First the good news.
Kevin the BCO came this lunchtime. He walked into the workshop, looked around and laughed. I asked him what was funny. "Nothing", he said, "It's great!". I got the slight impression that he may have been just a tad envious
So then we uncovered the Hole and we discussed it. He was pleased that we had uncovered a land drain and more so that it appears to be still functioning, so he was happy to let us go with it. In fact, he doesn't want to see anything else until the job is complete and ready for sign-off.
Now the not so good news.
Having had a few very enjoyable days away, and spending yesterday at the Community Workshop, I was raring to get on with something on the build. Now Ray usually comes on a Wednesday, but today he couldn't make it, but I reckoned I could handle the windows on my own. I was down at the bottom of the garden before 9 o'clock, which is the crack of dawn for me, usually.
I removed the plasterboard that had been covering the window apertures and put in the frames. Now when we did the framing, there were not planned to be any windows here, just plain walls, so we had not been that fussy about exactly where the studs and noggings went. Near enough was near enough. But as soon as we decided to use them as window openings, it got a bit more important that they were right. So I had made the frames a bit undersized, so that they could be packed out to be all the same. When I had the first one shimmed right I screwed it to the studwork.
The second aperture is quite a bit wider than the others, 30mm or so. That stud is obviously not properly on its centre. I think Pete did that one
The last one proved to be a bit problematic because it was sitting about 5mm too high, so I bashed the nogging down a tad (easy to do as they were nailed, there is a bit of give) and trimmed off the skin inside and out.
I foamed up the gaps and it all looked good
The sealed units are supposed to be ventilated and drained. In the past I have made an external bead that does this invisibly, but these frames do not lend themselves to the same technique, so I decided simply to cut a notch in the underside of the beading. Perhaps it would have been better to do it on the external beads, but it only makes it easier for someone to insert a screwdriver, so I decided to do it on the inside beading. I doubt very much indeed that an liquid water will collect, they are well sheltered, it's more a case of ventilation.
Although my tablesaw itself survived the raid fairly intact (apart from the original long rails), my mitre fence went. Although it was basic, it was solid and it was useful for some jobs and cross-cutting small housings was one. My dado set didn't survive either, but I bought a replacement about a year ago and have never had cause to use it.
The first task was to fit a set of reducing bushes. They were not a very good fit, really, but as they were free I can hardly complain. I tried to pein them in but was afraid of damaging the plate of the blade, so I resorted to a smear of superglue. I mackled up a makeshift mitre fence and cut a small housing near the ends of the beadings.
This will ensure that any vapour build up in the clearance gap around the sealed unit will have the chance to escape.
Ah yes, the clearance gap. Hmm.
I fitted some glazing tape to the beads (having given them a coat of primer before lunch) and offered up the fist sealed unit. I sat the bottom on a couple of the blue squidgy things that come stuck to the surface and pushed it up. It was a bit tight, but I put that down to the diagonal of the thickness, but it wasn't that that was the problem. Width-wise it was fine, but height-wise it is too big. It did go in , but the squidgy things (they must have a name but I've no idea what it is) were compressed to nothing and the top is hard up against the top of the frame. Zero clearance top and bottom. I measured the frame and the unit and found the problem. My frame is a good mm shorter than I thought it was and the sealed unit is a good couple of mm longer than I ordered. And all the units were the same. How could this be?
I rang the glass company and explained. "Let me get the paperwork".
A few minute later he rang back and asked if I could bring them in so they could measure them. Well, one is stuck in and I'm not sure how I'm going to get it out, but I could take the others in, it's not far. He said he couldn't understand how they could all be wrong by the same amount, and I have to say that I agree with him. But they are definitely a couple of mm too long. If I'd been a bit more generous with my clearances, perhaps it would not have mattered, but this is the way it is right now.
Then I had a thought. I got another tape measure. By that they were spot on.
So now what? If I take them back and they measure right I can hardly argue. But if I leave this one in this tight, what is going to happen when summer comes and they warm up?
Oh woe is me; woe, woe and thrice woe.
So I've had to board them up again.
On the plus side, it's virtually impossible to see in from outside when the lights are off, even without shutters over the windows, which I plan to fit in the fullness of time.