Caulking and Washing Windows

Good Evening,

Didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted to this weekend, working on the house.  Yesterday we picked up the French Doors that will go to the Bonus Room upstairs, and 4 toilets.  I think when the toilets go in we can say we are almost ready to move in.

I caulked the trim and baseboard of two upstairs bedrooms and the hall.  I checked with Preston, my do-it-yourself-go-to-guy, and asked him if there was a good way to caulk.  The way I do it seemed so labor intensive.  So here were his instructions:  Make a small whole in the caulking tube, at an angle of course.  Have a container of water which has a edge that you can clean the caulk off of your finger.  You will put a small bead of caulk then smooth out with a wet finger and scrape any excess off your finger on the edge of the water bowl.  It works great.  I am still slow, but that is just me.  He suggested I use Spackle to fill in the tiny wholes of the finish nail gun.  I tried that but the wholes were so small that i just used excess caulk and wiped the excess with a wet cloth.

During the time in each room, I wanted to wash some of the windows as they were so dirty from before the house was closed up tight.  That was only accomplished this past July when we hired the contractor.  Then everything was closed up and no more birds could come inside and build their nests and poop all over everything.  Thank you, Thank you S & K Mountain Construction.

While washing the windows, I had time to reflect on when we ordered the windows and purchased them from Home Depot.  They are Jeld Wen windows.  They are vinyl or plastic clad.  With the front of the house getting so much weather out of the south, wood windows were not a good choice.  It is really hard to keep a finish on the wood.  We are known for getting lots of wind and it reeks havoc on painted wood finishes.

One of the reasons we chose Jeld Wen Windows was because they were affordable and they came double-hung so that the upstairs windows could tip-in for cleaning.  There is a total of 44 windows in the whole house.  We purchased the lower windows first and installed them.  A couple of years later we went to purchase the windows for the upstairs.  That is when we had a problem.  I had picked up a brochure which touted the double-hung windows that would tip-in for cleaning, but when I went to purchase them, they said they were not available on the west coast only in the east and midwest.  I was not a happy camper.  That was the reason that I went with Jeld Wen Windows.  The clerk at Home Depot took my number and said the Rep would be on Monday and would give me a call.  The Rep did call me and he then spoke to the home office and explained the situation and they shipped a special order of double-hung windows to complete the upstairs.  Now it doesn’t get much better than that.  They were courteous and helpful.  They kept in touch and delivered them without shipping costs.  What an upstanding company.  I would do business with them again.

Also when washing the windows, it struck me that we, Lynn and I, have really worked at the house.  Kinda like an inch-worm these last few years, but we installed the windows.  We used the bucket truck to install the upstairs windows.  So the bucket truck did come in handy, but once it was broke, it was really broke.

Now for some of the pictures:

Master Bath Vanity

My Jeld Wen Metal French Doors that lead onto the upper deck.

North Bedroom with the two closets. All caulked and ready to paint

By Pass Doors for one of the closets. Oh and they are Jeld Wen also.

South East front bedroom. My Jeld Wen windows. The double-hung ones. There are bigger double-hung windows in the South West front bedroom, but I didn’t get that far today.

Toilets for the 3 baths. 2 upstairs and one off the utility room.

The Master Bath Throne.

The interior French Doors (the glass is covered with plywood) That may be Jeld Wen, but I’m not sure of that.

It has been a busy weekend.  Started packing up some things also in the dining room.  Next on my schedule is to get an estimate from a mover.  I don’t think we will make it into the house until after the first of the year.  I am trying to get some of the trim caulked and painted before the carpet goes in.  I will be on vacation during Thanksgiving week so I should be able to get more accomplished, either packing or working on the house.

Oh, I almost forgot we went shopping at Sears for the appliances.  Delivery is tomorrow.  We did get a water heater that works in conjunction with the heat pump.  That is more efficient that a regular hot water heater.  Bonus, Pacific Power and Light gives us a $600 rebate so the actual cost will be approximately $300.  We need every savings we can get as I am already making my banker nervous.

Annie, The Caulking, Window Washing Queen.