Window Day

The window guy was due to come today between 10 a.m. and noon to straighten everything out. I realized that if he didn’t know how to work these vintage triple-hung windows, I was not going to be able to explain it because I didn’t know, either. I texted my sister to see if she could give me a call just to explain in theory how it’s supposed to work. While I waited for her call, I went into my mother’s bedroom and, lo and behold, after examining the matter and fiddling around, got one window set up properly: Pane of glass in the upper half of the window in the outermost track, meaning closest to the great outdoors. Next, a pane of glass in the middle track, pushed to the upper half of the window, as well. Finally, the screen in the innermost track, lowered to cover the bottom half of the window. No gap underneath the screen, either.

I was thrilled. I fixed another window, and then another, and then another. By the time my sister called, I no longer had any questions for her, just good news. Noon came and went with no window guy. I had not yet eaten because I was busy fixing windows. I called the window place and learned that the guy had gotten delayed, but the actual owner could come this very afternoon.

A general contractor came over to discuss my list of projects. I did not like him for various reasons, and so didn’t even go through my whole list. I said, “I guess that’s it!” and saw him out. I also spoke on the phone with a woman from a design / remodeling place about the screen porch needed outside the front door, though I suspected my job might be too small potatoes for them. Likely so, but they are also scheduling several months out, so she referred me to a list they maintain on their website of various kinds of tradespeople.

I think I will probably go with renovations people I met with last week. They seem organized and professional (the opposite of the person who came today, come to think of it) and they seem to have a solid, well-established process.

The owner of the window place came late in the day. I told him I’d spent hours today fixing windows and he chided me (not in a mean way) saying I should not have lifted a finger and should have left it all for them! But I’ll bet he was secretly glad later that I had done that, because he lives in Ohio and ended up being here for more than two hours struggling with the final four windows, while his family was sitting down to a nice dinner without him. It was past 6:30 p.m. by the time he left here.

By the way, those two windows of which I grumbled that the window washers had wrongly put the screens outside the glass are actually supposed to be that way. I thought it was incorrect and pulled the glass out pursuant to putting the various things where they I thought they were supposed to go. After I realized the screen actually goes on the outside, I could not get the glass back in. The owner of the window place wrestled with this for 30 minutes or so before prevailing. I certainly told him I had messed it up myself.

I liked him. I made a suggestion at some point and he said he wasn’t sure if that applied, “But there are no bad ideas! Keep ’em coming!” Later on, he asked me to show him my technique for getting the screen into proper position. I demonstrated how you use a hammer to adjust a window. That was the only tool I needed. I used it a lot. (Without ever breaking a pane of glass.)

He said they would give me back part of what I paid them, and he also offered to give me a great deal on rehabilitating the deck and on power washing the gutters all the way around the house pursuant to painting, so all is more than well.

Yesterday evening, I was thinking I’d have to replace a whole bunch of windows and that it was going to cost a lot, but this evening, while the cost of windows has not changed, I see no reason to prioritize this. I drenched the two most recalcitrant windows in WD-40 with immediate good results. The windows are basically working fine. Oddly, all but two lack handles. I will buy some and either install them myself or pay a handyman to.

A good day. I learned a lot, and without knowing in advance that I was going to learn anything.