Yesterday I discovered that not only are the windows on sale, but interior doors are on sale also. So now I have to hurry up and make a decision on the door style I want. I hate when this happens… I get pressured to hurry up and make some critical design decisions. But the savings are significant.
Windows -
After much deliberation and discussion with several people, including the Dixieline window guy that does huge window orders for a lot of contractors… we have decided that it is OK to have vinyl Sand colored windows on the two exterior walls facing the back yard and then have the dark windows on all other exterior walls. It is similar to when someone puts nice siding and beautiful windows on the front of their house and then has stucco along the sides of the house that are not seen. Not ideal… but I’m stuck with the situation. If I don’t follow suit with this color scheme for exterior windows in the back yard I will have to pull out 4 existing windows, ruin the new stucco and replace them.
So, I am placing my order for new windows today. In some cases I have ordered premium vinyl with the exact same exterior color as the wood windows - these are for the bathrooms. But we examined the style of the vinyl windows and they will match the style of the wood windows. Will not be noticeable from the outside. I just do not want to have wood windows inside a bathroom or shower.
I spent a long time yesterday figuring out which windows need to be tempered. I also have to be absolutely sure that there is at least one bedroom window in each bedroom that meets fire department egress requirements (at least 20" wide and 24" tall opening). For that reason, I had to change from casement windows in the new back bedroom on the main floor to sliders so that the opening would meet these standards. I discovered a key issue with the Jeld Wen wood casements that I purchased in the first round of windows. When the casement is opened, it does not open from the corner of the window but actually swings out about 2-3" from the corner. This restricts the egress opening quite a bit, so I cannot risk using a casement where egress is important.
Doors -
I want a smooth surface door (not the fake raised grain). I like the square sticking style (Shaker style), but need to make a decision between single panel (traditional Shaker style) or 3 or 5 panels. Huge decision. I spent hours last night searching through Houzz to see if there was a specific style door that goes with the Spanish Revival interior. Unfortunately I saw all kinds… lots of arched doorways (too expensive), old solid wood dark stain doors (too expensive) and some 3 panel and 5 panel doors. I have ruled out the single panel (Shaker style) because I don’t think it goes with our style. I think the doors have to have some more detail.
Are you concerned about ordering doors and windows before you are 100% sure that the second floor will come thru? It seems like there will be changes to the first floor if you end up sticking with a single story house. Are you ordering doors and windows for the second story at this point, too? Fingers crossed!!
This link takes you to the molded composite styles available that I can purchase on sale. You have to open ‘all’ to see
Madison Smooth (simple shaker)
Craftsman (probably not the right design for this house)
Rockport Smooth (don’t really care for the ‘raised panel’)
Conmore Smooth (this is the one I am leaning towards)
Very good point… maybe I should change my order to only include doors and windows for main floor. Geez, what a freaking dilemna!!
However, I did call draftsman yesterday to ask about windows. He says that they have never had an issue where the City came back and requested door or window sizes to change. As long as the structural engineering is there… doors and windows always stay the same size…
At this point my agent, the bank appraiser and many other factors are telling me that we have to go up 2nd story to get highest value for the property. So, I guess I am in it for the long haul.
Just have to find my last large funding for the construction costs !!!
It’s official!!! We hired a bank appraiser to do an ‘informal’ appraisal analysis of the finished project. He drove 5-6 comparables, researched the comparables, and came to the property for his analysis.
Based on his professional opinion… $1.6mil to $1.7 mil !!!
I am beyond ecstatic!
In addition, I have called 3 local agents and had a discussion with them about this risk. All of them are confirming this price range based on their knowledge of the neighborhood and their opinion of the quality of work that they have seen in my previous projects.
Yes, we considered the arch top door style. However, I personally don’t like ‘raised’ panel doors. I don’t know why… they just kind of look cheap to me and/or maybe the style is too traditional. However, I could be very wrong because the flat panel styles are a little bit more contemporary. But, the raised panel styles look like they came off the shelf at Home Depot - very builder grade.
If I could find an arch top design with the flat panel inset - in my price range… that would be the right style I think.
Just wanted to pop in and say what a beautiful flip you are doing - already the house looks far, far better. I really love the gates at the sidewalk entry - what a unique feature!
Glad you’re not doing Jeld-Wen casements. We have their clad wood casements and have had recurring problems from the start. While they were better (in the first year) than Pella to work with, they weren’t great, and now are no help at all.
Oh noo!!! I’ve done a lot of Jeld Wen casements on earlier projects (especially the Hoarder House). Luckily I have not heard any issues from anyone. I have significant issues with casements at my own house… I don’t think it matters what brand they were. The mechanisms that swing the door out rust from salt air within 2 years and I have to keep replacing them.
Have my large wood window / vinyl window Chestnut Bronze order in, paid and on its way. They will probably take at least 5 weeks to get delivered. Hope we have a couple of holes framed up for windows by then
I’m holding off on the tan vinyl window order because it is another manufacturer (not on sale) and I want to think about them for a couple more days
I finally made my choice for interior doors… barely made it before the discount expired. I have chosen a two panel square edge shaker style door. It was a very agonizing decision. Thought my head was going to explode trying to make the decision and figure out all the doors, swing specifications, handle bore specifications, hinge colorings, etc!!
I have decided to have dark bronze hinges on all the main doors in the house to match the bronze/crystal original door hardware. I’m going to clean up all the original door hardware and get them back onto these new doors. One of the issues is that I cannot have the door manufacturer provide the standard bore hole and latch notching because these doors will have to be custom drilled and routed to fit the old latch mechanisms.
I am going to use new standard door knobs inside the bathrooms with satin nickel hinges
I have loaded pictures of the styles I was looking at and the final selection
what about the idea of using pocket doors for some of the bathroom/ bedrooms?
To give you more usable room since regular doors take up a lot of space with their swing radius.
My next major decision is the large folding accordion door for the upstairs deck. We will have 12 ft opening for the ‘Nano’ door (which some of you call it)
I have sourced a local company that makes the doors in either vinyl ($5,500) or aluminum.($7,100) Obviously the vinyl is a much lower cost but has the exact same bottom loading hardware. The vinyl comes in two colors; white or sand/beige. I have ordered a sample to check that the beige would be an acceptable color. Otherwise, I have to pay $1,500 more to get aluminum in a similar dark bronze color as the aluminum clad windows.
This door is located in the family room upstairs. There are no other windows visible in this room except the 3 grid wood windows in the staircase area. There are two small windows that are going to be installed up high in the eastern wall for ventilation only. They are 4 ft wide, but only about 20" deep so they can be set up high above furniture. These small windows are currently going to be the tan vinyl to match all the other windows on that same exterior wall (all the other windows are the vinyl bathroom windows viewed from the exterior). I am planning to paint the room in my Agreeable Beige color that I used for the big downstairs family room in the Liberace House. This should help the tan vinyl windows on eastern wall just fade into the wall color
So, from inside the room the only other windows that will be really visible are the grid windows in the staircase. I still have not decided what color to paint the interior of these windows. They are currently primed. The folding doors are recessed under a roof cover. Standing on the deck there will be no other windows really visible on the exterior, and these folding doors are not visible from the front or the back of the house.
My agent prefers the white or beige vinyl because she says that dark frames on the panel will visually obstruct the view and the white/beige will blend in more to the view. Not sure about that
One of the features that I really like about these doors is that there is one panel that operates as a single opening door. with a handle. Excellent idea… you can enter/exit without having to go through the motions of opening up all the panels.
Yesterday two of the framing contractors I contacted returned my calls. They both apologized, but are booked solid for 3 to 4 months before they could start any project.
I received a call from a carpenter that has worked with me before. He wants the job and can bring one other guy I know with him to get the job done. The issue is that I know this guy juggles multiple jobs at the same time, has workers at other jobs and spends a lot of time ‘managing’ other projects on the phone all day. Another issue is he has personality clashes with my regular guys. They are very good about hiding it but the carpenter is very ‘sensitive’ and he puts everyone on edge. He does know how to read plans and he is very experienced. I will be able to cover these guys with my workman’s comp policy, which is important to me. This guy is very close to getting his contractor’s license - is studying and taking the tests.
So, I had a long talk with him that he HAS TO WORK FULLTIME!! He is not allowed to come and go while he juggles other jobs. He is not allowed to be on the phone managing other jobs all day. He really wants this challenge so he volunteered that I could take his phone away from him during working hours. Doubt I will get that nasty about it
Right now I have no other options available. I am continuing to try to find a framing team but I told this guy I would give him answer by Monday next week.
!!!