At Last — Windows!

The windows arrived! It is exciting to get that unsightly plywood off the exterior of the house. Sharon believes we ordered Marvin Ultimate Double Hung Windows and Inserts to replace the old windows. It's hard to let the old wavy glass go from the upstairs but too many of the windows have cracked panes or have had the wavy glass replaced with modern smooth glass. Hopefully this will be a long term win in our reduced energy use.

The new windows are dark green (Evergreen) on the exterior and stain-grade douglas fir on the inside.

The exterior of the downstairs windows that aren't being replaced will be painted a matching color.

Yeah! We have windows on the front of the house!The siding is also very slowly marching across the front of the house. Those mitered corners are taking forever!

Woodwork Repaired

Nathan from Craftsman Design did a nice job patching up the wainscot in the dining room.Here is how that area looked several weeks ago, while the paint strippers were still working on it.
Unfortunately, once they removed all the masking we discovered the the woodwork now has some large cracks—no doubt caused by the moisture from the blown-in insulation. Hopefully a little wood filler will take care of the problem! =)

The living room has had the mouldings and baseboards installed. Sharon believes the colonnades are being built offsite and should arrive later this week or next week..

They've also been cleaning up the room, so perhaps they are getting ready to start staining.

Siding Started

The CDR crew spent nearly half the day planning out the siding installation. The house is all marked up with lines and they should get a lot done tomorrow.

The hardwood floor installer came out and applied the first finishing coat, Bona Traffic, to the kitchen floor. We should be able to walk on the floor again, carefully, tomorrow. They won't be back to apply the second finishing coat until the end of the remodel. They'll apply the second coat on all of the main floor (both the new and refinished old floors) all at one time.

Next week is going to be exciting! They'll be finishing up repairing the woodwork in the dining and living rooms and also building our colonnades. Hopefully the rooms will soon be ready for staining.

Kitchen Floor Stain

This morning we had the difficult decision of how to finish the new kitchen floor. In the end, we decided to choose the more "environmental" option. While we both somewhat preferred the look of the oil-based finish at the back right, Jeff decided to go with the water-based clear coat. The brand is Bona DTS (Deep-Tone Sealer) and it claims to be VOC Compliant.
We've been struggling a bit with our choices for floor finishes. Yes, there are low-VOC and no-VOC finishes available, but they really aren't as durable and long-lasting. We don't want to have to keep refinishing these floors. So, for this choice, we decided to go with a product the floor refinisher said is supposed to be durable and will have a reasonable life before we need to recoat or refinish it.

How the floor looks after the first coat.

Since we cannot walk on the floor this evening, it's somewhat amusing the path we must take to the bathroom. We are "living" in the basement, but the bathroom is on the 2d floor. To avoid walking on the kitchen hallway floor, we must go outside through the side door and walk around to the front of the house and enter the front door, then head up the stairs to the 2d floor. Though, it's less amusing since it is raining today.

Mini-Blinds are Period!

It seems a little exciting to discover that something that seems so "modern" should actually have been in use in 1900. In Sharon's earlier research efforts, she doesn't remember stumbling across blinds before. This discovery should help us in selecting our window covering options next year.

The excerpt from Frank Kidder's book: "Building Construction and Superintendence" 3d edition, 1900, pp. 271-273.

175. Venetian Blinds

The common or English type of Venetian bllnd consists of a series of thin wooden slats 2 or 2½ inches wide, arranged laterally in woven ladder tapes, suspended from the top and connected by cords which raise or lower the slats or tilt them as desired. It is practically a window shade hanging free, but made of wooden slats instead of cloth.

This blind is very extensively used in England and on the continent of Europe, and to a considerable extent in this country. It possesses an advantage over all other types of wooden blinds in that it may be easily fitted to any window, although it can be used to better advantage in windows having sub-jambs. The admission of light and air is almost perfectly regulated and controlled, as part of the slats may be opened while the others are closed, or the blind may be drawn up so as to uncover the larger portion of the window.

The common form of Venetian blind is made by several manufacturers in this country, and the general appearance, construction and manipulation is much the same in the different makes, the variations being in the method of hanging and applying to the window and in the quality of the materials and workmanship.

For the best blinds metallic ladders, hinged to shut up like the tape, are used, being more ornamental, and it is claimed, more durable. In the manner of fixing the blind to the window finish each manufacturer has a special method. Thus the Victoria blind, Fig. 264, has a flat head piece 2 inches wide, which can be screwed to the stop bead at the top of the window when the latter is 1³⁄₈ inches wide, or to the under side of the head casing, where there are sub-jambs. It may also be fastened to the face of the window casings by small brackets.

Most Venetian blinds, however, have a roller or rocking bar at the top, of which one make is show in Fig. 263, and to this roller or bar the cords for raising or tilting the slats are attached. These bars are usually attached only at the ends, which fit into sockets or hangers screwed to the side of the sub-jambs or to blocks set against the pulley stiles.[Plus a bunch of paragraphs about installation and cost, which probably aren't as relevant now.]

Kitchen Floor is In

Yesterday the oak hardwood floors in the kitchen and half-bath on the main floor were laid. The original floors in the rest of the house are slightly narrower and top-nailed and the new one is finger-jointed so the floors don't quite match, but they'll all be stained the same color.
This morning, though, Sharon realized they didn't lay the new floor perpendicular to the old one. That was supposed to be the plan to deemphasize the differences, but it didn't happen. Oh well, it's too late now.

1906 Building Resource

Sharon was excited earlier today when she discovered online an architecture book titled "Building Construction and Superintendence" that gave information about how gutters were done in 1906. It had several diagrams and showed how the gutters were installed.

And as Sharon dug into the book further, she discovered all kinds of great stuff. It had information about soapstone, siding, interior woodwork—it was like—WOW! What a great resource! Too bad it was missing so many of the diagrams and figures.

Now, imagine Sharon's surprise when she realized this book was written by F.E. Kidder. Frank E. Kidder—Jeff's Great-Grandfather! We actually have this book (or rather series of books) in our personal library! How lucky is that? It was packed and stowed away for safe-keeping during the remodel, but now that we know what a treasure it is—we went and pulled it out of storage.

Sharon is now hoping to post short sections from these books, as they relate to our remodel.