Of windows and progress

So, I have been working right along on this sun room project. Yesterday Sam and I put up the plywood sheathing on the roof (over the pine planks already there), laid the 5/8 plywood overlay on the floor inside, got some of the roof trim done and drip edge on, and seemed to be making good progress.

This morning I consulted with the guys at the help desk at EBS in Bar Harbor, who also called in another contractor who was there to help with the consult and we agreed that I needed to take off a piece of trim, run some flashing and ice and water shield up behind it, lay my shingles and THEN put up the trim. Oh. Thanks a bunch, guys. Actually, they were pretty good about the whole thing. Very helpful and not even the tiniest bit condescending.

I also realized (all on my own) that I had erred in the cutting of the drip edge, so that came off and was replaced with two new pieces. Today I finished the trim, fixed the drip edge, stuck down that bituthane ice shield (pronounced bitch-e-thane - fun to say but not exactly a bad word!) at the top edge where the other roof will drip onto it and at the bottom where ice dams are likely to occur and then I put lots of tar paper in between (nearly 40% overlap). Then I lugged shingles - 80 pounds per bundle - through the house, up the stairs and out onto the iron balcony where the circular stairs begin. I can step over the rail there (almost step, anyway - it's about an inch taller than my inseam, so there is some toe-tip sort of scootching and hopping involved - quite amusing to see this 40-something, never-you-mind-how-much-I-weigh lesbian do, I am sure) right out onto the roof of the newly built sunporch. I brought up four of the eight bundles today - for 50 year shingles, it takes four bundles to cover 100 square feet - and set to laying them out on the new roof. They look a lot like the ones I put up on a friend's roof last year in November (Yikes but it was cold!) and will be very nice when done. I was only able to get about half of the roof done (nine courses, including the doubled-up first course) before it got too dark to see. I carefully climbed back off the roof and went downstairs. I turned on my new halogen lights to illuminate the yard so I could put my tools away. Honestly, that tripod rig with two lights on top could probably light a runway. Holy cow. Anyway, progress continues.

But that's not the big news of the day. Windows were mentioned in the title up there at the top of this thing. Remember the windows? This is a post about the windows. I ordered them on Oct. 9 and was told they'd be put on a truck and delivered on the 13th. Yippee for me. But, no windows on the 19th. Humph. So I waited and worked. Still no windows. Today I called to find out when to expect the truck.

NOVEMBER 21, the guy said. You can imagine how pleased I was. I groused, I nearly shouted. I got sarcastic. I reminded him that I had ordered nearly $10,000 worth of windows and they changed the delivery date by more than a month without so much as a phone call? Oh, I was wild. I'm supposed to put in the hardwood floor (they went with 5" wide natural hickory - gorgeous!), but I can't do that until the windows are in. I have to put up Western Red Cedar clapboards, but I can't do that until I have the windows in. I lit into that poor guy pretty bad. I think I'll go up there tomorrow and apologize. I shot the messenger. It wasn't his fault that the factory in Iowa takes extra time to natural color tint the glass (whatever the hell that is? I think it has something to do with haze and glare) and nobody mentioned it. I may take him cookies. It depends on how badly I feel about it. And how much it is raining. If the rain is light, I'll go try to get some other stuff done. If I don't go up there, I will call and apologize. I let him have it pretty bad.

I had hoped to have this job buttoned up at least by the end of next week. Windows in, roof on, siding and trim done, I could work in relative comfort on the hardwood floor and interior trim. But it is not to be. I made a phone call when I came home for lunch and found myself a few days' work next week, and I'll make another call tomorrow to see if I can find some more after that. I'll just be stuck putting up windows and clapboards in November. Let's hope it doesn't snow. I'll do what I can for now, tarpaper the outside of the building, put some plastic over the window holes to keep out the weather, and find ways to keep busy until the windows come in. I'll order the hardwood and have it there and ready for when I can get to it.

I have a friend who says "There is no such thing as bad weather, only insufficient clothing." Yeah. I'll think warm happy thoughts about that philosophy come November when I'm trying to put little bitty nails into clapboards with frozen fingers. Grrr. Oh well. I have work. I'll keep busy. I just hate it when the world does not operate according to my schedule.