Easter Traditions

Ok, I’m obviously very behind on posting (2024 has been slipping away on me), but we have been making some good progress. 

It seems that new windows and doors have become an Easter tradition, and this year was no different.  Given that new windows and doors require pounding a lot of nails, it’s probably an appropriate project for Good Friday contemplation. This year, it was the upstairs bedrooms’ windows and sliding doors. We have a second story patio and both bedrooms have sliding doors out to it and the master bedroom has two picture windows as well. Did we really need to replace these? No.  After all, they were decent Pella doors and it was definitely scope creep. But, all of the rest of the white windows have been replaced with Marvin black fiberglass high efficiency windows so it would look amazing if they all matched.  More importantly, the windows were very poorly installed, and there was a lot of air leaking around them.  It’s amazing how humid the upstairs was compared to downstairs. We decided it would be worth the money to replace them so we got new windows and doors. And I am so glad we did.  Huge difference. In both looks and functionality.  Also, we were able to sell the old ones on Facebook Marketplace so we got some money for them and they’ll get reused.  Win all around. 

First we had to do the wall: tear off siding, remove old insulation. We fixed the framing issues around the windows. One thing about doing all the same projects on the second floor that we already did on the first floor – we’ve gotten smarter.  Making sure the frames were level and square saved a lot of excess shimming when the windows and doors went in.  Then the layers: Rockwool insulation, sheathing (lots of nails with the nail gun), Tyvek (more nails – cap nails by hand), FastFlash, and then the windows and doors (lots of big framing nails pounded in by hand).  The previous doors were held in with 4 small screws.  I’m not sure how that worked for the last ten years through hurricanes but the new ones are much much stronger.  Good luck getting them out – but you won’t want to, they are beautiful. 

On the inside: insulation, spray foam, AirDam, drywall. I know I’m skipping a lot of steps here, but like I said, I’m behind, and all the individual steps have already been covered.  If you missed those posts, click on the links to go back and read about it. As I said, they look beautiful.  The back of the house looks so great with all matching windows and doors. And the upstairs is so quiet now and fully air conditioned.  Add this change to all the extra insulation Shawn added in the attic and I bet our electric bills are way down this summer. 

The interior of the doors is wood so we’ll paint those, probably black in the master and white in the smaller bedroom.  (We picked all the paint colors too so stay tuned to hear about those!). Need to add the outside siding but things are looking good!