Here is the front of the house with all the new windows installed. The trim around the front door will bring it to the same height as the windows once we install it.

The pile of wood in the foreground is all the old framing that is being replaced as we re-frame for the new windows. There is one window from the original house that remains - we also took that one out so we could rebuild and reinstall it!!

View from inside look to the back yard. On the right hand side of this picture you can see that we practically reframed the entire "breakfast nook" area.

French doors being installed.

I wish I had a picture of the mailman's face when he tried to deliver the mail to the mail slot in the front door. We didn't get mail for several days until we made it clear where the new mailbox was!

Ready to cut the sheathing away...it doesn't take long to get the window in at this point. Getting here took about four hours.

The new header is ready to go in...

Temporary support wall while we install a new header for the window.

Renee finishes the job...

OK...so the steps to the window looked sort of funny. We decided now was the time to get rid of the old porch and stairs. Claus the old Norwegian mason who removed it for us had never seen one this thick! Almost solid concrete - three days to remove!

Doesn't she look cozy?

Late night window installation...every discharge of the nail gun is a withdrawl from the goodwill account we have with the neighbors - we don't know what our account balance is.

You are looking through the new living room window...

Yeeeeha! the first window is in!!!

A little help from our friends...

Oh My!!...that is a big window....

Structural Engineer's hate when you cut big holes in the house.

Once the header was in and the hole cut it's time to put the window in.

While Renee kept the gang working, I worked on framing a new window.

Sunday Afternoon!!!

Sunday Morning!

After a lot of research we found that ripping the old siding off, re-sheathing and new siding was less expensive than trying to repair the old stuff and painting the house. The new siding will come prepainted with a 15 year finish. We will still have to paint the trim but it gives us a big head start on the paint job.

We will start installing the new windows as soon as the sheathing is up.

Two sides were removed yesterday and most of the sheathing was put up. They should be finished with the sheathing by Monday.

These windows are coming out too...

We have more light in the house now...

The old siding is coming off - Oh yeah, the old siding is also the sheathing!