Showing posts with label windows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label windows. Show all posts

Friday, February 3, 2012

the front moves forward!

as of last week, our house was looking a lot like this:
minus the scaffolding, that would've been such a luxury!!!

notice the window up top: 
no trim. tyvek and paper flying everywhere. flashing. unfinished cedar shake...

at the beginning of the week, our house looked like this:
oh la la!!!
 window trim, cedar shake starting to get in place, tyvek and flashing disappearing!
lookin good!
as of last night, our house looks like this:
picture taken this morning
all done! 
my dear sweet hubby who is terribly afraid of heights, stood on the ladder for three days and did this pretty much all by himself. up and down. up and down. 
climb up, attach paper (no easy task with only two hands), cut paper to size, climb down, find shingle, measure width, climb back up measure cut of shingle, climb back down, cut shingle, climb back up, attach shingle, climb back down find new shingle,  .......etc. so slow!
99% all by him self.
 the other 1% was yesterday, while nick's parents helped for a bit and i helped for a bit. but essentially, all we did was find the right size shingle to go up next, and tell him the width, so he could measure the cut, climb down the ladder, cut the shingle. climb back up and attach it. 
are you still reading???
 i don't know why, because i just confused myself typing all that!
HA!
ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! 
thanks hubby!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

easy open windows!

library windows
these windows, original to the house, came with a neat feature!
easy open!
when we removed the trim, we found the old windows still had the original weights, not attached but  still in place...
newly working weights
nick replaced the ropes on the weights and now these babies are good as new!

Monday, December 19, 2011

gable window

i love this very dramatic make over change.
the new windows are getting installed in the reading loft over the front porch! they look amazing!
the hole being cut for the new windows

the loft this morning after the opening for the window was cut
ps love the new drywall too!
new/old window
 these windows were found during demolition behind the plaster. we took them to wholesale glass and mirror company on haywood road to repair the broken panes. they did a great job!

the windows installed

today

our new living room!!!!!!!!!! and our beautiful new drywall!
 (yeah, i called the drywall beautiful. it is. to me.)

Nick hanging out in "MY" NEW READING LOFT!!!!!!

i can't believe how amazing everything looks!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

siding

new windows in foyer, with new header
and apparently new siding...

in the foyer, looking outside!

new siding

ain't it purdy?

from the inside...

Friday, December 2, 2011

2nd party intervention

we are getting to close to wrapping up our 2nd party intervention with demos builders.  we have the electrician coming on monday... and insulation by home energy partners coming next week too! now just hang the drywall, and we're on our own for the rest of the house. 
(YIKES!!!)
a few more pics from friday!
new frame and header for the windows
new windows not yet installed

the "to do" list before insulation!!! whew hoo!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

drama and some really great finds!

update!
New header for the three windows in the foyer 
oh but wait!
these three windows were actually three seperate windows. they were held together by one single screw in between every single one. niiiiiiiice. no wonder they were sagging! these three windows aren't fitting toether so well. going to find some replacements! 
in progress. 

SUPER SCORE!!!
new tiles!!! whew hoo!! seven cases for 40 dollars at the habitat home store. the picture below is my inspiration! its going to be fabulous! i hope :)!
and...our new windows. 
we were lucky enough to find two matching surplus windows at
blue ridge salvage and surplus! 
and one more thing. it appears one of the joists under the laundry room is rotten. looks like we got more under the house stuff to address. ugh!!! but at least we have the piece of mind to have some really awesome folks here to help us with these curveballs! wshew!!!!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

uncovering things

tuesday
the interior is moving along. the rotten corner is now fully unrotten. it has been restructured and supported is now good to go!  we have finished all the cross ties which will be exposed in our newly vaulted ceiling.  we are now laying the new ceiling joists in the dining room and living room.  the ceilings in these rooms will be brought up about a foot or so... to be approximately 10 feet!
new/roof ceiling

front windows/living room windows

 as we are uncovering things, we are starting to realize some new issues we have to address!
no header!
luckily this is not a load bearing wall.
foyer window
nine foot window...once again, no header.  
looks like these windows are going to have to take out these windows and build a header. 
this is a load bearing wall.
dining room windows
 more pictures of the ceiling joists being built....

dining room
rebuilding the ceiling joists

standing in the living room looking across thru the dining room into the library.
and our three sided fireplace.



Monday, November 28, 2011

no more plaster! and a little bit of old house love...

i am completely and utterly falling in love with this process. don't get me wrong, we have already had some stressful moments. yes it sucks to live in two rooms. yes, the dust is irritating, etc. but we are lucky to not have many of our belongings here.  its so nice to be living simply. yes. our clothes are in suitcases. we have have only two plates, two bowls, two beer glasses (HAHA. priorities), two forks, one frying pan, one sauce pan and so on. we have a sheet of drywall haphazardly screwed into the ceiling in the bathroom, to prevent the plaster from giving way. we are making due. just fine. 
 i am completely surprised how much i am loving this. ask me again later, i might not say the same. ask nick, he might not say the same.  we shall see. but for now, i love saving this 1920's bungalow. someone before us loved this house dearly, but never invested much more than love and time into it. this our chance to make it live again. it makes my heart happy.  and then, there is the preservation factor. we are contributing to maintaining the spirit of this old neighborhood.  in raleigh, they take old houses like these, in not-so-fancy neighborhoods, and bulldoze them. that is not for us. that is not for this house.  to emphasize that philosophy further, it also feels really good to minimize the amount of things that end up in the landfill. each layer that we pull back i get to reflect on a different time, a different life. its scary. its mysterious. its exciting. its beautiful. i am truly inspired, fascinated and blown away by the emotions that fixing up this house has stirred in me.
okay enough cheeseballishness.
i'll get to the point. 
we are doing the inside in two phases. right now we are working on the front half, which had really bad water damage from that stinkin leaky roof. we have and will have assistance from demos builders for the insulation and for the rehanging of the drywall and also for the roof.  tomorrow we will have the floor re-supported on the "rotten corner". otherwise, here is where we are as of today.

all the ceilings are demo-ed! 
old wiring is cool
the fireplaces are all uncovered and are going to be amazing!
before and afters...

library
before
after

den
before
after

here are some plaster before and afters 
for your entertainment...

den looking towards foyer
before
after

foyer

after
library:
before

after
note: the white door is now a closet. we will be closing off this side and opening it up to the bathroom on the other side of the wall. it will become a linen closet.
 foyer windows and door into library
also known as the rotten corner

and now for my favorite before:

dining room
library





library AND the dining room!