Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Warning: Hard Hat Area

I put vinyl windows in the garage today. All three windows cost over 400 dollars. I bought them at Lowe's. I don't know where else to get stuff like this. All three were special order sliders with faux glazing strips (only because those I took out were real glass panels... and about 50 years old). I'm planning on vinyl siding the house and the garage this summer, and I see the garage as the most logical place to start. Maybe I've mentioned that my grandfather built the place. Not "had it built." He built it, though I'm unsure if he did EVERYTHING himself. I'm pretty sure he called in someone to plaster the walls, and for specialty work like the cove base floor in the kitchen (now vinyl tile). Apparently my grandfather was a bad ass. He passed away in my early twenties. He was a boxer and a police officer and I have black and white pictures of him wearing a singlet. He was a very strong man, apparently, and renovating the house has, over the years, made me feel strong by virtue of the fact that I'm keeping something he started with his own sweat alive with my own sweat. It's probably a very complicated psychological thing, but I like to try and keep it simple. Work on house = good feelings. Letting house devolve into crap = bad feelings. I'm doing my best.

I've done my homework on the vinyl siding. I'm going to try and keep j-channel to a minimum. I'm using something else called window and door casing, which is 2.5" deep instead of just 1" with the j-channel. I'm spending the extra money to use a simulated hand-split shake vinyl on the peak on the house, and on the garage. Carter prices this stuff by the half square ($156), and even by the half it costs more than a whole square of 4.5 Dutchlap ($61.49). Since I'm going over redwood siding, I'll have to fur the whole thing out with strips- I'm going every 16" on center and running them with a framing nailer. This is the plan as it stands. I'll keep you updated.

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