Wednesday, August 15, 2007
New dormer window
This week my task is to start fixing up the dormer (lucarne rampante) windows upstairs because the roofer is due, fingers crossed, at the start of September. There is not a lot of point is having a new roof built around the current lucarnes. At the moment they are all different heights and widths and have inconsistent styles. Some have red brick pillars and others stone or wood. Some have concrete sills and others have brick sills. You can see here the inconsistency.
To tidy things up I have decided to frame each window with an oak frame and use a pre-cast window sill. I've choosen the grey version. I bought one yesterday and just dry fitted it into place to see how it looked and how the window would sit on the back edge of the sill taking into account the width of the wall. At the moment the top of the current sills are at the same level as the floor, so, because French windows open inwards, any floor covering would foul the window opening. Adding this new sill provides extra floor clearance (about 10cm) and helps to lift the whole window allowing more light in.
The windows are going to be 80cm wide and sit on a 90cm wide sill. The window will then be framed with a 10cm by 20cm oak frame on two sides and the top. The window will be fitted to the back of the oak frame.
I also need a new lucarne for one of the bedrooms so today I took the bull by the horns and started making the hole in the wall for the window. The walls are about 60cm thick but only stone and mud, so no real need for power tools. It was very easy because I was starting from the top of the wall from inside using just a coal chisel to loosen the stones and pulling the wall out by hand. The amount of stone that comes out is suprising. I think the pictures tell the story.
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brittany
renovation
New dormer window
