September 14, 2011

Installing The New Kitchen Window

Once Dan finished replacing the rotted floor joists, he was ready to install the new window. Before he could begin however, two decisions had to be made. The first, was placement. The window could either be centered on the inside wall, or it could be centered on the outside wall. To center on the inside wall, meant centering it between the corner of the room and the new load bearing support post. The problem with this, was that it placed the window very near a corner on the outside.

Left: centering window on outside wall
Right: centering window on interior wall

Dan preferred centering it on the outside, for construction reasons. If we centered it from an inside perspective, he was afraid there wouldn't be room to work in that corner. I favored centering it on the interior wall, largely for design purposes. If we centered it on the outside, the window would be visually offset inside the kitchen. It was only a matter of 6 inches, but to me, they were an important 6 inches, especially since that window wall would be finished differently than the rest of the walls.

The second problem was that we have standard, 4 inch deep walls. The window was made for 6 inch walls. It was the thing I hadn't thought of when I bought the window. The challenge was how to accommodate a 6 inch window in a 4 inch wall.

Either way, the first step was to remove the old window and tear down the rest of the old wall. This was accomplished with a crow bar.

Pulling down the siding

Dan had already taken down the interior wall when he did the repairs. That left the vinyl siding which was nailed on top of the original, lap siding. There was neither sheathing nor felt paper. At first he wondered if he might be able to use the old siding as sheathing, but it was in such bad shape that it all had to come down.

Wall removed

After that it was time to build a new wall, and frame out a place for the new window. After a lot of discussion, Dan did indeed place the new window location in the center of the interior wall. He wasn't sure he could do it, but my faith in his ability to make it happen, was equal to his faith in me when it comes to buying the windows!

New window framing

This time we will have a properly framed window. The wall isn't up yet, so you can see in the above photo, that the window is centered on the inside wall, and right up against the outside corner.

Of course we had snoopervision.....

The cats have been very suspicious of all the
changes, and Riley wonders what's up now.

Sheathing was nailed up on the outside....

New sheathing in place

And then felt paper.

Felt paper in place

We used felt paper instead of house wrap because of cost.


The 6 inch depth of the window means it protrudes out about an inch and a half. After the new siding is up, trim will make up the difference. Actually, we saw numerous examples of this when we researched it.

New window installed!

So there it is, new window installed. I love all the light. Immediately after this however, rain threatened, so we covered the outside with black plastic to protect it until we can finish.

21 comments:

Tina T-P said...

That's a pretty darn nice looking window - I've got a couple of things around here that The Shepherd doesn't seem to have time to fix - does Mr. Dan want to come out to the west coast???

I loved your chick story too - boy they are really growing fast - I love watching chickens - they are so entertaining. T.

Dani said...

Leigh - Having just built phase 1 of our little farmhouse, I noticed something in your last photo. Be careful that the door handle cannot hit the glass of the window - perhaps you'll have to put a doorstop at the base of the door to prevent that.

So strange to see houses built of wood - that rarely happens here :)

CaliforniaGrammy said...

That will be so nice for all the natural light to pour into the kitchen. You guys really move fast!

Anonymous said...

Leigh, you are so blessed to have a hubby with such talents!:) Love the larger window, all that light...and I agree with you on placement. I think it would have looked "wonky" had it been placed so it was centered on the outside.

Leigh said...

Tina, I love it. All he has to do is find the time ;)

Dani, very good point. The deep casing on the window pretty much prevents that, though after reading your comment I had to go check to see how much clearance we have. Turns out the air conditioning vent cover (not in any of the photos) acts as a door stop too!

Almost all American homes have at least wood framing. Veneers are mostly brick or vinyl siding nowadays, though wood siding was once used. I know when I watch DVDs of the All Creatures Great And Small series, there is mostly stone. Now you've got me curious about South African homes!

CaliforniaGrammy, it does seem fast, doesn't it? Dan is a truck driver, so when he's home, he's home. We usually have 3 or 4 days at a time, so we can get a lot done. Like you, I love natural light!

Stephanie, and I do count my blessings! After it was in, I asked Dan what he thought about placement then. He agreed it looked best centered on the kitchen side. I was relieved at that. He's not a professional carpenter, so challenges like this are a concern for him. Once he figured it out, he was happy to do it. :)

Theresa said...

I was going to mention the door knob issue too! Pretty window and it certainly does give you some beautiful light. Good job Dan! This project at least has some nice eye candy for all that work!
The kitchen is going to be gorgeous, I just know it!

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

That window did put a lot more natural light in the room. And it gives you a much better view of outside, which is so important when you have critters. You never know when one decides the grass is greener.

Woolly Bits said...

I envy you for the large window! I wish we could exchange some of our tiny cottage windows, but with all walls made of stone, there is no easy way to do it - the whole house would probably come down on us (those walls are not brick walls, the stones were dug from the soil centuries back and form all the old house walls - that's why we have such gigantic walls, up to a meter in thickness.... ) anyway, you're making good progress, I am looking forward to all the other changes you'll do in the kitchen!

Sherri B. said...

It will be so nice to have all of that light. When we bought our house, there were no windows on the fireplace wall in the family room and only a sliding glass door on another wall. I wanted two small windows on either side of the fireplace, so brother and hubby got to it and wow, what a difference all that light flooding in made in that room!

Kari said...

Natural light makes an enormous difference to me, so I love that big window. It's also nice to see you have a proper supervisor. I'm going to have to borrow "snoopervision". With 3 cats, we get a lot of that! :)

Alice said...

What a team! Let there be light!

DebbieB said...

Oh, what wonderful light! Isn't it amazing what a difference a little 6" can make? I will try hard not to be envious of your natural light - my house is like a cave, since our windows are all shaded from the outside either by big trees or neighbor houses.

Julie said...

You are going to love that window I'm sure! It looks like its nice and big!

Leigh said...

Theresa it's a good point to bring up because it's a good example of the necessity of thinking things through! I remember Dan brought this up when I first suggested moving the location of the door. He must have thought it was alright or he would have nixed it. :) I agree he's done a fantastic job on this and I'm really happy with everything so far.

Jane, that is so true. There isn't much of a view (just the dilapidated carport) and right now we still have black plastic covering the outside. It drives me nuts not to be able to glance out to see what's going on in our critter kingdom!

Bettina, we really have to work within the limitations of our structures, don't we! I think it's amazing that you have such a structure and that it's still in use today. The same probably won't be true of modern American construction.

Sherri, isn't it amazing what a difference light makes? Before we bought this place, we spent 3 years in an apartment with no windows in kitchen or bathrooms. I hated it.

Kari, LOL, "Snoopervision" is a term I picked up from the cat blogosphere. Appropriate though, isn't it?

Alice, thanks!

Debbie, that's the trade off with trees. I absolutely love shade, but not that much shade. We're trying to keep ours trimmed high, so as to let air flow and more light underneath.

Julie, thanks!

Nina said...

That light is wonderful. Nice choice on the window too, it's got nice lines. Of course the rain would threaten at some point. I'm beginning to think rain clouds just hang out until we go to do some major project like that and then they pop in half way through. Any project wouldn't be right without a snoopervisor.

Susan said...

The light is wonderful! I love big windows - especially in the winter! Well, big INSULATED windows. It looks lovely.

bspinner said...

You do have an amazing husband and the two of you make quite a team. I love how large your window is. It will let in so much light.

Michelle said...

Just an idea... it appears that your door may open against the window. Could the knob potentially break the window? If so, they make hinge-mounted door stops that I think are the coolest things ever. I'd be getting me one! LOL!

Leigh said...

Nina, I like it because the design (though a larger window) is similar to the other windows. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get to finishing the outside! I can't wait. :)

Susan, very true. And I'm delighted this one is energy star with excellent ratings!

Barb, I agree! I am thankful we work well together.

Michelle, both Dani and Theresa mentioned the same thing. When the door is fully opened, there are 6 inches between the knob and the window glass. So all is well!

trump said...

I wish i had the guts to do some of that stuff when i had my other house. Im lucky now becuase it was built in 2007. I wish you much luck on this and other projects. Richard

BrokenRoadFarm said...

LOL!! Isn't that always what happens? You get to a point and then the rain comes :-) Looking good!