11 Windows and a Birthday

At the time our home was built in 1984, the double paned, aluminum windows were state of the art. Not so much now. Over the years we have noticed moisture on the windows which tells us there is a heat exchange. Translation: $$money literally going out the window!

After some research, trips to 3 different Home Depots, and a phone call to the manufacturer, we decided to replace most of the windows in our house. The sliding glass door, the fixed windows in the back and the little one by the front door will wait until later. Although we practiced on Katie's window and did two windows during the week, Saturday was the "big push" to get them installed.

The windows were really well packed. It took some effort to remove the plastic and such.

Here's my craft room window as the guys are getting started. Notice the yellow ladder outside. That's for Marc.

It's not the highest window in the house, but high enough! Marc was feeling nostalgic working outside on the ladder. First Tim removed the slider part of the window.

Then, after scoring with a sharp knife, the guys worked out the stationary glass -- all in one piece! Of course, the cleaning of the spider webs, etc out of the work area. There were a lot of spiders hiding under the shutters at the front of the house....ewwww....

Then Tim cut the metal bar sash in the center of the window. He started out using a hack saw...

But Marc brought in the big tools -- a saws-all. A lot louder, but much faster. These are the living room windows Tim is working on. We chose this type of window because it is designed to slide over the existing window. We were able to keep the moisture wrapper on the house intact.

Next sealant is applied to the old window frame and the new window frame.

Tim would hand out the window to Marc on the ladder and he would set it in place...

And hold it while the level was checked and the screws set in place. Each window took less than an hour to install.

The kitchen window was higher up than Dad wished to go on Saturday so here he is hanging out of the window nailing the quarter round trim in place. Needless to say, it was painful to kneel on the sink!

Once that was done, the spray foam insulation was applied. It is the yellow edge around the white window.

Then some nice interior molding to hide the insulation. Done! Pretty slick!

Installing windows wasn't the only thing happening on Saturday. It was also Jesica's birthday! She decided that since she is a "big girl" she would make her own birthday cake. Here she is taking the cake out of the oven while the guys were working on the kitchen window. Notice the tools and the mixing bowl both on the table. She really was a good sport!

Jesica is making little stars all over the cake to decorate it. It made my hands hurt just to watch her work. The tip on the decorating tube didn't want to stay on, which made things go a little slowly. I think she enjoyed it despite the noise and chaos.

Here is the finished product. Beautiful. (It tasted good too!)

The guys got up early to get the windows done, because we wanted to take Jesica out to Olive Garden for lunch. Here are some gift card holders that I made out of felt. I thought they were kinda cute.

While we were waiting for our food to arrive at the restaurant, Marc decided that Jes should open her birthday gifts. It made her very nervous because his gift was in a Victoria Secret bag. You never know with Marc ... and it was a public place...

Phew! It was a cute purple shirt and New Moon movie and such! Yeah! (We watched it later that night.) After lunch, Marc and Jes went to play and shop. Thank you for sharing your special day with us Jesica!

Here's the finished back window of the house...

And the front. This Saturday Tim will caulk the outside of the windows and reattach the newly painted shutters. TA-DA!

XOXO Mamala and Dad