Windows 3: Watertight shell (at last)

With the blockwork completed, the glass company returned to finish the fitting of the windows. After having waited 2 months for the dining room windows to be re-manufactured, it was a relief to see they were the correct size this time. However, the relief soon turned to despair when the fitters found that somebody had forgotten to load the glass onto the van. Nooooooooo!

With the factory some 3 hours drive away, we feared the dreaded plastic sheeting would be making its grim return, however to the company's credit they dispatched another van to bring the glass over straight away. Phew!

With the glass on its way, the fitters set to work installing the frames.

Spray foam being applied. 

All hands on deck...not only did the factory send someone over with the glass but another van-load of fitters, on their way back from a job in Newquay, also arrived to muck in. With six fitters busying about it was amazing how much progress was made.  

While the dining room frames were being glazed, upstairs the new correctly-sized sill was fitted. 

Hoorah! No more ruddy plastic.

The temporary 'whoops-we-made-it-too-small' sill was replaced and the feature window could finally be sealed up properly.

Originally we hadn't planned on using aluminium front and side doors, however after all the mistakes and delays with our windows Alan, after much arm-twisting managed to convince them to give us a special deal.

The utility door (side door) about to be fitted.

Once the frame was fitted, they installed the glass and the aluminium panel.




Ta-da!




The front door frame going in.

Don't worry... this is just a temporary door panel. Our new door panel wasn't ready to be fitted which worked out rather well as we can now install it after all the messy rendering and painting has been completed.

One major problem that we ran into was the windows had been designed for a house with brickwork rather than render. In short, the window sills were not the right size; that's all twenty-six of them...

After much head-scratching we all agreed that the niftiest solution was to create a set of 'over-sills', i.e., aluminium flashings that could fit over and extend the existing sills.

The over-sills laid out ready for installation.

Figuring out how best to secure the over-sills.

It works!




An added bonus in using these over-sills was they looked better and more modern than the original sills.

Hoorah! The house is watertight at last. Despite the problems along the way, the window company always endeavoured to treat us fairly and put everything right. We really like the windows and would use them again.

A special thank you to our good friend Paul 'the Pilchard' (the fine, upstanding gentleman pictured below) who really helped us out by putting us in touch with the glass company and pushing to get us a good deal on the windows. Cheers Paul!