From the Outside Looking In...

From the outside looking in, it isn't quit right yet.  It isn't quite right looking from the inside out either.  But overall it looks way better than I thought it would and it was much less muss and fuss than I would have expected.

After enormous loads of research, great debate and considerable consternation, hubby ordered and installed the first new window at TOPH.  Kudos to him, because, in a massive paradigm shift, he left me in the dust of indecision and an epic damming of impetuous energy.  I don't know what it is about windows in an old house. Or maybe I do.

There is a quite a complex framework for decision-making.  The following was ours, in no particular order (perhaps THAT was my problem?)  We looked at cost, aesthetics, energy efficiency, modern-use festures and installation appraoches.

Google Image unearthed with search phrase:
Ugly Replacement Windows on Antique House

The product-alone cost of replacing windows, if you believe the hype, ranges from $150-$1,500 for a standard double-hung unit.  There are "replacement windows", which are cheap and easy and vinyl, for the most part.  They have wood-clad upgrades, but that sends them into the same price range as the others, so that was a non-starter.  My biggest issue with them, though was aesthetic.  They "fit" into your old window holes, but come in a smaller range of sizes than the other options.  So they make up the difference with vinyl fillers in the form of coping and flashing and trim.  The result is less window and more white crap to put it bluntly.

The other end of the spectrum is authentic reproduction windows -- the ones with single-pane, wavy glass in "true divided lights" like they were originally.  Apart from being ridiculously expensive, notoriously energy inefficient and exceedingly difficult to maintain, it set the restoration bar a bit to high for us.  I don't see us doing laundry in copper steamers over the fire on a regular basis.  And, as far as I know, George Washington never slept here at TOPH.

In order to preserve maximum "lite" size and aesthetic we wanted, plus achieve the energy-efficiency and modern functions we wanted, we (briefly) considered using "new" windows (case, frame and all) as replacements.  However, this type of window replacement would require major surgery on interior and exterior trim, in addition to repairs to plaster walls and latex-over-lead painted siding.  On our budget, we are tackling one (or a few) projects at a time.  This approach would just open up too many cans of worms at once without the time or money to finish any of them properly.  And, as it turns out, the window sills are very old -- possibly original (clearly hand-hewn and planed) -- and in reasonably good shape.  Why fix something (one of the very few things) that isn't broken?

One down and 53 to go!

So we had basically arrived at a little-known option.  There are a few companies out there who sell replacement sashes in a wide range of sizes.  Plus, they have these "balance kits" -- essentially modern-engineered, multi-track inserts that fit into the vertical sides of your rough-ish window opening.  They allow for all the insulated, double-hung, tilt-in/out options of modern windows without disturbing existing trim and casing. The sashes themselves are argon-filled, double-pane, low-e glass.  There are thousands of options for muillion sets which can be interior and/or exterior.  Right now we have only the interior sets.  When we get around to siding and painting the exterior of the house, we will add the exterior sets and paint accordingly.

NOTE: Very happy about using a product local-ish family owned company (BROSCO) and ordering through our local lumber yard (Exeter Lumber).

It took about 4 weeks for our made-to-order window to come in.  Hubby ordered one for a not-so-obvious window in his office that we though would be representative of the scope and scale for the rest of the house.  And, again, kudos to him.  I just couldn't pull the trigger on this one.  And now it's done.  It took him less than 2 hours to take out the old and install the new.  Just needs a coat of exterior paint to protect the wood surfaces while we get around to the others.  Hmmmm.  What color?  Pink perhaps?  Let's scare the neighbors!  Hehehehe.

Message in a Bottle

This will be a quicky becasue I am exhausted, but very excited to share.

We had a busy weekend of out-of-town guests and outings, but we squeezed in some outdoor work this afternoon.  Now that we've identified "the road" we can peck away at clearing as time allows, so that's what we did today.  There are a bunch of trash trees that have cropped up-- mostly Norway Maples 1-4" in diameter.  All are very tall -- re-e-e-e-aching up to get some sunlight under the canopy of the more mature elm and oak and ash.

Interesting finds:

• Several piles of dirt and rock debris roughly the size and shape of snowplow leavings.  There are lots of  flat patio-type pieces of slate and bluestone in evidence.  Wondering if there was an outdoor living area or formal garden somewhere around or below the pool at some point.  Thinking maybe we'll  take up a collection and see if we gain critical mass for some future project.  Happy to recycle!
• Lots and lots of past-prime firewood dumped in the old barn foundation and in the woods.  The bad news is the previous owners (and their family and neighbors and realtors and landscape-labor) did a lot of dumping in the woods.  There are areas where the debris is too rooten to move and too big to chip -- basically a big mound of mess.  The good news is that I have identified some older dumping zones where the grass clipping and leaves have made gorgeous compost.  Happy gardener over here!
• And, the pies de resistance, was more archealogical.  Hubby found an old bottle on the ground.  He was excited about the antique glass.  I was excited about what was inside.  There was a little bit of dirt and 3 or four different kinds of teensy weensy plants growing in there along with a small population of visible worms and bugs -- all in miniature.  It reminded me of that scene in "Men in Black" when Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) found a universe in a train station locker.  Truly a stop-and-think existential moment.

Hood's Tooth Powder, Lowell, Mass (circa 1880s)

Microscosm complete with soil strata, multiple plant varieties, plus worms and insects -- all in miniature. The weather in "Hoodville" was cloudy with a chance of rain today.

The Road More Travelled

It's always a little intimidating moving to a new place.  You never know who your neighbors are going to be.  And, for us, since we have young kids and this is pretty small town, we could only hope for amiable neighbors with like-aged children.  When we were house shopping, I will admit to reasonable attention to play sets and sandboxes and strollers in neighboring yards.  There were a few in the newer development that wrapped around TOPH in the woods, but you never know if they are "current" or grandparents or whatever.

We totally lucked out.  Not only do we have very nice neighbors pretty much all around us, but there are two families VERY close by with kids that will be in class with our twins.  Yay!

The funny thing is, it was kind-of meant to be as far as TOPH is concerned.

When we were scoping out the upper pasture (now woods) for goats, we found that there were two gates in the old fence.  One was roughly perpendicular to one of the old barn foundations near our garage.  The other -- a straight shot North-to-South -- led directly into the back yard of a wonderful family, who brought us a freshly-picked-blueberry pie when we first moved in.  We had joked that we should clear that path first so the kids could commute.

Our other neighbor -- across the street and down the hill toward Great Bay -- had made a similar suggestion.  Why not make a path through the woods?  Better than having the kids walking in the road, right?

So I set out with my skein of red yarn with the thought that we could identify a reasonable path and do some clearing as time-energy presented itself.  The thing is, the more I looked, the more I found that the path was already there.  There's actually a break in the wall (under a bunch of brambles and poison ivy) at the far downhill corner of our property.  And, if you kind of squint, you can see the old trees vs. the new.  And some evidence of tracks from vehicles (motorized and otherwise) along the way.

The funniest thing is that the paths on the upper pasture (woods) and the one through the lower pasture (also now woods) connect almost exactly at the front of the other (largest) barn foundation.  There are pretty obvious swaths where the trees are younger and scrawnier since they grew up in hard-packed, more-travelled ground.

I strung my string, clearing a bit as I went, and found another cool surprise in the woods -- a meandering row of healthy American Elm trees.  I've always wanted a tree-lined driveway.  And now, it appears, we shall have one, albeit a kid path connecting friends and neighbors with the foundations and intentions of our forebears as landmarks.