Window pains

Make that 3 panes broken.. where is my voice of reason when I need it most?

On the plus side, its actually starting to look pretty good - besides.. how much can 3 - 12" square (ish) panes of glass cost? I got the name of a glass merchant from Rejuvenation Hardware on Sunday. Maybe tomorrow, when I wake up at 7am :) I'll give them a call.

I was going to post the pictures I took tonight of the "progress" - but as you'd guess, I can't find the cable to connect the camera at the moment.. What am I doing up at 3am? ?? Laundry, sipping port, & showering. That's what.

Tomorrow, I buy a Dremmel to get in the corners - or at the very least, a wire brush attachment for my drill.

I'm having second thoughts about repeating this process on every window in the house.. maybe I'll just make spot repairs on the glazing that is cracked and/or missing.. The paint is easy enough to strip on the outer face of the window with the heat gun.. repainting to get rid of the peeling weathered paint will make a humongous difference in the way they look.

Found the camera cord - time to go back and fill in some pictures.


Revised Procedure
Remove trim and/or stop to get sash out of frame

Using putty knife, hack out all old glaze
Strip old peeling paint with heat gun and putty knife
Replace any broken windows you might have created
Drink another beer
Add new glazing points (to hold window to sash)
Re-glaze
Re-hang
Probably do something about sash cords before this step.. figure out where for yourself, and then let me know.

More window woes

I could kick myself for not starting a project that would have a more immediate payoff. Luckily, there is just one window out of the frame. That window is in the garage, now covered in more paint stripper.

Tonight, I broke 2 panes (out of 6)... Back up. I borrowed a heat gun from work after not having the type of success I'd anticipated with the stripper over the weekend. The heat gun works great for paint on long flat surfaces. In fact, the paint on the flat surfaces of the window came off in great big satisfying sheets. There is intricate detail in the muttons (the pieces holding in each of the 6 individual panes of glass) that I wanted to bring out. Layers and layers of paint were hiding the detail. Needless to say, the rest of the windows will stay hidden. I still intend to take them all out of their frames & reglaze them. Dry, cracked, 80 year old glaze (its a putty that seals the window into the sash and insulates) is not what I want to begin winter with.. Having thought this through a little more, I would probably have focussed my efforts into figuring out what is wrong with the furnace instead of starting on a monster project with such little obvious gratification.

Pictures.. pictures.. Soon, I think the 15 minutes is up for the chemical stripper going on right now - time to get messy again.

Starting more projects than I can finish

Its 8:10 and dark in Portland. Fall is coming, my favorite time of year. I miss the long days of summer when it stays light until 10 - it would be ideal for getting projects done.

I went to bed early last night so that I could get up with the crack of dawn & start working on the house now that the initial shock has wore off. Early turned into ~2am somehow.. Crack of dawn mysteriously became 1pm - just in time to watch the Gators beat Tennessee! So much for my full day of projects.

I have double hung windows in the house. This means that the bottom sash (there's a vocabulary word for you - what we call window is more specifically referred to as a sash. I realize that isn't completely clear, I will find a clever illustration later). Having double hung windows, the top sash should be able to slide down, and the bottom sash should be able to slide up. Each sash is counterweighted with a pulley and large steel sash weight.

I spent $104 last night at Home Depot on my way home and bought the fixins to start restoring the windows (and a machete ). I picked a window on the side of the house to begin on and started prying off the trim that covers the window frame. Approximately an hour and 2 beers on a ladder later, the trim is off the house and sitting in the driveway covered in paint stripper. Lord knows how many layers of paint are on there and peeling off snake skin style.. Time to start fresh.

The windows will have to wait until tomorrow - I don't want to leave a gaping hole in the side of the house over night. Tomorrow, I'll take apart the cracked window in my bedroom & bring it to a glass shop to replace. I need to buy glazing compound too.

I also had some fun hacking away at the blackberry bushes in the backyard with the new machete. Its a big machete. Very big. Very sharp. Very fun. Lawn clippings and vegetation is now composting in the back corner of the lot.

Welcome!

I've been living in the house for going on a month now. So far, I've replaced the kitchen faucet with a donor faucet from a neighbor's remodel.

Jenn and I started tearing up the horrible linoleum vinyl sheet flooring, but stopped when we realized that there was only plywood underneath. A plan was needed.. Luckily, Portland is home to Powell's bookstore - a mecca of useful information - and an entire book shelf dedicated to bungalow kitchens.

Plans are under way to gut the kitchen & start over with inspiration found in a book, The New Bungalow Kitchen. My kitchen is maybe slightly larger than the counter to the island in the photo.

Cabinets will be a deep cherry - woodworking will be as authentic Craftsman as I can afford: The drawers and cabinet doors should all be flush with the face of the cabinets. Uba Tuba granite will be used for the counter tops, and Armstrong linoleum tiles will be used to recreate an authentic period floor.

Before any of that can be done, I want to get estimates on leveling the kitchen floor. I suspect that cabinets will sit find a better fit on a floor that is true.

Other important things to get done before Winter:

1. Find out what is wrong with the furnace and either repair or replace
2. Add shelves to the bedroom closets for some desperately needed storage