More Windows

The last few weekends have been devoted to installing most of the remaining windows now that the majority of them have finally come in. We also had the good fortune of having my wife's parents down for a few days to give us a hand getting some of the remaining windows in.

Unfortunately, this past weekend, we discovered that our large arched window for the great room was made the wrong size. Instead of the six foot width it was supposed to be, it came five feet wide. Our feeling is that someone along the way took 6' 0" for 60". As you can imagine the mood turned real ugly after discovering this. The missing window is evident in the picture by the big blank spot in between the two smaller windows.

So today, Monday, was notification day of the problem and hopefully it will be resolved quickly!! We have our doubts but one can always wish. This, I should add, is the second window that is being rebuilt. The dining room window did not come as specified and should be here by the fifteenth of December, we hope.

We did manage to get the south dormer window installed which is very similar to the one that will be coming for the dining room. As with the slightly arched windows in the great room we plowed out what Styrofoam that was needed for the nailers in the sip and installed short pieces of 2x6 for the arched portion of the window.

We took a little time off from our day jobs this past week and managed to get six windows installed. This takes the number left to install, if they all ever get here, down to four!!!

Also, well under way is the framing of the interior walls. Nearly all of the lower level walls are framed with just a few odds and ends to finish up on; mainly soffits and to finish framing out rough openings for pocket doors.

We will then turn our attention to starting work on the upstairs floor. Our hopes are that this will go relatively smooth and possibly get the plumber in by mid-December to finish up the rough-in plumbing.

The utility room is really starting to come to life. I installed some recessed lighting to really brighten things up in there so that when the work on the radiant flooring system starts, I will have plenty of light to work with.

Speaking of which, most of the components for the radiant flooring have arrived and it is just a matter of time before that project gets under way.

Also, this week, the Solar tank arrived and we managed to get that rolled into the utility room. This will act more as a hot water heater except that it has two sources. One from the solar panels and one from the flash hot water heater. This will then heat the domestic hot water and also will heat the floor throughout the house. Fortunately, we have been having some very nice Fall weather so it has not been needed, as of yet, but it won't we long now I am sure. We also now have use of the fireplace which will also help if heat is needed before we get the floor heat up and running. With the majority of all of the windows being cut in now, the passive solar effect that we get during the day is really helping to heat the house up.

The only component that has not arrived yet is the flash hot water heater. That should be here some time this week. My hopes are to have the system up and running by sometime around mid-December.