Taming the beast

That BEAST of a window has been tamed

Both Steve, the architect, and Guillermo, the contractor, contacted me tonight to let me know that the big picture window, the one they nicknamed "The Beast" because it was so huge and heavy, WAS IN!! The welder was able to cut it in half, the workers got both pieces upstairs to the apartment, and they were positioned in place and joined back together. HALLELUJAH.
Tomorrow all the glass panes will be re-glazed back in place. Guillermo said he was 'very happy' and that everything looks really good. It wouldn't be an overstatement for me to say I'm OVERJOYED to hear this. I'll post new pics from Steve when he goes to see it tomorrow afternoon :)

A light at the end of the...window?

I got a call from Steve the architect this morning.
Here's the updated plan:
A welder will be on site TODAY to cut The Beast into two halves, this way it will be easier to get both pieces up the stairwell (or possibly the service elevator if they fit).



Also, the window panes will be removed to lighten the weight. Then they will install the both pieces in the window frame and secure them. TOMORROW the welder will return to weld the pieces back together and the panes will be re-glazed into the frames. Steve says any seam will be non-detectable. The window manufacturer is also sending extra matching paint to cover up any scratches or scrapes. So, fingers crossed, the whole thing should be finished by tomorrow or thursday at the latest. In the meantime, the other windows have all been installed and the finish trim work and tiling is being completed.
After that big window is finished then they'll be able to polish the mantel and paint the high-gloss mantel wall (the idea is to avoid as much dust as possible so as not to ruin the gloss finish when it's drying).
Any floor touch-ups will be done later, as will  any punch list items. I should be able to get into the apartment to live no later than friday night...but yours truly makes himself no promises. Stay tuned. Same bat time. Same batsh*t channel.

Rear window

Oh, how I wish this was a post about one of my favorite Hitchcock movies...BUT IT AIN'T, BLANCHE.

See Jimmy's window? That's about the size of mine...BUT HIS IS INSTALLED

No, that big damn window is still a BEAR of a situation.
Here's the latest:
I spoke to Gerry, the building's super, first thing this morning. He said he was going to speak to his boss at the management company to get permission for the workers to hoist the window up from the interior courtyard up the side of the building to my apartment. There was no indication of how long this would take but he did say it might involve having to get permission from all the tenants above and below me. This sounds ludicrous on the surface, but the way co-ops work in Manhattan, you can't 'inconvenience' anyone in the building without giving them sufficient notice beforehand. Maybe someone would be throwing a swanky party and they wouldn't want to look out their view and see a thousand pound window going by, who knows? Anyway, this avenue sounds very time consuming.
So I then shot off an email to Guillermo, the contractor, to ask if there was ANY way the window could be brought up inside the building. Here's what he said:

We know that the window cannot be bring (sic) from outside with the glasses in place, it's to (sic) heavy to carry and to (sic) heavy to bring it up with a rope.

The window is to (sic) big to be bring by the service elevator.

We are not 100% sure that we can bring the window thru the stairs, we would like to try it. I can bring enough muscles to maneuver it .

Another option is call an iron guy and hire them to cut the window in two pieces and re-weld it once is upstairs. Then we'll have to re-glue the glasses after the window is re-installed.

We had finished installation of 4 windows and we are doing detail work around them.

I have the glass guy on board and I'm trying to convince the iron guy to help me on this. 

Tomorrow, we should have a concrete plan how the big window will get upstairs.

So that's where it is, maybe bring it up without all the glass panes in place (Steve says this is what is making the thing so damn heavy), OR chop it in half and haul it up that way, and then re-assemble it upstairs. UGH.

None of this sounds easy but at least it's a plan, right? 

Fun times. Fun times.

A new attitude

I woke up with the worst headache this morning, I went to bed in a horrible mood, thinking about all that's gone wrong with this renovation lately. But I took four Advil...yes, four, I used to work on this brand and it's perfectly fine...and guess what? my headache was GONE in 20 minutes! Miracle product!
I decided "Ron, it's a new day". I decided to look at the glass half full. There's a lot that I should be happy about: Things are moving slowly, but they're moving in the right direction, AHEAD. The furniture move is over. No more storage fees. I got all that extra furniture out to the house. I can begin to sell it on Craigslist, that'll make a little cash. I have a place to stay. Can you imagine if I didn't have Tony's place, the BIND I'd be in? It's a Godsend that he's so flexible and doesn't mind me staying longer at his apartment. And best of all, the apartment IS looking great. I'm so happy with the amount of storage that Steve built in to the place. The kitchen and bath are beautiful. And once the windows are done it will ALL be wonderful. I should count my blessings. So onward. Call me Mr. Positive now. It's Christmastime, the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

And miles to go before I sleep

I drove back from the house this morning, mainly to get the rental car back because the rental place closes early on Saturdays. I brought back some things I didn't send to the storage facility, things that were fragile like breakable tchtotkes and lampshades. I took them to the apartment because I also wanted to see how things were looking. In a word, 'unfinished.'
Yes, two of the windows were in place, but they've got a lot of trim work around the edges to be completed.

One of the main room windows installed

And you know from my previous post the headache of the big picture window. That saga will have to be sorted out on Monday.
I hadn't seen the place filled with all my furniture and boxes yet. They're all in a big pile in the center of the room.





The bed is assembled. From what I can see it looks great...and so does the built-in 'nightstand' shelf beside it. The frame was designed for a queen sized bed and my full mattress is therefore a little small. My intention was to get a new one to fit when I moved in, but given how broke I am this one will have to suffice for the time being.

Bed with upholstered headboard covered in plastic

The bedside 'nightstand' is built-in

Then kitchen is all covered in plastic to protect it from all the dust.





And all the windows are placed around the apartment. It's all a mess but at least they're THERE finally.





I think I'm still at least a week out from settling in and sleeping in the place. It all depends on what happens with that picture window. All my fingers and toes are crossed for what the board decides, stay tuned.

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...

Moving day! (part 2)

I heard this afternoon from Carina, the Project Manager, that it was confirmed: THE WINDOWS HAD ARRIVED AT THE APARTMENT and were being unloaded from the truck! HALLELUJAH.



This has been the most aggravating and protracted hold-up of them all, BAR NONE. But at least it will be over soon. They'll have all day tomorrow to get them placed and (hopefully) sealed. I'm not thinking that the tiling around the windows in the kitchen and bathroom will get done but let's see how it goes. Steve the architect is going onsite first thing tomorrow and he's going to report in.
Today happens to be my birthday and, honestly, the ONLY thing I wanted was for those damn windows to get to that apartment. It's a good day :)