The Beast

The windows installation began this morning and, as usual with this whole experience, there's good news and bad news.
The good: the windows are stunning. Very well made and handsome.
The bad: it's going to take much longer to install them than anticipated. This is a huge bummer in many ways. For one thing, they are BEYOND heavy. Steve, my architect, was onsite this morning and he said he couldn't pick up the smallest one, the bathroom one, by himself. The biggest one, the big picture window that spans almost the full length of the far wall in the main room is HUMONGOUS and steve estimated that it probably weighs 1000 lbs! It was supposed to come shipped in 4 pieces from the manufacturer...BUT THEY SENT IT ALL IN ONE PIECE. The contractor is trying to figure out just how they're going to hoist this thing--they're calling it "The Beast"--up on the sill in position so they can install it.

"The Beast"

Last I heard, they were going to have a powwow with the building Super, Gerry, to lift it by rope from the courtyard downstairs. This is FIVE flights up they'll have to go! I have NO IDEA how this is going to happen. There's also talk of taking out some of the window pane glass to lighten the weight of the thing. Then they'd re-install the glass when the frame is in place. I'm not going to worry about it at this point, it's their problem to solve. If I think too much about it I'll blow my brain out. UGH.
Let's talk about pretty things:
The shower head got fixed! It's very handsome NOW THAT'S IT'S RIGHT.

Shower head, CORRECTLY installed

And ONE window got installed, the bathroom window. Here are some shots pre-install and then how it looks afterward. It took 3 guys to lift this thing and get it in place, it's that heavy.









The plan was for me to spend my first night in the apartment tonight, but that's not gonna happen now. I'll come back to the city from the house tomorrow morning. I realized that trying to come back to the city on a Friday night AND a HOLIDAY Friday night was INSANE with all the traffic. I got the car rental place to only charge me a half day rate, so it's all fine. It'll be much more easy unloading the stuff I have to bring back without having to fight the craziness of Friday evening. I also didn't want to get in the way of those guys trying to tame The Beast...they've got enough to deal with.

UPDATE: Just got some texts from Steve...Gerry the Super is fine with bringing The Beast up to the apartment via the courtyard on the outside of the building BUT he wants The Board to approve it and that can't happen til MONDAY...AARGH. I'm praying they say yes as I don't know what the backup plan is. At least they got one other window installed in the main room, the one behind the desk area. I will stop by the place tomorrow and see for myself how things are looking...I just may jump out the window when I get there...