Day 45 - October 24th
It's time to put in the new windows and doors that have not already been installed - again something that Anne and I have been dreading as we know what this will entail - all the d's - dust, dirt, damage, din and drop sheets!
First the new window in the master bedroom. It's the same size as the old window but has to be moved 700mm to the right to centre the window in the main front part of the building.
Here you can see the new window with a solid centre panel and louvered panels either side.
Note the building paper covering up the hole left by the old window. Finally some street art to decorate the front wall of our bedroom!
Next it's time for the picture window in the living room - this is to be a fixed glass panel and will take 3 grown men to carry it.
Chris takes out the old window (which is larger than the new single pane window) and installs the aluminium surround to hold the new piece of glass.
Then the guys from the window company come and manhandle the new sheet of glass into place.
The view from the new picture window after the glass has gone in.
Next it's the new sliding doors in the flat - and dust central revisited.We cover everything in the flat with drop sheets to protect them and pray that it isn't too messy. Chris duly removes the first window with little apparent mess.
Soon after, I'm upstairs in my office when Chris calls me downstairs to the flat. "Take a look at this" he says as he places his level against the upright jamb of one of the old windows. "It's 30mm out of plumb between top and bottom!"
"It can't be" says I - knowing that no builder could be that bad even if it was nearly 40 years ago. I look again and sure enough Chris is right. It was one dodgy building job. "Don't worry" says Chris. "I can fix this". "Great, I say and return to the office upstairs.
Soon after, I hear the screech of power tools and soon after that, the air in the office starts to get hazy. Next, I hear the smoke alarm outside the main bedroom start to wail and I walk out and look down the stairwell to be greeted by a rising pall of thick red brick dust. At the end of the day, Anne and I clean up as best we can.
Fine red brick dust over everything from where Chris had to cut the bricks with the diamond saw to make the opening perpendicular and square - instead of the squashed oblong it was before.
Finally the doors go in after another solid day of cutting and cussing and another 5mm of gritty red brick dust. We discover that the dust has gotten under the drop sheets and that in places it is up to a centimetre thick. Oh joy! But at least the doors look good leading out onto the deck.
First the new window in the master bedroom. It's the same size as the old window but has to be moved 700mm to the right to centre the window in the main front part of the building.
Here you can see the new window with a solid centre panel and louvered panels either side.
Note the building paper covering up the hole left by the old window. Finally some street art to decorate the front wall of our bedroom!
Next it's time for the picture window in the living room - this is to be a fixed glass panel and will take 3 grown men to carry it.
Chris takes out the old window (which is larger than the new single pane window) and installs the aluminium surround to hold the new piece of glass.
Then the guys from the window company come and manhandle the new sheet of glass into place.
Next it's the new sliding doors in the flat - and dust central revisited.We cover everything in the flat with drop sheets to protect them and pray that it isn't too messy. Chris duly removes the first window with little apparent mess.
Soon after, I'm upstairs in my office when Chris calls me downstairs to the flat. "Take a look at this" he says as he places his level against the upright jamb of one of the old windows. "It's 30mm out of plumb between top and bottom!"
"It can't be" says I - knowing that no builder could be that bad even if it was nearly 40 years ago. I look again and sure enough Chris is right. It was one dodgy building job. "Don't worry" says Chris. "I can fix this". "Great, I say and return to the office upstairs.
Soon after, I hear the screech of power tools and soon after that, the air in the office starts to get hazy. Next, I hear the smoke alarm outside the main bedroom start to wail and I walk out and look down the stairwell to be greeted by a rising pall of thick red brick dust. At the end of the day, Anne and I clean up as best we can.
Fine red brick dust over everything from where Chris had to cut the bricks with the diamond saw to make the opening perpendicular and square - instead of the squashed oblong it was before.
Finally the doors go in after another solid day of cutting and cussing and another 5mm of gritty red brick dust. We discover that the dust has gotten under the drop sheets and that in places it is up to a centimetre thick. Oh joy! But at least the doors look good leading out onto the deck.
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