This week has been doors and windows. Got off to a late start for the week when Monday dawned with single degree temps and high wind, which meant no work getting done on site, but the windows and exterior doors got delivered.
Tuesday wasn't a lot warmer but the crew was at work with installation. Troy said it's not good to leave them sitting around lest they end up in someone's new ice fishing house. :)
When I arrived at Bosky, the front windows were in and they were working on the back ones. That wonderful telescoping forklift was put to work again to reach the upper windows, but also for the lower ones as the platform held all the windows as they worked, and lifted the men up out of the mud.
Before we left, they had decided to do the upper windows on the back sides of the workshop next. Troy and Dustin (employee) were on the platform, and Brock (Troy's 16yo son) was driving the lift. With this long platform held on the forks, he attempted to maneuver the lift around between the shop and a cluster of 4 small oaks. This had all of us holding our breath as he tried to get the platform past the eaves, and around the corner. Then soft dirt. Spinning tires. Tipping slightly, at least the lower part did, apparently the wheels can get tippy and everything above stays stable, and all 4 wheels are steerable! And he got stuck. Finally Troy had him put the platform down and they called it quits for the day. Troy said they'd bring tire chains the next day to finish the job.
Wednesday. Sid and I stayed home and let them work without an audience. When I arrived today (Thursday) all the windows were in place. But, I was met with the words "We had a little accident...." Not the kind of thing one wants to hear! So, when they went around the corner of the house to do the tall windows, they had all the windows loaded on the platform, Dustin and Brock riding up there, and as Troy made the corner, the wheels unexpectedly slid down into a frozen rut. This caused a sudden jolt, which sent Dustin and 2 windows to the ground! Dustin is fine, but the two bottom side windows got broken frames from landing on their upper corner. New ones have been ordered. ("They'll be here before the siding" Troy said with a grin.) The broken ones were put in place to keep us dried in, but later they will end up in a garden shed or something.
Here's the inside view of the great room. I am loving all the glass! The patio door has its own story. When we were working with Brandon, the architect, he put in all 8ft doors downstairs because of the 9ft ceiling. At that time I priced out the 8ft patio door vs. a standard 6'8" door and said no way were we going to pay that much for an extra 16". He was supposed to change it on the blueprints. Well, he took forever getting the final set done, and Troy started with using the prelim set to get balls rolling. When we had the session at the lumber yard to do all our choosing, I'm not sure which set he had, but I never looked at the door height for the patio. (I checked- it was never changed, so it didn't matter which set the lumberyard had at that point.) In all the discussion, the other doors and windows got downsized to a normal height, but we kept the big living room windows at 8ft. Last week while standing upstairs, I realized that the patio door opening was framed at 8ft. We spoke to Troy, and he said it was easy enough to fill in with a little more framing if that's what we wanted. We were assuming the smaller door had been ordered. Well, the doors showed up, and it's the big one! Troy checked into getting the smaller one, and it would take 2 months, which would mean NOT being dried in completely, and slowing down everything around it, like dry wall, so we decided to keep it. I'm glad we did! It DOES look better than the smaller door would, and keeps the line of all the windows at an even level.
Front door and porch. Craftsman style door, with 2 sidelights. One sidelight wider than our current front door and entry. The left end of the porch will get a porch swing. Troy is putting in an extra 2x4 alongside one truss to support the swing. Same thing on the back porch, but on the opposite end.
My new sewing room- do you like my little round window?
Other job getting taken care of this week is minor interior framing details. At the far end of this room you can see the small walls that will be the basis of my storage on that end. Deep shelves in the middle to hold my fabric bins, and narrower shelves on both sides for everything else. The pony walls at the top of the stairs have been reinforced, the attic access has been framed in in the guest room ceiling. Troy had me take a pencil and mark where we want blocking put in to secure towel bars, TVs, etc. All those little jobs will be finished up tomorrow.
Next week: electric and plumbing get installed!
A couple more photos, just because I like them.
The view from my swing at the campsite:
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