Still no heat.

We decided to go ahead and repair the boiler and leave the radiators in place for this winter. After that we may relocate the boiler and use it as a backup for the heat pump, feeding one or more aqua coils. This will be a good solution for us because it will allow us to get rid of the radiators and all of that heavy piping, but still allow us to use the boiler. The aqua coils use the heat pump ducts. Meanwhile, we're waiting on the boiler part to arrive. They say it will be here next week. This week hasn't been bad temperature-wise, but it's supposed to get colder early next week.

Meanwhile, the installation of the heat pumps started yesterday.

I've been working on the four windows in William's room. These are a challenge because the walls are so out-of-whack. It's like building jambs for Pee-Wee's Playhouse. But I'm very pleased with the way they're turning out.

The view of the windmill from William's new bathroom window is very cool.

The early setting of the sun has me calling it a day by 5:00. But this guy is making me look really bad.

Skip is the contractor replacing the casings on the Jeld-Wen windows, and he is deterred by neither cold nor darkness. It's presently 7:00 pm and I'm sitting in the dining room, warmed by the oven, and he's still outside working away under his ladder-mounted shop light and baseball-cap-mounted miner's light. I feel like such a bum! (Follow-up note: He continued to work in the dark till after 9 pm.)

He's doing a great job. He's removing every window, carefully removing the factory-installed trim, cutting and installing new trim, caulking everything, and reinstalling them. He started yesterday around Noon and will certainly be here through tomorrow. I am very pleased with how Jeld-Wen has stepped up to correct our problem. They get big points for that.

We have an issue with the installation of our garage door that I'm dealing with. The opening is framed for an 8-foot door. But the last two stairs to the room above the garage interfere with where the track needs to go.

Modifying the stairs at this point is out of the question, so our only option is to decrease the height of the door, thereby shortening the track. We'll just need to reframe the opening. It'll work out. -- Bill

Still no heat. Snow. But no heat.

There's been a delay in getting the part because somebody (I'm not sure whether it was the manufacturer or the distributor) doesn't believe that the core is really cracked. They insisted that it had to be a bad gasket. So our repair guy had to come back out and take photos to prove to them that it is not a bad gasket. Assuming they are satisfied with the evidence, the new part might arrive on Thursday.

Fortunately, we have very few water lines in the house to worry about freezing. A hot and cold to the downstairs bathroom and a hot and cold to the upstairs bathroom. That's it since we presently don't have a real kitchen. The water lines to the upstairs bathroom come up from the cellar and then run through the eaves on the north face of the Dutch Colonial. That's a definite cold spot. Normally they are kept warm by the radiator pipe that runs in the same space, but without that, frozen pipes are a real concern. Fortunately, a couple years ago when we were working on this bathroom I installed shut-off valves in the cellar so that I could shut off the water to this bathroom. So every night before bed I've been bundling up and heading outside and down into the cellar to shut off the water. Then first thing in the morning, I bundle up and head back out and into the cellar to turn the water back on. The cellar itself stays amazingly warm.

Friday I picked up 14 of the 24 sashes from the glass shop. They look great with all of the restoration glass in place. Sunday I primed the glazing and today I painted the outside face of all of the sashes. So they're ready to be installed!

Well, maybe not so fast...

Looks like we need to look into snowbirds for the roof, after all. All day today chunks of ice and snow were sliding off of the roof and then bouncing off of the downstairs dining room window. (Luckily, these are the last two windows to still have exterior storms on them.) The snowbirds (or ice stops) would help to hold the ice and snow in place while it melts and also break up any sliding pieces into smaller bits. It would really be awful to have our new windows smashed by falling ice!

The Jeld-Wen contractor probably has about one more day of work and then he'll be done with those window repairs. He's been here off and on...three days total so far.

The heat pump installation has been progressing very slowly. So far, there's only been one guy here working. He's still working on the trunk in the attic.

Our siding is at least on the east coast now. Should be here early next week. -- Bill

Still no heat. But, what else is new?

I couldn't resist the urge to put in some of the new sashes on the second floor. (Sliding snow/ice seems to only bounce off of the first floor windows, so I definitely want to have the snow birds in place before installing them.)

The photo above shows off the reproduction wavy glass pretty well, as well as the copper drip caps that I've been installing.

We still have a stack of sashes to prime and paint and even more that are still at the glass shop. But it's moving along.

The siding is supposed to finally arrive here on Wednesday! -- Bill

I'm wearing an Hawaiian shirt. And listening to Jimmy Buffet. Can you tell we finally have heat? It's exciting! -- Bill

Passed our rough-in plumbing inspection today! -- Bill

We have a few doors!

The carpenters came back today to take care of a few leftover items from their to-do list, one of which was installing our few pre-hung doors.

These are the doors from the master bedroom to the screen porch.

We chose these Simpson doors because they reminded us of screen doors.

The door on the left below is the new rear door from the garage.

We chose this door because it matches the door that was on the kitchen addition that we tore down. We'll be re-using that door on the back of the house near the garage. I'm having to reverse that door, so I've filled the holes from the old knob and hinges. The patch at the bottom of the left panel is to repair where I backed the tractor into it while it was stored in the chicken house this summer. Don't tell Gay.

The carpenters also dropped our white oak door sills into the floor. The rim joist had to be cut out and additional framing adding to support them. The top of the sill will be flush with the finished floor, and then the oak threshold will span both. It's rare for sills to be installed this way anymore.

Now that these sills are in I can get the jambs for these doors built. -- Bill