I Like Caulk

Some people look at old houses as so much work - I see ours as a puzzle. I am continually fascinated by the craftsmanship and intricacies of our home. In some instances "they don't build 'em like the used to" is quite true - many of our walls are a very solid lath and plaster and our foundation is a double-thick stone monstrosity. However our 20+ oil burning boiler leaves much to be desired in regards to heating efficiency.

This weekend I gained an appreciation for the double-hung sash window. Save for 7 vinyl replacement windows upstairs, all the windows in our home are original (read: cracked/loose panes, broken/missing sash cords, and painted shut/open). In an effort to keep this winter's heating oil bills to a manageable level (see aforementioned oil boiler) as soon as we moved in we began the first phase of our process of window rehabilitation.

Our windows have an outside track where winter storm windows as well as summer screen inserts fit. These tracks have carefully placed notches to help you get the window/screen in easily. I was probably doing it wrong before, but in every other place I have lived when I needed to remove the screens it was a struggle and usually ended up with me slightly bending the screen to get it in/out.

This weekend we focused on the storm windows, next spring we'll work on the screens (our home repair is definitely on an on-demand basis). We carefully removed 4 cracked storm windows which I will bring in to the glass repair shop tomorrow morning to be fitted with new panes ( I draw the DIY line at cutting my own glass). One of the storms had glass that was in good shape, except its seal to its metal frame had deteriorated. So we set off to Lowe's to buy some silicon caulk to seal it with. Mind you with so many choices found in the sealant aisle we have no idea if what we used is optimal (we didn't really do much research on this project), but it was inexpensive and it seems to be doing the job. I am not one to argue with either of these two scenarios, especially when they happen to coincide :)

For a first-timer I think I did a pretty good job with the caulking gun. I managed to keep the smearing of caulk on the window to a minimum and didn't wreck anything else in the process (of which there was a high potential since I was doing this on our living room floor!) So right now I am enjoying a personal high of DIY prowess, or could this be fumes from the caulk curing beside me...

PS. Thing brings the list of Tools My First House Taught me to Use to a grand total of 3: electric hedge trimmer, reciprocating saw, & caulking gun.