Challenges That Come With Replacing Windows

One of our building permit includes replacing windows in the house. The house has single pane windows with aluminum framing. When it comes to upgrading windows, single pane windows are probably considered obsolete nowadays, and the upgrades are mostly being dual pane windows, which are more energy efficient because it had better control and proven performance over the air around it, both hot and cold air. Dual pane windows keep the warm air in and keep the cold air out, and vise versa, which minimize the use of heating or air conditioning furnace to keep the room cool during summer or warm during winter.

By replacing windows using different sizes, part of the indoor walls, sheetrock, had to be cut off inorder to remove the old windows and place the new ones. So there could be plenty of patching of the interior walls or the sheetrock specially if you are replacing a window with a different size. Even more difficult is when the existing sheetrock have texture in them, which means that patched wall had to be textured as well to match with the existing texture. Texturing is not an easy task, you need to find the right texture that match with what is existing and price wise, they usually don't come cheap. A single spray can of texture cost around $12 to $15 that have coverage around 50 to 100 square feet, depending also if its used sparingly or economically. After the texture application, primed paint had to be applied before the colored wall paint can be applied. Paint color has to match the existing wall paint, or else the whole room wall need to be repainted so that it will not have multi-colored or patchy finished end product.

Another major challenge when replacing windows is when the new window had to be move to a new location, or move few inches away from the original location because the header above the existing window will be affected and had to be moved as well. And if the header will be move, you will have to deal with the wall studs as well, possibly add or relocate the 2x4 studs to properly support the new header location, the windows, etc.

But having new dual pane windows are definitely worth it! As simple as replacing windows have dramatic transformation in the look of your home.

Written by Jazevox

Getting A Permit For Room Addition

We needed to have a laundry room and a master closet added to a house but doing so requires building permit here in CA. So we could not proceed with the project without having the permit approved and ready for actual implementation. To get the project up and running, we needed the permit, first by having the application submitted and have it approved by the building department of the city hall.

Getting the building permit in itself was a lot work. We were required to submit scaled drawing of different plans. There were all types of technical drawings that were required together with the permit application including plot pan, foundation plan, structural plan, roof plan, floor plan, electrical plan, and more. It was definitely a challenge and loads of work for me because I had to prepare all the drawings myself.

In the end, it was a relief to have the permit finally approved after second visit to the city hall. It took two (2) visits because there were additional drawings that were requested the first time. And CA laws requires Title 24 report for the particular permit that we were seeking.

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Written by Jazevox

Buying Oops Paints

Earlier today we went to Lowes to buy some stuff for the house. We passed by a clearance isle in the painting department. Everytime we pass by in the painting department, we always try to check out their oops paint to make sure that we don't miss any great deals on some paints that we might need. Normally, a semi-gloss gallon of paint can cost around $19 to $27, depending on the brand. But with oops paints, most paints in a gallon is priced-to-sell at around $5, which is a huge deal compare to $19 to $27! The only pitfall about buying oops paint is that you get what is available, what is there is there. With oops paints, you really don't have a lot of choices. The reason why it is called oops paint in the first place is that the paint was mixed wrong (oops!) or whatever else is wrong with the paint (oops!).

Just for the record, we don't really buy every single oops paint there is. We only buy one when there are paint colors in the oops section that we like that we think we can use later on in a project or a job. There is really no reason to buy a bargain oops paint if we know that we can never use it even if it is a bargain price. It is not making sense to buy oops paint and ended up just storing it, taking valuable space, and after years of having it we will realize that it will never be used! So we only buy ones that we think we can use, or paint colors that we can bear to stare.

If you have limited budget for painting in one of your to-do project, why not check out the clearance section in a painting department, who knows, there might be a paint that will work for you, for a fraction of the cost. Saving, is never a bad thing :-)

Written by Jazevox