Chris wins "best friend ever" award!!!

So when we moved into our house, Beth and I had to wait for the old owners to install new windows in the bedrooms to meet firecode requirements of a 24" opening before they could legally transfer the deed. We actually tried to just have them order the windows, cut holes in the walls (meeting the emergency exit requirement) and leave the rest to us, but to no avail. Anyway, it turns out that in the interest of time they attached the windows to the siding of our house, rather than the house itself. This meant that with the trim off on the inside, you could actually see the inside of our siding through the cracks. No wonder those two rooms were the chilliest in the house last winter!

So yesterday our friend Chris came over to help us with a project of taking out the windows, cutting away the siding, and re-installing the windows properly in their frames. We started work around 9:30 am by pulling off some of the treated wood siding to reveal..... more siding! I can see why this siding was covered up, too, since it was sea-foam green. Anyway, you can chose your own metaphor (tree rings, everlasting gobstopper, 500 hats of Bartholemew Cubbins), but the task was no different, it just involved taking off a second layer of siding. However, as we did this, we revealed that the underlying particle board was soft and crumbly the way you would want the topping of an apple crisp to be, although not how you would want the exterior wall of your house. Suddenly the task grew from "put windows back in holes and screw in" to "rebuild entire front wall of house then you can worry about putting those windows back in, but maybe get used to having those big holes in the front of your house for awhile."

So, while Chris kept working on the siding, Beth and I made a quick trip to Home Depot (where I should probably be having my paychecks direct-deposited) for more supplies and to Burger King for fuel. We had ourselves a nice little lunch break warmed by our backyard fire pit (gotta get rid of that old siding and particle board somehow!) and then it was back to work. The plan was that Chris and I would hold a sheet of plywood up to the house and get it positioned just right, then Beth (from the inside) would trace the window opening on the wood and we would cut it to size. Then out comes the framing nailer and bingo-bango, on to the next sheet. Once we got all of the plywood up, we covered everything with waterproof 1/2 inch foam insulation and taped up all the seams.

I should mention that all day long we were bringing wheelbarrow loads of siding, etc, back to the fire pit and adding more to the fire itself, which kind of made it feel like camping. It was a good reminder of the need to keep working, because until the windows were back in we sorta were camping. Anyway, we'd usually take an extra minute or two on each trip back there to throw a ball for Bella, who was a bit nervous about all of our activity (electrical saws and nailguns especially) not to mention the occasional pop of our neighbors' fireworks, which helped to calm her down and probably did a lot to keepsus calm, too.

So by about 5:15 we had all of the plywood and insulation up and sealed, and getting the windows back in actually went really smoothly. We caulked the edges (no more drafts!), rested the windows in the frames (where they belong!) and just generally attached the things to the structure of the house itself (aka correctly!) instead of the siding (boooooo!). There was still plenty of cleanup to do, indoors and out, but we got through it pretty quickly. All told we we're done right around 7, although without Chris spending 10 hours of his Saturday engaged in hard labor for no compensation, I can imagine that I would be outside still attaching plywood instead of sitting at the computer sipping some coffee.

Then we grilled burgers!

(pictures to follow)