New window with extended cill
End August 10. We are supposed to be halfway through the process now and the work has started. I’m not sure that we are halfway through the work yet and the bank holiday has intervened. So far we have got all our new windows in and the cills either replaced or extended.
The extensions are needed because the walls are going to be 3-4 inches thicker when we are finished. Even windows which are not being replaced still need a new cill. The only ones not affected are ones which are in the extension (which is already super-insulated) as you can see in one of the pictures.
The new cills caused us something of a problem when they were made. We had agreed ‘stone cills’ for the front replacement windows – which to us meant cills made of stone. We found out when they arrived that to the builder that meant cement cills made with stone dust rather than sand. We were told that when a builder says ‘stone cills’ he means cills which are cast, not ones which are hewn from stone. This was a significant communication issue and gave us a problem. The cills are they arrived looked just like concrete and we were very disappointed.
Different treatment of cills
We were told that they would still need to be ‘finished’ to give the appearance of stone and that they would look like Bath Stone. This caused more issues as Bath Stone is not really used locally – the local stone is grey / pink. We had to decide whether or not to go with the cills or to have wooden ones made instead – which would obviously cause delay.We decided in the end to go with the cills. We are going to get samples of the finishes (Bath Stone or filled ready for painting) before we decide finally how they are going to be finished.
We are really pleased with the windows – they look really good and very close to the originals. One slight problem at the moment is they are really difficult to open – so draughtproof that it needs major force to open them. One for the snagging / finishing off yet.
hidden chimney in the workshop
The workshop has got a new floor. As is the way with all building jobs, digging out the floor produced another issue – a pile of huge stones which lay just under the surface and which now need moving. We also found a hidden chimney which needs dealing with to stop the draughts.
This week should see the arrival of the scaffolding and the joiner (if he’s finished the 3 other jobs he had on). We hope to have the external insulation started by the end of the week.
