The day the windows arrived was a joyous day. I have had my heart set on black windows since we started dreaming about this house. What I really wanted was steel frame windows. But we all know that this family is not rolling in dough, so that dream went, well, out the window. I really didn't want vinyl windows. But since they had the best budget-friendly black window frames, that is what we got. Also, did you know that a window that is just a single pane of glass set in the wall with no opening mechanism whatsoever is more expensive than a single- or double-hung window? Isn't that just crazy? I thought I wanted just single panes of glass. I have allergies, so opening windows is not always the brightest thing to do. But again, that nasty budget thing... so single hung windows, but with no grids, it was. Black on the outside and white on the inside, again thanks to the budget since black on the inside would have cost more money. They are perfect and once the screens are installed, I think that we will use them often to enjoy the breezes that are usually gentle at the top of our little hill.
I was so happy to see them arrive that I did actually hug a window. Yep. We have 18 beautiful 3 foot by 6 foot windows running around the house. There are three in the living room, three in the bedroom, and twelve in the sunroom. They all slid right into place, making my heart sing.
Ah, the fireplace there in the middle in the photo below. It is all framed in and ready for rock and the wood burning insert. We hope to be able to get that finished off before winter this year. The center opening is for the fireplace itself. The openings on either side will be framed in wood boxes that can be opened from the outside for loading in wood and then accessible from the inside. That should help keep things a bit cleaner in the sunroom.
Installing the front and back doors had to happen before they could finish the siding. The rear door on the sunroom has a full pane of glass. You can see that in some later shots of the sided house. I love the three windows in my front door. I wanted 5, but, you know, budget...
They were able to finish the siding once all of the exterior doors and windows were installed. They also finished the trim between the roof and the siding. As I had written in an earlier post, our metal came from Simpson Culvert in Pleasant View. We used the Central States product - PanelLoc Plus, I believe. The siding is Alamo (almost a putty white) and the roof and trim is Charcoal. I don't have shots of the gutters at this point, but those run along the sunroom and the tractor shed on the opposite side of the building. The gutters and downspouts are black which blend with the window and door frames.
Look at how pretty those windows are running down the length of the sunroom!
Here is the back door below with its single pane of glass. It was white then, but it is white no longer!
Here is an inside shot of the windows to show the white frames inside. You can see the electrical boxes in the ceiling, which are for the lights. More on electricity in the next post. The light that comes in through all of these windows is incredible. The back of the house faces east and the bedroom is on that side. You would think the sun would stream in at sunrise, but because we are surrounded by so many trees, by the time the sun is above the trees, it is above the windows as well. The same happens in the living room in the afternoon. It is on the west side, but again, the sun is below the trees before it can directly shine into the room. We get amazing filtered sunlight. During the day, the sun is perfectly situated to provide gorgeous natural light in the sunroom. You guys (don't make me say "y'all" because it isn't in my DNA), somehow we found the perfect building site and positioned the building perfectly.
Once again, here is my high-flying friend Thomas, just hanging out on the lift like you do.
This is one of my favorite shots below, showing the comparison of the frame itself and then the fully enclosed structure.
It felt pretty gigantic when we finally had it all dried in. Oh, and we passed the framing inspection, which was pretty exciting. The guys were all pretty happy about that one.
We could finally start working on the guts of the house. And by "we" I do not mean me! As I have written earlier, I do not have shots of several stages once this happened. I was teaching and running to Nashville and just didn't take many pictures. But here are some of the things that happened between this stage and the next post which will cover electrical and insulation.
Plumbing fixtures were ordered and the guts of the two faucets that come directly out of the walls (shower and bathroom sink) were positioned, and all of the hot and cold water lines were installed throughout. David took on the responsibility of handling most of the plumbing issues for the house. I did help with that a bit. Plumbing is pretty cool. The only things that remain aside from installing the actual fixtures is getting the hot water heater (boiler system) put together and on the wall and then installing the pressure reducer valve (yes, we have too much water pressure) at the street. Then we can turn on the water!
Fire sprinklers were installed throughout the house and shop. I mean, come on, my husband is a fire fighter. We can't build a house and not install them. We are thankful for firefighter friends who have helped us in almost every aspect of this build. We had one long-time friend and fellow fire fighter, PV Firefighter Ricky Reed and a friend of his install the system.
We also had the HVAC system installed. We decided to go with a mini-split system with units in every room as well as the garage. We also, if you remember, have a radiant floor heating system which will help to heat the house in the winter along with that fireplace when it is finished. Another firefighter friend, Ret. Capt. Bobby Pratt of Nashville FD, and his crew got those units all installed and working properly. They did a fantastic job. The concrete floor does help to keep things pretty cool even on the warm days that we have had so far. So hopefully we won't need to use the units often or for much of the year.
The next step is electrical wiring and insulation, which I will try and post in the next day or so. This time I have pictures!
Stay tuned!
Lizabeth
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