About two and a half months ago, I tore away the rotten molding around this window, thinking I would replace it in an afternoon. After exposing the awning window at the bottom and discovering it was rotting away, too, my afternoon project revealed itself to be no longer quick or cheap.
I put in an order for a new window shortly afterward. Owing to the odd size, there weren't a lot of choices to be had. I went with the Anderson window because it was the best one I could find and it cost only thirty dollars more than the cheapest I could find. In the meantime, I covered the window with heavy plastic sheeting to keep out the wind and rain, and waited. The window finally came from the factory week before last. You may be able to guess why I didn't install it last weekend.
Today was a pretty nice day for tearing a hole in the side of your house to install a window, cool and sunny with a fair breeze. I started by prying all the molding off the inside frame, but that didn't reveal a easy way to remove the old window, as I'd hoped it would. It fit so snugly into the rough opening that it betrayed no screw or nail fasteners, so I fell back on my tried and true method of deconstruction: I fetched my saw and started cutting. Five minutes later, the old window lay in pieces on the deck and I was poking the nozzle of the shop vac into the nooks and crannies to make a clean hole for the new window.
The new window's got a vinyl outer cover with flashing all around. I don't like the look of vinyl much, but if it keeps the weather out for years and years I suppose I can learn to live with it. The inside of the window's a nice blonde pine. I used pine furring strips to frame it up, too, even though we'll probably end up staining it to match the rest of the trim around the room.
I worked on installation until around four in the afternoon, when I called it quits on account of I wanted to sit on my butt for a while and blog. I hope to finish the framing and tack the molding back into place tomorrow.
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