kitchen post 34 - new kitchen window part 1

today i went on the internet looking to hire someone to replace the window from the kitchen to the porch. found someone on craigslist and texted them with two pictures, one from the kitchen, one from the porch.

replacing a window in winter with plenty of snow outside is not usually done. but this window is indoors thanks to the porch.

the old window, kitchen side


porch side


you can see the pine ship-lap out in the porch that would be difficult to match.


the window guy handyman got back to me right away. came by around 4pm to look and measure the window. he said he could do it today. he went to menards and bought the window and some 1x2 boards and boom. I have a new kitchen window. $165 window and $225 labor.


heidi was concerned there was a strange man in the house and barked a whole bunch at him. then closely supervised him the rest of the time he was here.


he broke the outer/storm window glass of the old kitchen window while removing that window from the wall out in the porch. my first thought on hearing the glass shatter was that he broke the floor to ceiling porch window next to that kitchen window. scared me for a moment. i was *quite* relieved it was NOT. it was just the old windows outer/storm glass that broke. the floor to ceiling porch glass would have been very expensive to replace. and thankfully heidi was supervising from the doorway to the porch, not brave enough to get closer. so no glass in her paws.

no window! just a temporarily empty hole!


the old window measured 29 3/4 x 40. the replacement was 30x36. that is what they had in stock. he called me out to the porch to show me the difference and ask if it was ok. otherwise he could special order that original size, but we'd have to wait for it to come in.


i showed him how the height of the ikea cabinet i'd planned to have over the sink wouldnt fit because the old window was too tall. so he build up a filler above the window as opposed to below it to make it fit in the existing space.


with the wood windowsill added


but anyway, he got the old window removed and put the new one in. the new one is single hung not double hung (meaning the bottom panel slides up, but the top panel doesnt slide down, its fixed in place. he chose that and I was ok with it because it was cheaper and i dont open that window very often since its just out to the porch. I didnt realize that meant the whole window would be slimmer depth-wise. he installed it and made a windowsill for it above the kitchen sink. a wood windowsill directly above the sink. it was not exactly what I expected, having not realized the window wasnt as deep as the old one. it was however completely acceptable for my needs, and nicely done.

the kitchen side should be fine to finish off and trim out. but the porch side will be harder to mask the new window being shorter because of that diagonal knotty pine ship-lap out there. and the porch side wasnt quite as well done as the kitchen side.


edited to add
-----i've just realized the new wood windowsill also doesnt come out to even with the sheetrock. so any window trim would leave the edge of the sheetrock exposed. all the way around.

where my fingers are, i'm holding up a piece of trim that would go around the window. my thumb is on the wood windowsill he built. that white part in between my thumb and fingers, its the edge of the sheetrock.


in this one my pointer finger is on the exposed sheetrock/drywall.


just holding the old wood trim up against the sheetrock


guess i gotta call him back.