Catching up...Installing the Window Frames and Glass

Due to the passive solar design of the lake house, there are many large windows, especially on the south-facing side of the house. The northeast corner of the house is also almost all glass. Since the window frames are 8-9 feet tall, installing both the frames and the glass was a major process. The glass itself is also triple pane to increase the insulation, making it even heavier than single or double pane glass. 

This first set of pictures shows how Rob painted the large frames by hanging them and turning the second floor into a temporary "art gallery."

The next step was installing the frames (without the glass). These pictures show the south side windows and northeast side windows. 

South side window frames with door frames in middle

South side door frames

Northeast corner double door frames

Northeast corner - the "front" door frame

Northeast corner - "front" door and double doors

Finally...the glass arrived and was unloaded in front of the house. It took four of us to unload it off the truck. I was very excited to get the glass, as it took almost a year of research to find a place that would custom-make the triple pane glass within our budget.

The next step was prepping to install the glass - these next pictures show the plastic spacers that were put in place to balance the glass.

We first installed the glass in the northeast corner doors and windows, and then the west side windows.These were easier to manage than the big south side windows.

Rob took a break to take some pictures of the turkeys walking by...

We had help from our trusty neighbors Justin and Michael to help put in the big glass panes on the south side. Unfortunately, there are no pics of us actually lifting these huge pieces of glass into place (because we were all lifting!), but the pics below show the guys working together to nail the glass into the frames. Rob is really amazing with the nail gun, as he somehow managed to avoid actually hitting the glass.

Yes, Rob is standing on the A-frame on the scaffold nailing in the glass

 

At the end of the day, all the glass on the south side was in!