Windows the Second

Yesterday, we took out our first top sash. It was a little harder than the bottom because the parting beads (the long skinny board that keeps the top sash in place) are really hard to get out. I broke them both, but they are pretty easy to replace from what we've heard. The living room window, the one we're working on, is the only one I have seen so far with any rot issue. It's not too bad, both sashes have very minimal damage. It really just got the parting bead. We're planning on painting the sashes white, inside and out. The rest of the interior woodwork, though painted now, will eventually be stripped to natural wood. We went with paint because of durability issues and because the windows, though painstakingly stripped by Kevin, didn't look that great once he was through because of the rot and just general water exposure. Kevin is going to post about this once I talk him into it. The exterior trim will be painted white next summer when we paint the house, so that's why we went white all around. I think it will look really sharp.

In other window news, we got our first pane of glass out without breaking it! Kevin used the heat gun and put heat reflective tape on the glass to get the glazing putty out. I have a week off (with a little work to do from home) so I plan to strip the paint on the window frame, strip the screens, and paint them "Rainstorm" blue.

The house did not come with screens, which shouldn't have surprised us, since the windows were caulked shut. We found some replacements at Bauer Bros. Salvage last weekend. This place, located a dangerously close three or four miles from our house, is huge. There is an entire floor of windows. That picture is all storms and screens! Do you even see the end of it? We eventually found exactly what we needed for a great price. By the way, when I said we had giant windows, I wasn't kidding. We only found two that would work. They are literally as tall as me (5'1"). Which made it a lot easier for me than for Kevin to look at a window and see right away if it would work or not. It became a game, Kevin getting his hopes dashed every time I would stand next to one. That tall white one on the right might be one of ours. See how big it is compared to the others?

In other non-window related news, we found out the two giant concrete slabs in our backyard do not cover up anything scary. Our neighbor's parents used to own his house, so he has lived there his entire life. He was also good friends with our PO's son. He is a great asset to our curiosity. I mentioned something about the bricks we used to make a border around the vegetable garden, and he said the bricks and concrete slabs were from some street work they did a long time ago. The bricks were the original street, and the concrete was sidewalk. When the city began tearing up the road, all the residents grabbed what they could. All of the houses on the block have some of these bricks in their landscaping. It's kind of a cool connection to the neighborhood. And also good to know there is not a body buried in our backyard.