My New Year resolution should have been; to have more faith in my builders.
After yesterdays little outburst about having to ‘sort them out’, I arrived on site today to find all the windows and doors waiting for me, freshly offloaded, and neatly stacked in the barn ready for fitting. There was no-one around so I took in upon myself to guard my new ‘precious things’ until someone showed up, hopefully with the tools to put the wood in the holes.
I did, of course, feel the necessity to inspect them.
They are above and beyond my expectations. Hand crafted from Iroko and finished with black ironmongery, and in a ‘walnut’ shade stain, they look absolutely stunning.
There are three seals for each window to keep out any draughts and noise. Each has an internal shutter, the panes are split by horizontal bars, and they open from the centre, or tilt from the top, to allow a cooling evening circulation of air.
The attention to detail is spot on and all who have seen them, so far numbering; Facundo, Angel, two of Facundos workers, the Madrileños, Carlos’ mother, Elena, and an elderly gentleman in an A-Class Mercedes who occasionally stops to chat as he drives by, all think they are ‘muy guapo’ (very handsome/pretty).
I’d summoned Facundo, via text the previous evening, to read him the riot act about the windows, but their arrival totally took the wind out of my sails. When he did show up, to give me some respite from my guard duties, all I could do was grin like an idiot.
He was also immediately impressed with the workmanship, the first time he’d seen Carpintero Mendez work, and when I answered his enquiry about the total cost he almost passed out at how cheap they were.
To give you some indication, I paid the same, as an average per item, as I did 15 years ago for white PVC, when we renovated our house in Huddersfield.
I thought I’d got a bargain back then, but these really are. I couldn’t be happier.
Two of Facundos men showed up before lunch and I helped them move the windows into the right places in the house as they weighed an absolute tonne, and three pairs of hands were marginally better than two.
The fitting started around 14:30 and by the fall of darkness at 18:30 we had all of the downstairs fitted, and the main door upstairs in place. All that is left for tomorrow is two upstairs windows, the patio doors to the balcony, and my little stained glass window for the bedroom which has been waiting patiently in Ramon’s flat since October for its day in the sun.
It has been one of those ‘big days’ on site and the barn is totally transformed.
Now we’re within a whisker of being watertight, the first time for this barn in 100 years, and I am already starting to entertain thoughts of moving in.
I think I’m going to need some dusters and window cleaner.
Well those are just lovely! Well done.