Plumbing, HVAC, more window work!

Despite our blog-silence, I swear we are working! All the time!

Doing lots of things.

I was working on the front windows, the beautiful broken ones in our blog header. They have all been removed from the sill and we were trying to remove the glazing and take the glass out so they could be repaired. However, we were breaking way too many windows!

So I did what I always do. I turned to google.

And I found instructions to make a steam box.

Levi and I spent a few evenings in the barn at my parents house in 11 degree weather building this baby. There were plenty of HOTBOX jokes as well.

And voila: our steambox!








 I used my mom and sister's clothing steamers coated in xmas tape to keep them clean. We put the windows in for 45 minutes and the glazing putty is smooth like butter! Its easier to remove and we are getting the glass out without breaking, ahem, 75% of them.  I would say we still break around 10% though. We are perfecting our skills because next week are going to work on the downstairs windows, which are 38x40 100 year old pieces of glass. These are very difficult to replace with old or old looking glass!

Alonzo hard at work!

The windows are looking great.

Since these pictures were taken, we have glued and nailed the joints, filled any cracks with fillers, and primed the windows. To replace all the broken and missing glass, we have gathered up old glass from houses in our neighborhood, including an apartment building that is being renovated and getting all new windows. We have cut the glass to size ourselves, it's actually pretty easy and Alonzo is good at it. We have placed the glass in the windows and started glazing them. My sister and Kyle's basement has become the window sweatshop! I think it's cool we were able to use old glass from other houses in the neighborhood. Many people think I am crazy.

We rented a lift for a few days to finish taping the back addition and scrape higher up on the front of the house.

Once the taping was finished, we had our first rough inspection. We passed!!!

After that, HVAC and plumbing came. Our house has been crawling with people. It feels like things are happening!

Someday, we will have heat. Probably someday it will also not be 11 degrees. 

Pipes waiting to be installed

Future toilet

This is our fridge nook and a door to the pantry. I ordered a super fancy 30" Liebherr fridge.  Hopefully it will be very quiet!

We decided to replicate the original stair-rail. Levi started building that side. Darren was supervising. 

We have been so excited to get our factory windows in. Our glass has arrived and is sitting in a pile in the living room.  Here's a picture to admire them (without the casements in but you get the idea)

However.

We have run into a little stumbling block.

As it turns out, KY is more progressive than I thought! Our state has adopted 2009 IECC energy codes for new construction. This is great. This mean that any new construction must meet pretty stringent energy efficiency requirements, including windows.  Old factory windows are not exactly the most energy efficient windows around. There's no way they will meet these requirements. 

What's that you say? Our's is not new construction? Right? Our house is 100 years old? Right? 

Well, our addition would not be new construction if we had just renovated it. But it was rotten. We tore it down and it was the right thing to do. But since we tore it down, and since we rebuilt it, it now falls in the category of new construction.

As I said before, there is no way these windows will ever meet the requirements. Our only option is to figure out how we can over insulate the house to counteract the leaky windows. There are complicated computer programs that do this. Chad Beyer from I5 design is helping us with this. 

Levi and I both have mixed feelings about this. I really want to use the old ones. But inefficient windows are not great for obvious reasons. What's better, using materials that would have been in the dumpster and having beautiful and irreplacable windows but having a less efficient house thereby wasting energy? Or consuming materials and all the energy consumption and expense that comes with it to have new windows made for a more efficient house?  Levi kinda thinks the latter. I kinda think the former. 

If we can get them approved by the inspectors, we will put the old ones in. 

Unfortunately this detail is holding things up for the house. The windows need to be installed before Levi can install the siding. The house needs to be sealed up before we can use our new HVAC. 

What could be, I hope! 

Sad windows.

Levi: The windows have become quite a problem. As much as I like them, they are a difficult compromise. We'll see how the negotiations with the city go. As soon as we get something  installed I'll throw on the siding and seal this house up!