Replacing Windows

I walked into our house today after a six hour AVID Tutor training session (for my job at the High School) and was thrilled to take in the fruits of our labor over the past week and a half.  When we weren't working on the deck or building new headers, we were replacing existing windows on the lower level and the main level.

The lower level (or basement as many people call it) will eventually be home to Matt's bedroom, a family room and a bathroom.  In this space we have a sliding glass door and three windows.  We started by putting in the family room windows. Since they are smaller than the door we thought it made sense to figure out the process there. I never knew there were so many steps involved in putting in a new window.  Taking out the old window is but one little part.

We have to check the size of the opening and determine if it is correct for the new window.  Of course, none of them are exact except for the non-opening (also known as transom or picture windows) windows.  The non-opening windows are all custom made so they were created to fit the openings we have.  All the other windows (which are replacement casement windows) are a little smaller than the previous windows.  And I mean A LITTLE.  We are talking an inch at the most. Half an inch in many cases.  So we have to rebuild the opening to get it to just the right size.  It is amazing how many different pieces of wood can be used depending upon the amount of material you need.  We have used OSB board, plywood and 2 x 4s to get to the exact openings needed.

Once the opening is perfect, we moved on to putting up new Tyvek.  Tyvek is the green (and sometimes white) house wrap that can be seen in some of the previous pictures of the house.  I have learned that Tyvek is to house wrap as Kleenex is to tissues.  It's all called Tyvek even though there are more companies that make it.  We are using stuff that is white with black writing that says "Everbuilt". Guess the name really doesn't matter as long as it does it's job, which is to keep wind out of the house.  This plastic-like stuff prevents the wind from going through any little cracks that might exist in the exterior of the home.  It works in conjunction with siding caulk and interior insulation to keep the house toasty warm. It helps keep water out too.  I have learned that there are very strict rules on how the tyvek is to be hung.  The writing has to be upright (horizontal) so you can read it or it has to be completely upside down.  This is the way it is designed to channel the water.  I guess water doesn't run off correctly if it is placed so that the writing is vertical.  Perhaps more than you ever wanted to know about house wrap but now you don't have to ask! Some of the existing tyvek on our house is installed vertically and there are holes in some places so we decided to replace almost all of it.  We are going side by side and at 9 foot increments. The fewer the seams the better too so we are getting all the window openings on a side at a given level (basement, main level, second  level, etc) ready before hanging the new piece of tyvek.

So back to the basement windows.... We put up the tyvek then had to cut it precisely to wrap the window opening (which we tape with pretty red tape).  Then we put Protecto Wrap (a thick, sticky, asphalt-containing (it smells like a new driveway) tape stuff) on the sill (bottom) of the window.  We pop the window in the space to make sure it fits properly.  Then we take it out and put caulk around the sides and top.  Then the window goes back in, gets squared and plumed (whatever that is - mark doesn't it while I hold the window in place).  Then finally it gets nailed in all around.  Finally, I flash the window by putting Protecto Wrap around the sides and top of the window to finish it off.  And here's what we have:

Two new Family Room Windows (without the flashing done)

A new Sliding Glass Door that's not quite finished with flashing

Matt's bedroom window and the basement slider (with completed flashing)

After we finished the lower level we moved to the main floor where the initial focus was on the two living room sliders and the dining room slider.  We needed my brother for help on these because they are really heavy and I can't carry them very far.  Tim had a great idea to use these little wheel things we have (Mark got them when he was building the airplane) to roll the doors from the garage to the dining room. Sorry I didn't take a picture of them.  Perhaps I will come back and add one.  That was a much better solution than carrying them.
update: here are the wheel things we used.  We put folded up towels on them to make them not so slippery on the window packaging.

My mom and I had the job of crouching in the hallway ready to push the wheels under the door while Mark and Tim lifted it up.  I didn't take many picture this day as I was helping with all the little steps to get the doors in. But here's what we have now:

Three new sliding glass doors.  Two on the left are in the living room and the one on the right is the dining room 

Here's a living room slider from inside.  The white stuff hanging from the top is the little bit of tyvek that extended up from the first nine foot piece that we put up.

Our next job was to put in the transom windows (the large windows above the sliders) in the living room.  It was getting late so we decided we would do these windows in the morning (that was yesterday - Sunday 9/22)

We got to Comet at 11am (after preparing for an Open House at Hightower - yep still trying to sell it) Back to the beginning. Bring the window in from the garage.  Step one: Check the opening - custom-built window so it's perfect.  Step 2 - hang Tyvek.  When we went outside to figure out where to start with the tyvek we determined that we had to do all the opening preparation on the second story - Master Bedroom and Emily's room - before we could put up the tyvek because we wanted it to be one continuous piece. So upstairs we went.  We started in the Master Bedroom which looked like this:

Master Bedroom Door opening 

We had to cut out the foam and siding from the new door opening.  We have to do the window on the left too but that is on the East wall of the house and we aren't working on that one yet. After a few minutes with the Sawzall it looked like this:

New gaping hole high above the ground in Master BR and existing window opening

Emily's bedroom window opening on the far left 

 The windows were not the correct size so we had to add an inch to the top of each and a half inch or so to one side of each.  Then we had to fill in the masonite siding where the old brick mold (window trim) was on the left, right and tops of the windows.

Mark don't jump!

Finally we got to hanging the tyvek.  Oh it sounds so simple.  Cut a piece that was 48 feet by 9 feet.  Scrunch it up, carry it into the master bedroom and staple it up.  Yep we hung out of the openings and stapled to the one inch space that was available above the windows all across the back.  That is until we got to the edge of Emily's window then Mark climbed on the roof to get that corner.

Nice little edge of the roof for mark to stand on to tyvek the left side of Emily's window

Sorry I didn't get a picture of him up there.  I was standing on a ladder on the deck, holding the end of the tyvek and hoping he wouldn't fall off on me.  It was too dark to get a picture with all the tyvek up but perhaps I will take one tomorrow and post an update.  I have to say I was pretty proud of how nice and straight we got it since it wasn't like we had scaffolding to do the job like the pros do.

update: Tyvek in place across the main level in the back.

Mark already started on the living room transom windows so the holes have been cut on the left but you can see the master BR and Emily's BR on the right and in the middle of the picture

Doesn't it look nice?

I am hoping that tomorrow we will actually get to install windows.  We are now ready to do the two bedroom windows, the bedroom door (need Tim's help for this) and the two living room transom windows.   Stay tuned.