Fenestration frustration

     I had planned to begin this entry with the exciting news that the entire south side of the house was fenestrated, which would have been followed by a lengthy and somewhat tedious description of the philosophy behind passive solar heating. Throw in a few bad puns, a couple of poorly composed photographs, and just like that, entry completed. Well, not only did the south side not get completed, but now I have to think of a whole new blog entry to boot. Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed.
     The morning started off quite well—the sun was shining, the temperature was rising, and we had our system of window installation down pat. It was great to work in a bit of warmth, and with the sun beating down, it was quite warm. Very warm. Too warm, actually. How can it be too warm on a February day in New Hampshire, you ask? Is that possible? When it involves a roof full of snow melting down upon your work, well then, yes, it CAN be too warm in New Hampshire in February, thank you very much.
     The first window went in smoothly. As we began the second one, the melting snow from the roof began to drip onto our heads, and into the window opening. Not too big a deal, so we soldiered on. By the time the third window was going in, the melting was reaching a fevered pitch, and to compound the problem, the window opening was located directly under some sort of channel.  A stream of water which would be more at home squirting from a cherub’s chubby cheeks in some fountain in Rome instead came pouring into the inside of our newly installed window, and the caulk we had so diligently applied to the outside of the window, to provide a watertight seal, proceeded to drip down the side of the house. Oh, the irony.  Frustrating, to say the least. So we abandoned the remaining southern windows and decided to install the high ones on the west side instead, which were a bit more tricky, as everything had to be done from a fully extended extension ladder. But they went in without much incident, and it is nice to have one side completely finished.
     Although it was a difficult day, I must admit that to stand inside what will be the living/gathering room and stare out at the sunset through our corner of windows was a pretty special feeling. A glimpse of a lifetime to come.

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