PIP: Window replacement, finally!

[hereonceagain]

This isn't exactly comparing apples to apples. I just realized my first pic turned out really crappy! and the blinds are covering the window.

So here is the before pic of our window which was aluminum, yuck. And then the after pic of our new window, custom made wood that we paid a grand for.

Will post the rest of our window refurbishment pics another day... if you can even tell a difference in the photos.

[hereonceagain]

window new

[Deleted]

Those are lovely. SUCH an improvement over the slider. Do you love them? Are those adorable little top sash lugs I see peeking through from the outside? Sigh Do they have rope/pulleys or some other mechanism? I can't see what's going on up the side there. It does look like they painted your sash channels. Don't let them keep doing that. That's what makes it impossible to eventually open them. I practically had to physically restrain my painters from painting ours, so I'm not surprised they did that. Do you have sash lifts?

Did you patch the drywall? It looks fine in your pic.

And are those the painted beams you referenced before? i think they look nice.

So many questions! Can't wait to see the rest of your pics.

[hereonceagain]

Nov 9, 2012 20:40:35 GMT -5 @juno said:

Those are lovely. SUCH an improvement over the slider. Do you love them? Are those adorable little top sash lugs I see peeking through from the outside? Sigh Do they have rope/pulleys or some other mechanism? I can't see what's going on up the side there. It does look like they painted your sash channels. Don't let them keep doing that. That's what makes it impossible to eventually open them. I practically had to physically restrain my painters from painting ours, so I'm not surprised they did that. Do you have sash lifts?

Did you patch the drywall? It looks fine in your pic.

And are those the painted beams you referenced before? i think they look nice.

So many questions! Can't wait to see the rest of your pics.

I'm not totally thrilled with it after thinking about it, but it's a huge improvement over what was there. This one does not leak or let air in and doesn't shake like crazy when we shut a door. It does have a pulley system. What is top sash lugs? I'm still unfamiliar with the terminology. Yes, we patched the drywall. And yes, that is the painted beams . I am really annoyed with how much white we are getting. But I think I'm getting bamboo looking roman shades for the windows so that may help. I hate that they will need to be over mount

[hereonceagain]

Oh and this is the only one they painted the sash channels. Thankfully they didnt on the others.

[Deleted]

The lugs are the little shapely ears on the bottom of the top sash. Just a cute little detail that mass-produced windows never include. They are adorable though.

What don't you like about them?

[hereonceagain]

Nov 9, 2012 22:46:19 GMT -5 @juno said:

The lugs are the little shapely ears on the bottom of the top sash. Just a cute little detail that mass-produced windows never include. They are adorable though.

What don't you like about them?

I think I'm just irritated at the process. His "window painter" clearly didn't specialize in windows. Today the window guy came back and he couldn't even get the painted Window open. He has to come back next week with a special saw to get it open. He also got us mismatched hardware and it took an extra month to get that sorted out. One lock broke off and we couldn't secure that window for awhile making me feel slightly unsafe. I also wonder about the "waterproof" aspect. I know they don't leak from rainwater like our other one did, but I feel if I were to shoot a hose at the windows, thy may leak. I'm too scared to try it. There are a lot of pluses though and I bet a month from now I will have nothing but good comments.

And yes, there is lugs. I love them

[hereonceagain]

Oh and we've been spending DAYS making new custom screens, adding to the work. It will be worth it in the end though.

[Deleted]

We just had our house power washed when we had it painted, and there was only a teeny bit of water that got through in a couple of spots. You'll probably be fine, even if you spray it with a hose.

I'm really sorry about the painter, but I'm glad the window guy is coming back to fix it. Did he seem surprised/unhappy about the painter's work? Maybe he'll stop recommending that guy.

Good luck with your screens! I hope that you get over the trauma of the process soon The good thing is that you'll never have to replace windows again. And if you can find a decent painter, you'll never have to really do anything again. You should probably spray some WD40 at the center of the pulley's once a year just so they don't get squeaky.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Ok, confession of a window sash track painter here. I painted our because they had already been painted (in some cases bright blue or sponge painted yellow) and we weren't doing a full rehab.

I tried asking professor google, but do you just leave the sash track raw wood?

[hereonceagain]

Nov 10, 2012 12:20:22 GMT -5 bunnymendelbaum said:

Ok, confession of a window sash track painter here. I painted our because they had already been painted (in some cases bright blue or sponge painted yellow) and we weren't doing a full rehab.

I tried asking professor google, but do you just leave the sash track raw wood?

On the metal part of mine, the paint comes right off when opening and closing, so they wasted their time and it's just a little messy. I wish they hadnt touched it.

Waiting for our resident window expert to answer your question bunny

[Deleted]

Our window maker said leave them bare wood. Especially if you are talking old growth woods, they aren't prone to rot. We have old growth redwood frames on our originals and use storms during rainy season.

Our architect, who eventually came around on the issue of my wood windows , argued for at least one layer of paint if we start to see signs of deterioration on the new ones. You can get away with one or two layers, depending on how tight the sashes are in the frame. It's when you start building up layer after layer that you end up not being able to open the window. If I was going to insist on having painted channnels for looks, I'd strip them or scrape them down to bare wood before repainting, just so that it's not multiple layers of paint buildup.

ETA: It was after I had painstakingly stripped all the paint off our originals and gotten them all to open and close like a dream again that the painters tried to start painting all the channels again. They saw bare wood and couldn't stand it. I finally just had to park myself outside and watch their every move. I'm sure I was their nightmare client, haha!

[hereonceagain]

Juno I should have hired you to babysit my painters and advocate for my windows

I'm so happy this process is almost over, and I still have all my other originals.