Thursday, November 2, 2023

Windows Prep

It's 9:35PM Thursday night. The temperature is 31°F according to the National Weather Service, and 40°F according to Accuweather. I'll do an average and say it's 35°F.

I am getting new windows for the downstairs tomorrow. I've prepared as best as I can. I've moved furniture around, taken down Venetian blinds, and taken down curtains. I don't think I will replace the blinds. They're a real b*tch to install into my window openings. I'd rather have curtains. I already have curtain rods installed. So, I'll install curtains and see how that goes. If it's necessary, I can install blinds later.

The window installers said they would be here between 8AM and 11AM. They're going to remove all of my downstairs windows. The temperature at 8AM is forecast to be 27°F. Hello! And with no windows, I won't be running the heat.

As of now, the only room that still has Venetian blinds is my bedroom. Nuria and I will get up around 5:30AM to finish getting the rooms ready. There's not much left to do. I'll take down the blinds from my two bedroom windows and take down curtains from one window. We'll do a walkaround to make sure there is no furniture in the way of the window installers. With the forecast morning temperature, I have to believe the installers will hold off coming here for a couple of hours, at least.

If the installation goes well, the house should be more comfortable and cheaper to heat and cool. The current windows are single-glazed, meaning one thin pane of glass in each of eight steel frames in each of the ten windows. Single-glazed and a steel casement window frame: you couldn't make heat conduction through a window any easier. Of course, when this house was built, fuel oil was 25 cents a gallon.

The new windows are vinyl with double panes. The glass panes are low-e (low-emissivity) which is produced by a microscopic coating on the glass. Between the panes there is argon gas which helps to block infrared (heat) energy from entering or escaping the house through the windows. 

Naturally, I'll post a followup letting you know why this blog post was wildly optimistic.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good Morning

Thanks for your update on the new windows. You are going to love them. I replaced mine some years ago and have never regretted it. The price was a bit lower but not by much. My installers did nearly everything from outside and made very little mess. I was pretty surprised with the efficiency of the installers. And they were in/out in no time --

They really make your rooms come alive and beautify your home. So glad you have one another to get the prep completed. And if you have the tilting ones that pull forward they are a cinch to clean and a woman's dream.

Can't wait for the after pics and report.

Just think--your world today will be opened to see the bigger picture !! And with the fireplace roaring --you will have the best of both worlds --insdie/outside !!

Good luck --

Best, LL