Jay Gaulard

You are here: Home / Archives for Home & Living

Home & Living Blog Posts

Blog posts the fall under the Home & Living category. Read all I have written about this topic.

Pool Area Update

I am writing this post primarily for two people. First, for my father because I know how into pools he is. I have some stuff I want to show him. Next, for Laura’s mother because I know how into Voleman she is. I have a very special picture of him. Alrighty then.

First off – we had a close call about a week ago. It rained and rained and by the time we got outside to check the pool, there was a coating of funk on the bottom. To deal with this, I added some supplemental chlorine tablets in a makeshift chlorinator. Check this out.

Pool Chlorine Tablets

I am somewhat certain there wasn’t enough chlorine in the pool. With this basket, along with our floating chlorine dispenser, I think I’ve solved that issue. So much so that I think our hair is getting lighter. Time to lay off the tabs.

Right around the time of the pool funk, I was at my breaking point with our original pool vacuum. I didn’t take a picture of that one, but let me tell you that it’s junk. It’s one of those triangle brush ones. Uggg. I decided to order one with wheels from Amazon. This one is much better and allows me to vacuum similar to vacuuming a carpet. To and fro.

Pool Vacuum Head

I think this was the one my father was telling me about. It’s pretty awesome and my vacuuming time is a fraction of what it was. Also, I don’t dread the task like I once did.

Here is how the pool looks now that I vacuum more often. Nice and clean.

In-ground Pool Deep End

We had a few days there when the water temperature was up to 80 degrees. That was pretty nice, although it’s down to around 78 today. It jumps up and down with the daily and nightly temps.

Pool Thermometer

We used to have these tree-type stands for our bird feeders. They were making a mess with all the bird food crumbs falling on the pool perimeter concrete. I came up with a great idea to semi-solve the problem. I took the posts off the stands and mounted them to the fence posts. Now, the crumbs fall closer to the edge of the concrete and we can easily brush them away.

Bird Feeders on Fence Posts

Lastly, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of Voleman in the window. I was out snapping away and when I turned around, there he was. Oh too cute.

Cat in Window


The Heat Wave Has Passed

Thank goodness the heat has found a new home. For a few days there, I didn’t think I was going to make it. And thank goodness for the pool that happened to come with the house. The pool that I really didn’t want, but found myself in, naked, at 11 in the PM. These things happen when I start sweating and drink a glass of wine. By the way, I’m debating if I should remove the word naked, but I think I’ll keep it there. The four of you who read this blog know my personality.

I think we saw the 90s for a few days there. I know the temps hit the 80s in the upstairs bedroom. By the time we got into bed though, we managed to get it down to somewhere in the 70s – thanks to our little mini fan we keep in the window. As you may have guessed, we don’t have air conditioning. I had a great number of window air conditioners when we lived in Connecticut, but gave them all away before we moved. And then I bought a small one in Florida, but sold it before we left there. Let’s just say that hell will have to freeze over before I buy another one of those things. They seem to be a bad omen.

I really don’t think I want air conditioning anyway. Hot nights are what makes good stories. Like I partially mentioned above, Laura and I took a dip late at night because of the heat. If we had AC, we probably wouldn’t have done that. And I’d be sitting here writing about how we sat inside. I’ll tell you this though, it was good swimming at night. We had the one spotlight on and I threw my little battery powered camping lanterns in the pool. They’re waterproof. One sank to the bottom and one floated on top. They did a good job of illuminating the water and it was really cool to swim with those lights.

And the stars. The air was as clear as I’ve ever seen it and with the lack of light pollution in this part of the world, we could easily see the Milky Way as we floated around. Good times.

The cats didn’t like the heat though. I think Voleman was ready to jump off a bridge. He can’t stand the heat. Let’s just say that during our stay in Florida, he didn’t talk to us much.

Cute Orange Cat

Orange Cat Sleeping

It may have been worse for Flipper. I can’t tell with him, but I do know when he’s grumpy, which is generally when he’s trying to sleep. During our little heat wave, we just left him alone.

Black Cat Sleeping


Outdoor Update – End of June

I haven’t visited the pond in quite a while. The grass is growing high around it, so I’ve been avoiding the area because of my fear I’ll be inundated by ticks. Not that I’ve gotten a tick here yet, but I’m sure they’re out there.

I decided to venture back there this afternoon. Laura caught a snapping turtle in the pool a few mornings ago and I wanted to see if I could find it. According to her, it may be somewhere near the pond because that’s where she released it. I’m concerned that if the turtle does make the pond its home, it’ll eat the other wildlife that we’ve been releasing there. But those fears have been allayed because during my visit to the area today, I found oodles of tadpoles and salamanders. Of course, I took pictures of them and as I was taking them off my camera, I figured I’d post what’s been building up on Laura’s and call it an update.

First, let’s start with the salamanders. Since all my salamander pictures look pretty much identical, I’ll post only one. During my visit though, I did see at least five floating around simultaneously. It’s a riot to watch. They stay near the top, in the warm water, just slowly wagging their tails while looking for food.

Floating Salamander

By the way, if you’re interested in seeing a picture of an enormous salamander, you can do so here.

As I was standing at the pond, I noticed something wiggling towards the shore to my right. Then after that, I noticed a few things wiggling. To my surprise, I saw about four huge tadpoles. I’ve been wondering what happened to the pollywogs I transplanted back in May. I guess they lived because from what I saw, they are almost frogs. They’ve got webbed feet and everything.

Tadpole

Yesterday was a good day for moths. We were doing some work on the front of the house and found these guys:

Large Moths

Giant Moth

They were just chillin’ on the front wall. I don’t know why.

And around the same time, I found a toad hopping around at the side of the house. I was walking back and forth because I was digging up bushes from the front and planting them along the pool fence. Here’s that toad, looking as darling as ever:

Toad

Before I walk upstairs for bed at night, I like to turn on the lights in back of the house, just to make sure there’s nothing swimming around in the pool. About two nights ago, I didn’t see anything swimming, but I can remember spotting sort of a shadow near the skimmer. I didn’t think anything of it until Laura told me the next morning that she fished a snapping turtle out of the pool. I’m assuming the shadow belonged to the turtle and I was too interested in bed to make anything of it. Laura says that the turtle was disagreeable and didn’t enjoy being pulled from the entrance of the skimmer. It didn’t try to bite or anything, but it put some muscle into resisting. She let the turtle go way in the back. I will tell you this – I’m not sure how comfortable I am with all this action going on while I’m asleep. I generally enjoy trapping and releasing and things of that nature.

Snapping Turtle

Snapper Turtle

Turtle Head

I already showed you all the wildflowers we’ve got growing in the lawn. Those look really great and are moving swiftly through their lifespan. The yellow flowers are turning into those Dandelion puffy things and the orange ones are still going strong. We’ve got some taller yellow ones introducing themselves, along with these new purple flowers. I’m not sure what these are called, but I’ve seen them about a zillion times.

Purple Lawn Flower

We have many apple trees on the property, but I’m not sure we’ll get any apples this year. For some reason, I didn’t see many apple blossoms and I’ve only seen a few baby apples. The pears are doing well though. We’ve got about thirty little baby pears growing mighty finely. I’m extremely hopeful that these will mature healthily because I haven’t tasted a pear picked from a tree like this in years.

Baby Pears

One thing we do have an abundance of is wild blackberries. They are in flower mode right now, but from what I can tell, if these grow to fruition, I’m going to be spending a lot of time picking them. Blackberry and raspberry bushes are also in abundance up in the trails at the end of the road. I heard that people from far and wide come to pick them, so I have to get there early if I want my share.

Wild Blackberry Flowers

I found a few extra pictures on Laura’s camera that I thought were worth posting. She’s got a really nice shot of one of our Peonies…

Pink Peonies

…and a pretty dark maroon flower growing in the grass:

Dark Maroon Flower

She also managed to capture another beautiful butterfly on film.

Orange and Black Butterfly

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, we’ve got a somewhat blurry, but who cares, picture of a Red-winged Blackbird in flight. It’s the coolness of this picture that made me take notice.

Red-winged Blackbird in Flight


Why Would I Ever Mow the Lawn?

When we lived in Connecticut and then Florida, there were these rules – some unwritten and some written. Rules that said each and every property needed to have its lawn mowed and that it needed to look “tidy.” I sort of agreed with the rules, as they were most likely aimed at forcing the not so tidy people to tidy up. I didn’t like the fact that people were telling me what to do though. I was born (sort of) tidy and the fact that I had some official (especially down in Florida) telling me that I needed to mow the lawn, annoyed me. And in Florida, if you didn’t mow your lawn to a certain height, the city would mow it for you – and charge you a hefty fee (if you didn’t pay, they’d put a lien against your house). This was aggravating because it forced all of us to slip on our Bermuda shorts and, in sync, pull our mower starter ropes to do the deed. Well actually, most people has someone do the lawn for them. It seemed as though I was the only schmuck out there laboring over the ordeal.

Whatever. It doesn’t matter because in both places, I had no soul. All of our lawns looked identical and the neighbors didn’t know the difference. I vowed though, while sitting in Florida, that the next place I lived, I’d be on strike. That I wouldn’t mow the lawn and if anyone told me to do so, I’d rather burn it than have my soul ripped from my chest once more. In the world I remember and enjoy, people can do what they want, especially on their own property. Since when did the neighbors and the town have a vote on the issue? Since when did someone you never met tell you that things should be a certain way? If it ain’t pretty, it’s simply unfortunate that someone lives next to something they don’t care for. They need to get over it and harp on something else in their lives. There, I’ve said it.

It took me a while to actually start the mower here in Maine. I knew the grass would get high and I’d like to eventually walk though it. Tall grass needs to get knocked down or else things turn nasty. If you want to get from one place to another and need to walk through the thick, you’ll most likely acquire some ticks and bugs along the way. But if you think about it, it’s rare that you walk around your entire lawn. Usually, you follow the same paths, day after day. And that’s where I got the idea that instead of mowing our entire lawn, I’d only mow certain spots. Paths to assist me getting around to the places I visit most.

Mowing Path Through High Grass

I began mowing a good three weeks after everyone else. Sure, I got funny looks from the few who drive up our road, but after explaining the situation and my stubbornness to them, they smiled. These people up here don’t care anyway. They are quite the opposite of neighborhood folks. I mean, a moose ran by the house yesterday for God’s sake!

I started off mowing a few paths through the grass. One from the shed to the pool gate, another from the pool gate to the garage. Eventually, I had my path system down pat. I had all I needed and I sat back and reveled in the fact that I’d beat the system. I had the tall grass I wanted and I had no ticks on my pants. Things were good.

Well, as it turns out, something began happening a few days and weeks after the grass started growing and after I finished laying out my trails. Flowers began to grow. At first, it was Dandelions and then came the Daisies. Now, we’ve got something that looks like the smaller cousin of the Dandelion and a whole slew of orange/red flowers. They are strikingly beautiful.

Here’s what things have shaped up to look like:

Lawn Wild Flowers

Daisies in Lawn

Wild Flowers Growing in Grass

Wild Flowers in Lawn

Trails Mowed Through Grass

Paths in Grass

Yellow and Orange Flowers in Grass

Flowers and Tall Grass in Summer

I mean, who knew? Who knew my stubbornness would lead to something I look forward to seeing every morning after I wake up? What a treat it is to see these flowers grow and then spread and then grow some more. It’s quite the sight, I’ll tell you that. It’s sort of like a smaller version of the Poppy field in the Wizard of Oz. Crazy.

Please tell me what you think. Did I go wrong? Is this unintended treat something I should do away with or continue on through the years? I’d say I should keep the flowers and let them get thicker and thicker through every passing day of Spring and Summer.


Sites About Maine We Like

Ever since we arrived in Maine in November of 2013, we’ve been online, searching for and finding the most wonderful websites and blogs about our (now) great state. It’s been inspiring, to say the least. It’s actually one of the reasons we decided to write more and more about the state of Maine. During our online escapades, some blogs really struck our fancy. We’ve compiled them and are trying our best to list them on this page. And as you can see below, we’re slowly but surely getting things accomplished.

Our basic goal is to say thanks. Just by reading what the authors of the blogs below have written, Laura and I have had conversations, initiated projects, gone places and have had our appreciation of Maine grow exponentially. It’s extraordinary. We didn’t expect this when we decided to move here. There’s something special about our area and by listing your website below, we extend our gratitude to you for all your effort in your writing.

—

FARMS

Runamuk Acres – This is a very interesting website. I was first introduced to it in March of 2014 while searching for information on local honey. Runamuk appeared in the search results and the rest is history. The website is run by Samantha Burns out of Anson, Maine and is updated quite a bit. She covers much of what goes on during life on a small farm in Maine. Beekeeping, livestock, pets, gardening and more. It’s definitely worth a look, so check it out. Also, read her “About Us” page to learn the big picture of what they’ve got going on over at the farm.

OUTDOORS

Robin’s Outdoors – If you want to be inspired, read Robin Follette’s “About Robin” page. I love nothing more than stories of people who have made the jump from the business life to the outdoors life. I especially connect with the line, “I traded heels and suits for jeans and boots and I’ve never regretted the decision.” How awesome is that? Robin’s website covers a nice corner of life in Maine. She discusses animal tracks and animals in general (in Maine), books and reviews, farming, gardening and more. It’s great to see and read about topics that we have right in our back yard. And to see personal photos to go along with the writing – it’s really great.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Maine Nature Images – If you like really, really good pictures of the wild in Maine, you need to check out this blog created by John Theberge. He put together some really great stuff. I believe there was actually an earlier version of his blog over here, but since April of 2011, John’s been writing and sharing his photos on the site I linked to above. I love his photography and have dabbled in his arena myself on a number of occasions, so I can definitely respect the work he puts into what he does. Nice job!

LIVING IN MAINE

Cold House Journal – I like this blog a lot. It’s almost as if I had written most of the posts myself. The author talks about living through the cold Maine Winters, what it takes to beat the home heating industrial complex, upkeep on his house and lots and lots of firewood. It’s really right up my alley. Especially the heating posts. It’s almost fun to see how efficiently and effectively (and creatively) we can heat our homes up here. If you want a taste of some creative home heating, check out the “Impractical Heating Idea” post. And check out the rest of his blog as well.

—

A Good Eater – Written in Maine, by a Mainer for Mainers. I like it. A Good Eater covers all sorts of topics, from books to food to just living. I really enjoy the books category. Now that we’re in Maine, there truly is nothing like getting good book suggestions from another Mainer. It’s almost as though the people who’ve been here for years know the good secrets. Where to find things, what to read…It’s refreshing and intriguing at the same time. Another category I’ve taken to time to familiarize myself with is “Living in Place.” Posts over here are just the way I want them and actually, just the way I write my own. Sort of like “what I’m doing today” types of posts. I think we all like these on those chilly nights where we just want to sit back to check out what others are up to. Anyway, give this blog a read. It’ll be worth your while.

—

Midlife in Maine – This blog follows an interesting story of reevaluating one’s life and eventually making the way to the Maine woods. You can read the letter from the author to her friends here on the “Why I Did It” page and even learn more about her on the “About” page. I’m going to be honest with you – the blog is inspirational. It’s very challenging to pick up an entrenched life and move it somewhere else. Somewhere completely different. I admire that and I respect it. And in this case, it seems that it was for the right reasons and the author is accomplishing what she set out to accomplish.

GARDENING

Henbogle – Henbogle seems to be a blog much like ours (the one you’re currently reading), except it’s mostly about gardening in the great state of Maine. It’s a variety blog though. The authors, Ali and Dan, describe many of the trials and tribulations of gardening, hen keeping and home upkeep in mid-coast Maine. It’s a great read and especially helpful as we attempt to “date” things correctly with our very own first garden in the area. Having a blog written by people who have been through it before is quite handy. Check them out and learn more about them on their “About” page and their “Welcome” page!

HOMESTEADING

Modern Homesteading: Maine-ah Style – What we’ve got here is a blog about homesteading in Maine, with a twist. The authors talk about all sorts of things homestead, but talk about them in such a way as to help others who would like to follow in their footsteps be as efficient and effective as possible. This blog has tons of posts – everything from laundry, kids, gardening, health and homeschooling. Oh, believe me, there’s more than that, but we only have one page here. I’ve read quite a few posts and can tell you they are well written and very informative. I particularly enjoy the “Self Sufficiency” posts because moving in that direction is one of my personal goals. Having first hand knowledge at my fingertips is an enormous help.


Filling In a Basement Crawl Space

I’ve got a project to complete that I’m really not looking forward to. It’s called something like, “filling in the basement crawl space with gravel, dirt, sand…whatever.”

Do you remember back when I told you about my nifty installation of our sump pump? Well, that installation worked wonderfully. Every time the basement filled with water, I heard the pump go on and off – and on and off. And so on. It was fun to listen to in the beginning, but as time went on, listening to that pump, and connecting the sound of it to the electric bill, became less and less fun of an experience. And today, this very moment, listening to the pump turn on and off is ready to drive me crazy. It stopped raining a week ago and the pump is still working. Albeit it only turns on every hour or so, but it’s got me wondering, “Why in the world do we need to get this water out of the basement so bad?” I mean, I’m not sure if it’s just simple conditioning from what I’ve seen on TV or read on the internet, but really, why do we even have a crawl space? It was there when we moved in, but do we need it?

The answer is no. If we had a much more shallow crawl space, say 3 feet deep instead of 4 1/2, I would never see any water at all. It could rain all it wants to and the basement would never fill. I could keep the entire area covered with my plastic vapor barrier and no one would be the wiser. And the moisture down there would be virtually non-existent. The only problem is – yeah, you guessed it – actually filling in the crawl space. Who’s going to do that? My back truly isn’t looking forward to this one.

I just went downstairs with my pickaxe and shovel, with the intention of moving some of the dirt that was pushed to the middle of the crawl space, back out to cover the footings. I figured that all the material I needed was there. Currently, there’s sort of a moat around the perimeter of the entire area, with the dirt in the middle. Sort of like a donut. I was going to see how much of that moat I could fill in, as to raise the floor level down there.

Here is what the basement looks like if you were standing in the first section, looking into the crawl space. What you see is the vapor barrier with the sump pump underneath. Also, the lump under the vapor barrier is the existing soil.

Dirt Basement

Moving further into the crawl space, if you look left and then right, here is what you see. I figured I could smooth out those dirt lumps and be done with it.

Crawl Space Plastic Vapor Barrier

Spray Foam Insulation in Basement Crawl Space

While I may be able to get away with moving some dirt around in the front section of the basement, there simply ins’t enough material down there to fill in the rear. And that’s where the major issues are. When water enters the crawl space, it sits on top of the plastic, puddling up.

Water Puddling on Basement Crawl Space Plastic Vapor Barrier

When I lift up and move the plastic over, what I just told you becomes even more evident. There just isn’t enough dirt to make a difference.

Dirt Floor In Basement Crawl Space

I think the plan is going to be something like this – order about 5 yards of pea gravel, or sand, or dirt – whatever is cheaper – and move the material down to the crawl space via 5-gallon buckets. I’m really not quite sure how that would work out over the run of this project, but it’s the only way I can think of right now. We also have a missing cement block that we use to vent the dryer, so I may be able to build some sort of a chute that I can slide gravel or whatever down. We’ll see what happens.


Interior Insulation With Rigid Foam

Rigid foam insulation is the best thing since sliced bread. It’s thin, effective, has a great r-value and acts as a vapor barrier. With the time and space saved, it’s worth its weight in…well, rigid foam. It’s sort of expensive though at $18.99 per 4’x8′ 1 inch thick sheet. But the mice hate it and once it’s installed, it’s good for life. That’s why I’m using it to insulate the log cabin room.

I gave you a sneak peek of the one finished wall in my window installation post, but now that this phase of the project has begun, I’m going to be talking about insulation a lot more.

Okay – where to begin. When this past Winter rolled around, we felt a distinct chill in the air. We felt drafts and cold walls. Laura and I had conversation upon conversation about why the house was so cold. After locating and fixing some of the larger problem areas, I decided to start methodically tackling the lack of proper insulation in this house. She kept asking me, “Why don’t people insulate correctly in the first place?” I replied, “Because houses get built in the Summer. Insulation is one of the last things people think about when they are sweating. Also, builders have a tough time reconciling the fact that Winter will return. When they build, it’s 80 degrees out.”

I know that doesn’t make too much sense when reading it, but it’s true. Even me – the insulation nut, has mostly forgotten about the cold now that’s it’s late Spring. I have to kick myself to recall waking up to a house that’s 30 degrees on the inside. My plan is to stop that from occurring, because as they say in book 1 of “Game of Thrones” (which I’m reading at the moment), “Winter is coming.”

In the log cabin room, I felt moving air during the cold months. The room is constructed with 6 inch thick logs, one stacked on top of the other. For the peaks and the roof, it’s stick built. Since the walls are solid, they are not insulated. At an r-value of 1.5 per inch of solid wood, the walls currently have an r-value of 9. That’s far below what’s recommended. Not that I know what’s recommended, but I can imagine having walls with an r-value of 9 is low. The ceiling is insulated with r-19 insulation. That’s also low (I can imagine). But really, the issue in the room isn’t low r-value – it’s draft. The room isn’t sealed. There are hairline gaps and checking in the wood that the walls are constructed of and the roof has a ridge vent that warm air is finding its way through. A layer of plastic all over the interior of the room would work wonders, but I’m going to step it up a notch.

When I touched the walls of the log cabin room over the Winter, they were cold. But while they were cold, they weren’t freezing cold. That solid wood was doing a decent job of insulating the room. I attribute the cold and draft to the ceiling and the windows. As you know, the windows are now installed and sealed.

I got the idea of installing rigid foam to the interior of this room a while back, after learning about insulation ad nauseum. And when I say ad nauseum, I mean ad nauseum. Much of my Winter months were consumed with me reading articles about how insulation works. And after all that reading, I made the decision to go with rigid foam. Here’s why: with foam insulation, the room gets sealed from air flow. The room also gets a vapor barrier. A vapor barrier is very important because I’m pretty sure no one wants to see water leaking out from the interior of their walls.

Do you know how water condensation works when it comes to insulation? No? Well, let me fill you in. When warm, moist air comes in contact with cold, dry air, condensation occurs. More specifically, condensation occurs right at the point of contact. Say you have fiberglass insulation installed in a wall with no vapor barrier. One side of the insulation is cold from the outside air and the other side is warm from the inside air. In this case, somewhere in the middle of that insulation is going to be the point of contact for those two temperatures and moisture levels. When the air collides, you get condensation and puddles. Or, you get sopping wet fiberglass insulation in your walls.

Back when we lived in Pine Bush, NY, we had a house where the corners of a few rooms weren’t insulated. Common problem caused by lazy builders. I can remember trying to paint those rooms in the middle of Winter and having the paint run down the walls and not drying properly. The issue was that those sections of wall were freezing and condensation was forming in the interior of the house. The sheetrock was the vapor barrier. That’s why insulation and the proper r-value is important.

Okay, enough of the lesson. Let’s get to some pictures of what I’ve done so far in the log cabin room. My basic plan is to skin the room with 1 inch thick rigid foam insulation. This will give the entire room a boost of 5 r-value points. This room had no issues with condensation and the temperature dropped to -24 this past season. Like I said above, I’m mostly concerned with drafts.

Rigid Foam Insulation

I’m taping all the seams and I’m going to inject foam in all the gaps that are left exposed after the install is completed. I think it’ll be great.

A few days ago, I picked up this really great tool. It’s an adjustable t-square. I was going to go with the fixed one, but Laura persuaded me to get the adjustable one, just in case. Well, I used the adjustable part yesterday to find the angle of the peak in this particular room and wow, just look at the results.

Rigid Foam Insulation Cut at an Angle

Rigid Foam Insulation For Roof Peak of Room

I’m not sure I’ve ever cut an angle of anything so perfectly. Here are a few pictures of the t-square. The 4 foot length is also especially handy for cutting long strips of insulation like this.

T-Square

Adjustable T-Square

I’ll take more pictures of this part of the project as I go along. I know how exciting it is for all of you!


Trimming the Foam Around the Windows

I was looking at yesterday’s post last night and I began thinking about those pictures of the foam I sprayed around the newly installed windows and how sloppy it looked. I knew I was going to trim the foam, but I was concerned that those of you who read yesterday’s post may think I’m some sort of amateur or something. I mean, I can’t let that sort of thing stand. I’m not amateur. I made sure to trim the foam this morning in an effort to show you something much more pretty.

After I realized the foam had cured, I began cutting it away from the windows with my handy utility knife. I quickly learned that the tool I was using wasn’t the best because of it’s bulkiness. The sides of the knife were forcing me to trim the foam at an angle, and that looked sloppy. My goal was to keep as much material in tact as to offer the highest insulation properties. I also wanted something straight and firm to rest the future trim upon.

A while ago, I purchased 50 replacements for my utility knife. I started thinking how I could use just the blade replacement to get a much more “flush” cut. I started sliding the very sharp razor blade down the foam. Here is a blurry picture of how it looked:

Trimming Great Stuff Foam

I did a few lengths like this and started pulling the excess foam away from the windows. I couldn’t believe the results. Smooth as glass. Here, look at what I’m talking about:

Foam Around Windows

Foam Insulation Around Window

Pretty clean, huh? I also want to say that these windows are locked in place. They are tight and waterproof. What a great install. Now I just have to do some work working and they’ll be finished.


The Windows are Installed

I just finished installing the new windows in the log cabin room. Surprisingly, the ordeal only took about an hour and a half. I’ve had terrible visions of this project, but now I realize I shouldn’t have worried. It’s just that I never installed windows before and issues can arise.

Really, all I did was remove the remaining trim from the outside of the original windows and pull them out. They weren’t nailed or screwed in. They were held in by spray foam (Great Stuff). It was a decent enough installation, but it was time those old ones disappear.

The windows I purchased yesterday were new construction windows. I’m not sure if I mentioned this already or not, but to get replacement windows would’ve created a “special order” that cost more then the new construction ones. I decided to go the less expensive route and I’m glad I did. I had a nice 2×6 framing the area I needed the window to go and I hung each one from the top 2×6.

Here are two pictures of the space for the windows:

Holes in Wall For New Windows

Replacing Windows

Since I needed something to screw each window to at the bottom, I decided to use pieces that came out from the original windows. Tapered pieces that I screwed to the frame and then the window to it. They worked out very well.

Here’s a picture of one of the windows after I screwed it into place:

Installed New Construction Window

And here’s what they look like from the outside:

Newly Installed Replacement Windows

You might be able to see the large gaps on either side of each window. That’s because I purchased a 32″ wide window for a 34″ hole. I meant to do that. I wanted to hang each window level and have space at the sides for spray foam. So, after I had each window screwed in place at the top and bottom, I sprayed Great Stuff around the gaps.

Great Stuff Around Window

Insulating Window With Foam

Filling Gap Around Window With Spray Foam

I have to wait for the foam to cure before I trim the excess away. But for now, here’s a picture of the completed, insulated window installation:

New Window Installation

After this comes the tricky part. I have to put up some 1″x4″ trim on the outside of each window and attempt to frame things out on the inside with some sort of lumber. I’m thinking perhaps 2″x4″s and 2″x6″s. Either way, I have to be sure all wood on the inside and level and plumb. I’ll get it done.

I already put up one wall of rigid foam insulation, so I figured I’d share the idea of where things are going. This is a picture of the far wall of the log cabin room:

Insulating With Rigid Foam Insulation

This stuff is going to coat every nook and cranny of the room. Come Winter, I am going to stand at the windows laughing as the snow is piling up outside. I may even make a fire in the wood stove if it gets cold enough out there.


The Windows Are in Hand

Laura asked if I needed anything from town today. I’ve been going back and forth with this window thing because I didn’t want to drop the money to pay for them. I know they’ve got to get done, but it’s difficult paying for something that gives me such little satisfaction. Even worse, we already have windows. I just have to install better ones. Whatever. I bit the bullet and agreed to go to town with her. We stopped by Cambell’s Building Supply and made the purchase. Good news too – Dick from Campbell’s gave me a 10% discount. I told him I’m going to be a big customer, so we’re working out some sort of an account. 10% is pretty good too – over $60 saved.

The windows I bought are the “Spencer Walcott” ones from Mathews Brothers I told you about in this post. They are pretty spiffy. Take a look at them in their packaging:

“Spencer Walcott Windows

A nice little perk with these windows is that they are made right here in Maine.

Maine Made - America's Best

As you can well imagine, I’ve already gone over these windows pretty carefully and I can say they are high quality. There is very little flex to them and their construction seems legit. I can’t wait to start pulling out the old ones to put these bad boys in!