Friday, August 26, 2011

Ooopsa! Ahhhh.

So, this happened about a week ago, but I have  been waiting to get pictures of the whole process.
It all began when we got our windows delivered....you remember that.  It was one of the big trucks with cool tools and gadgets.  Anyway, with that stack of windows laying under the tarp just waiting, I just couldn't anymore.  My little husband wanted to wait until we got the upstairs and roof on just in case something might fall down and break one of the windows.  I finally talked him into doing the ones in the bedroom since it won't have an upstairs, only roof.  We got the directions out and started reading.  We got to the part that tells us what else we need that isn't included with the window.  One of the things was a drip cap that would go over each window.  My little husband went to measure the windows to see how much we would need in total, in case you could buy it by the strip instead of by the piece. 

Then I suggested he measure the window openings in case it needed to span the entire opening (which is always slightly larger than the actual window) and not just the window.  Here comes the ooopsa!  He starts measuring and we find that all but three of the window openings are not big enough for the windows. 

What????  That is a major ooopsa.
OK.  Take a few deep breaths.
And here comes the ahhhhhh.  My little husbands first response was to pray....right there in the grass on his knees.  I was SO proud of him.  Neither one of us had a meltdown.  We considered our options.  I pointed out that it must not be the end of the world because people change their windows all the time.  It has to be doable, right?  But how?  Hmmmm.  Hey.  Let's call Uncle Lloyd (who is a major contractor by trade, in TX).  You can only imagine how hard this was for my little husband.  No one wants to admit to a miscalculation.  We tried to make it Lowe's fault, but they send us what we asked for.
Off we come to the house to make the call and Uncle Lloyd was so happy that we called and he had some good advice. 
If you are getting tired of the story you can skip right to the pictures.
We went to our local, small time, hardware store, where we try to do as much business as possible, to find what Uncle Lloyd said we needed.  Mr. Gibson says he doesn't have anything exactly like that, but gives us the catalog to look through.  I am really good at imagining how to repurpose things so I was busy imagining how to repurpose nearly everything in that catalog into the HEADER HANGER that we needed.  We were just about 3 pages from the end of the book, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a whole section of HEADER HANGERS!  What??!!?!?!  Why didn't we just look in the index to start with????  Oh well, problem solved, header hangers ordered and here to us in just a couple of days....in the meantime, we had to do some deconstruction to get ready for the header hangers...have a look:
Step 1:  Unwrap the pretty wrapping.

Step 2:  Remove the trimmers holding up the header.

Step 3:  Use the pry bar for stubborn trimmers.

Step 4:  Check outside to see what the heck the problem is.

Step 5:  Pose proudly with the first of many successful extractions.

Step 6: Realize there is still a bit of a problem.

Step 7:  Take a break and a photo to document our progress.

Step 8:  Sawzall!

Step 9:  Ahh.  A window hole big enough for our window.

Step 10:  Pounding in the life saving header hanger!

Step 11:  Stand amazed that after only about 82 nails in each header hanger
the openings are finally ready for windows.

Step 12:  Three beautiful windows installed!

OH.  And one little injury.  Hands too sweaty for bandaid to stick?
No problem...seam seal tape sticks!



So, what could have been a huge to do ended being nothing more than a slight delay and a learning experience...we still have upstairs windows, which we will not have any problems with now!

I am SO proud of my little husband.  Did I say that before?  Well, it's still true...
One oopsa so far isn't too bad for a couple of first timers, I say.
Laugh and learn....and pray!



5 comments:

Tanna said...

Oh, Donna, I'm so glad y'all made this discovery before getting any further along! And, I'm glad you found a successful solution. It is all about persevering. I love your husband's response!! Awesome! blessings ~ tanna

no spring chicken said...

I told you... fun, fun, fun. Even an oopsa! And I'm proud of your little husband too, go ahead and tell him so from me. :)

The windows look amazing. You are making a house!! Wow.

Blessings, Debbie

Donna said...

Yep. I hit the husband jack pot...even though I waited a really long time for him! Debbie, I told him you were proud too...he smiled.

K said...

Oh, Donna - haven't read this one yet. But I will. As soon as I get home from church - and from helping Cam toilet train.

W-S Wanderings said...

One totally solvable oopsa is not bad at all! It's when the professionals make sloppy oopsas that it becomes infuriating. No. Not gonna go down THAT memory lane.

Prayer as a first response - beautiful! A true response, as opposed to a reaction.

But now I must cut this short, as the laptop battery is dying.

Blessings...