Kitchen Renovation, Part 2: Windows (November 2007)
After laying the new floors, the next step was putting in new windows. One window needed to be shortened to counter height to accommodate a peninsula cabinet that will be butted up against it, and we decided that we should do all three kitchen windows so that they would match and be more energy-efficient. We also opted to replace the kitchen door, which was incredibly drafty, and the window in the bathroom upstairs, which was rotting out from constant exposure to water.
The kitchen windows and door to be replaced. The second window from the left is the one that will be shortened.
The last pre-execution group shot, just a few minutes before the installers showed up. Note that the doorknob has already been removed and the door is being held closed with duct tape - high-security.
I didn't feel too bad about ripping out the windows, because they were so-so replacements, probably from the late '70s, and not very efficient, but the door was older and, I daresay, somewhat handsome. But between the leaky frame and the single-pane glass, you could feel the cold air rushing in during the winter, so we really did want to replace it. Always the recycler, though, I kept the door itself in hopes that it might be reused someday, somewhere, perhaps as an interior door; just too nice to send to the rubbish heap.
The bathroom window. This is directly above the bathtub, so water is constantly hitting it, as is made evident by the rotting window frame.
While we opted for wood-clad interiors in the kitchen, we replaced the bathroom window with a white vinyl one that won't rot out and will be easy to clean. I'm also going to rebuild the sill out of exterior-grade PVC trim board, so it'll stand up to constant moisture.
The door to the basement has a cat door installed in one of the panels so they can get to the litter box, but while the windows were being replaced, we had to keep the beasties in the basement.
The original frame would need to be built back up with new 2x4 framing and insulation to bring it to the new height.
Removing the tread from the old door. The framing here had decayed over the years, so the old tread was a always a little wobbly; the new framing is much more solid.
A good demonstration of the layers in a >110-year-old exterior wall: from left, horsehair plaster, lath, stud, tongue-and-groove wood sheathing, original wood clapboard siding (which, incidentally, allows us to determine that the house was originally painted white), replacement vinyl siding. In more modern construction, the plaster and lath would be replaced with drywall, the tongue-and-groove sheathing would be plywood, there would be a vapor barrier (e.g. Tyvek) underneath the siding, there wouldn't be two layers of siding, and there would be more insulation (both between the studs and, sometimes, between the siding and the sheathing).
In some spots, old renovations are evident; here, horsehair plaster butts up uneasily against newer wallboard. This was probably done when the pantry was opened up into the rest of the room in the '70s.
Another view of the many layers of wall; the framing to bring the new window up to height is shown in the lower right corner.
And the new framing from the exterior. The pink stuff is foam insulation under the vinyl siding, which is present in some places but not in others. Some day I'd love to tear out all the nasty early-'90s siding and redo it well, but that's probably not an expense that the rest of the condo board will ever be willing to spring for, sadly.
