are few things I borrow money for, like furniture.. I never borrow money on furniture. There is no pay back. I borrow money on the mortgage, and dependable cars. New roof singles, I pay cash for and 'hire' the boys and his friends to help. They work for pizza. However, if I had 1959 era windows, I'd borrow money to replace them ASAP. The payback is quite quick. Single pane windows in a house are like leaving the kitchen door stand open all winter long. Besides the government has a rebate for energy efficient windows this winter. Like most energy efficiencying plans of the past, the tax benefits are only offered on or two years, at most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted October 4, 2009 Author Share Posted October 4, 2009 I put the other one in yesterday before it rained. That was a little more involved but ultimately easier; when the window came out I saw the horizontal 2x4 underneath was rotten too. Apologies for not knowing the vernacular. I ended up cutting the sheetrock down to the floor and framing up from there. More of a mess but also a clean slate to work with. I can see all the sheathing boards should be replaced on that section of wall but I can put that off until I put new siding on (if I ever do). I have lived in that house since "Safety Dance" was on radio and my mindset has always been, LIVE in it, USE it. It's not a legacy, it's shelter. If it lasts as long as I do, mission accomplished. Having said that though, I can immediately see the bonus of new windows. Yesterday morning as I was sipping coffee I gandered into the bedroom and observed the two windows on adjacent walls, one 2009, one 1959. The 1959 (predictably) had dew running down the glass making it impossible to see out, and the water was saturating the bottom of the sash. By contrast, the 2009 window was bone dry. Freakin' imagine that. Looks like I have a pet project. Next spring I'll replace a couple more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matiac Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 My house is 108 years old' date=' two storys with a full attic, then a widows walk on top of that. The gas company loves me, but I love this big old haunted house. [/quote'] Houses in Illinois have widow walks??? You must live right by the lake. Either that, or it was originally built by a New Englander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Congrats on the windows... You should replace them all... I bet you would see a difference in your energy bills too.... When I first saw your post I thought Micro Soft had just, or was about to make a big announcement... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAS44 Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 microsoft is comin out with windows seven soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAS44 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 maybe get some of these too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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