Windows Replaced Throughout The House – CHECK!

Day 474
Total Spent So Far: $146,501.80
30 Yard Dumpsters Filled: 5.5

We’ve finally gotten most all of the windows replaced in the house, save a few in the small studio AirBnB Windsor’s Rest. The priority now though has switched to finishing the flooring in the kitchen area (we are half way there having already done the living room) because the kitchen is literally sitting in boxes right now. It’s taking up our entire living room waiting to be installed. What a mess half our house is – rendered completely unusable right now. Very soon, by the end of November, this place will be so much nicer as the flooring and kitchen gets done – and we can put our lives back together.

The windows were a huge job! And of course, Dave came down to save the day again. He may have earned himself a second lifetime timeshare week without on-going expenses at The View this last trip. I will say I’m not sure how I would have done this part of the remodel without him. It’s literally impossible to put some of these windows in by yourself. You have to have someone hold it while the other person screws it into the wall.

We used 4-5″ tap cons throughout the installations to ensure these were solid and secured deep into the surrounding concrete walls. We put 3-4 up each side (depending upon the height) and at least one in the top and bottom of each window. Afterwards, we are plastering up the gaps and space around it to finish it, before painting.

One thing to note on jalousie type windows is that they only come in fixed height sizes. While you can order them to whatever rough opening width you’d like, height wise is dependent upon fixed sizes that divide evenly by your window pane height. For example, a 3″ jalousie comes in height adjustments every 3″ or so… a 4″ jalousie every 4, and so on. Ours were 6″ jalousie panes to ensure the most view – but it also gave us the largest vertical gap to fill at times.

We built up the windows that were shorter than the rough openings with treated lumber, all tap-conned into the concrete. We then sealed any gaps with caulking for water intrusion, and then covered over with plaster and paint. After painting, the finished product looks great.

Liam’s Room Before
Liam’s Room After (Well, before caulk, plaster and paint) – BUT LOOK AT THAT VIEW!

These windows and screens are very easy to clean. It changed the view from the bedrooms and hallways in a major way. Before – we literally had wood window slats, you couldn’t even see through… A cheap way to allow ventilation in, and protect against hurricanes, all while completely blocking the view. Who does that!?!? lol.

Checking Out The Never-Before-Seen Master Bedroom View

I commented previously, but the quality control process at AirMaster windows completely sucks out of Puerto Rico. While the finished product is of quality it seems, the manufacturing process is shabby. For example, the glass has fallen out of a few windows because they didn’t put enough silicone inside the metal bars that hold them in. We’ve been waiting for a couple months now for replacements. They forgot the connecting screw hardware in our windows, a $180 credit Home Depot had to give me to buy more, and they were even missing some of the window cranks and such. All fixable things I guess, but annoying none the less. They need someone checking the quality when the product comes off the line, so not to inconvenience the home owner or installer. I wouldn’t recommend these windows after our hassle ordering, waiting, installing and fixing, although I have to say I’m happy with the final product once it’s installed and has all the missing pieces replaced.

This process took us about 20 days of work in total, about 15 with two people working, and we installed 42 windows and doors. It would be much faster if this wasn’t a concrete house. I’ve got another 5 windows to do, which will probably add another 5 days worth of work once it’s all plastered and painted.

Before Master Bedroom View
New Master View (Before Caulking, Plaster and Paint)
Hallway starting to look pretty nice!

Finally, I’ll end with Liam – who is growing up incredibly fast. So far, he enjoys driving, and sailing as his main hobbies, other than eating, sleeping, and pooping.

Stay tuned! Flooring and kitchen is almost done!

Liam is a Sailor
Liam Loves Driving.

Replacing New Windows in a Concrete House

The below took place from January 2019 to July of 2019

The below activities took place over the last 7 months, but I’ve coupled it into one article from “receiving” to “replacing” a couple of our windows, the majority of which we have not done yet. I’ve got a long way to go in regards to replacing the windows in the house. The biggest pain in the rear will be doing those on the second floor. My neighbor said he has some scaffolding, so I will most likely borrow that when I get upstairs. This will not be the last article on windows I’m sure…

Window Delivery!
Window Delivery!

When they arrived, Sebastian helped me pull them off the truck. I forgot just how many there were. 47 windows and doors all together. 47! That’s a crap ton of work to be done. So far it’s been 7 months since they first arrived and we haven’t replaced them all. They have been just sitting on the back porch, covered from the elements. We have installed some doors – which I’ll mention in the next update.

Sebastian and I Moved all the Windows and Doors to the Back of the House One by One
So Many Windows and Doors
So Many Heavy Windows… the Doors Not Showing Here Either

The last few months I’ve been so busy, and before that my friend Dave ran into a medical issue (and I was sort of waiting on his help again to start on the windows.) I’ve decided to move forward though as I need to get this done now. I’ve done two so far downstairs in The View.

The windows we purchased are from Airmaster out of Puerto Rico. We didn’t have many options when it came to jalousie type windows for homes without AC. Since Florida changed their energy codes, not many companies are making them anymore. (They used to be popular in Florida.)

Rust on Stainless Steel Hardware
Rust on Stainless Steel Hardware

I have to admit I’m a little disappointed with Airmaster’s quality control. While the windows themselves seem to be made out of quality materials (heavy, durable aluminum with thick glass and hurricane glass on the door panes) I have had a few issues already… A couple pieces of the glass have not been properly inserted into their window rail/holder which I’ve had to re-glue with clear caulking, the “stainless” handles on the doors are already showing rust to which they told me I need to regularly polish with rubbing compound to keep looking nice, one of the handles was missing and not even cutout into the door itself, none of the adjoining screws for the windows were included so Home Depot gave me $120 in free hardware when I complained, and they’ve shorted me a window crank already and I’m only on window #4. I know Airmaster is busy as hell from the hurricanes still, but they really need to get it together and make sure they’re sending out a quality product. I spent 10’s of thousands of dollars on these and to have this many issues, well – you understand, I’m sure, how I feel at times. Luckily though in the end, all of these things are fixable, and they don’t affect the end quality of the product after its installed properly, so life goes on.

Removing Old Window Frame
Removing Old Window Frame

Tearing out the old windows I noticed they were only in with four 1″ screws… and some plaster of course. I could not believe they’ve held in this house so long with the storms that have come through. My plan is to use 4.5″ concrete Tapcons. On the first two sets of windows I installed, I used 8 of them in each. Six on the sides, one top and one bottom. These aren’t going anywhere in a storm, even if the glass breaks.

We do need to work on getting hurricane shutters for the house. I want the roll down electric kind, which of course are the most expensive. It’s going to be a while before we get them. Half the house already has the accordion shutters and we have some metal shutter panels for other windows on the house. There will be some that are completely exposed that I have to worry about first (and those will be the ones who get the first sets of roll downs.) I did a quote on a couple sections of the house and it seems that its going to cost another $35-40k or so by the time we’re done with the entire thing (materials only if I install), which is almost double the cost of the windows themselves, mind you.

One thing I learned is that jalousie windows, only come in certain heights depending upon the size of the jalousie window you buy. For example, 3″ heigh panes come in heights divisible by 3″, 4″ heights by 4, and so on. We had selected 6″ heights for the most viewable window space to show off the view, so of course my height had to be increased or decreased by a factor of 6. This means I will have to do a lot of “filling” and building up of the window sills before installing each window. Some are 1″ shorter than the space, some windows 4″ shorter than the space. This is a huge pain in the rear as it must be level and exact, although I think the end product will be worth it with more viewable window and less bars across. It’s also better than having to cut concrete everywhere. At least they can make them any width, exact, and there isn’t much to do on the sides of the rough opening. Let’s just hope my measurements were right.

Building Up the Window to Fit
Building Up the Window Opening to Fit with a Form I Made and Concrete
Just Needs Plastering!
Just Needs Plastering!
Plaster and Paint Needed, Cranks Not Yet Installed, View from Inside
Plaster and Paint Needed, Cranks Not Yet Installed, View from Inside

I’ll for sure have another article on installing windows in the future as we do more. The next article will show you what it took to get the doors in. (Thank God for my friend Dave.) I only have one set of doors left to do, which I plan on tackling in about a week from this writing.

You may have noticed I’ve also not put the total spend above recently… Since I’m playing “catch up” on these articles right now, I’m not sure exactly where we were in the spending, or the number of days at the time of the projects I’m writing about. I figured if I catch up completely in about a week and a half – I’ll then post exactly where we are today again with the budget. It’s not pretty… but our granite selection for the kitchen sure is. 🙂

The Sunrises have been beautiful lately. Here’s another I captured at our place.

Sunrise at Windchime Estates Facing Buck Island
Sunrise at Windchime Estates Facing Buck Island

Our First St. Croix AirBnB, Windsor’s Rest, Is Complete!

Day 81
Total Spent So Far: $42,709

Yes, it’s true, our first St. Croix AirBnB is now complete, and our first booking happened within 12 hours of the listing!

Before (Windsor's Rest)
Before (Windsor’s Rest)

After Windsor's Rest
After Windsor’s Rest

Before (Windsor's Rest)
Before (Windsor’s Rest)

After (Windsor's Rest)
After (Windsor’s Rest)

I’m falling behind in keeping up with the writing though…  We’ve just had so much going on in the last couple of months…  To start, WE GOT MARRIED! Around 85 people came through, most from the states, to visit us for one of the most magical weeks of my life.  Our wedding guests (family and friends) enjoyed much of the island’s offerings, but left much to do for their next visit as well.  The wedding day was one of the best days of my life (and Shaleece agrees luckily!)

Together our entire group of guests went snorkeling and diving off Cane Bay Beach, drank beer with the pigs in the rain forest at the Domino Club, had a pig roast on the beach, sailed to Buck Island on the Terroro II Trimaran with Captain Carl, toured the Captain Morgan Rum Distillery, partied at Rainbow Beach, scuba dived the Butler Bay Wrecks, and so much more.  It was a really beautiful time spent with friends and family… but boy was it a lot of work!

Buck Island Sail
Buck Island Sail

After everyone left, Shaleece and I took 10 days which we spent in Punta Cana at one of the most relaxing and beautiful resorts I’ve ever been to for our honeymoon. Needless to say this kept us from working on the house for a bit.

 

However, we’re back at it in full swing now as we approach the end of the first 90 days, and since the last writing a lot has happened.  A major milestone occurred this week as we finished the smallest apartment and launched our first AirBnB!  It’s listed on both AirBnB and the Homeaway family of sites including VRBO if you’re interested in coming to see the rest of our progress. I’ve still got a few minor things I want to do to Windsor’s Rest, including an upgraded custom drop ceiling in the front entry way to replace the standard tiles, but nothing that would prevent us from renting it out.  I’m sure there will always be things we want to do here.

See it on AirBnB

See it on Homeaway

We’ve come across a leak which has alluded us from upstairs in our master bathroom. I’ve had two plumbers out to the house and both have scratched their heads as to where to start.  Neither want to give me a quote, and they come up with suggestions from “Add a little caulking there” to “Let’s tear out this entire wall.”  It’s frustrating to say the least, and it’s incredibly hard to get them to even show up.  It’s a common theme here actually that you can’t get anyone to do anything unless their right in front of you, and most of them don’t want to give you a price until they’re almost done with the job.  It’s one of the reason’s we’ve done most of this work ourselves.  We think it’s coming from the upstairs shower.

The sinks and granite counters were put in, in all three downstairs apartments.  I did have some help here as I wasn’t about to risk breaking or miss-cutting $4,500 worth of granite counter tops.  The company, Italia Marble and Tile on St. Croix has been great to work with.  I’m working on our design for the upstairs kitchen remodel now.

Granite Installation
Granite Installation

Granite Installation
Granite Installation

A word of advice if you’re in Home Depot, get an XPro account to track all your purchases so you don’t have to save receipts, and always send your orders ($1,500 or more) at a time to The Bid Room.  I saved $3,000 on my windows by sending it to the Bid Room.  I’ve saved $500 here and there several other times as well.  Basically they will take your order, send it to corporate who analyzes it and discounts anything with big margins for you to try to win the business… just because your order is over $1,500.  Anyone can do it too, but most people don’t know about the program!  Ask at the Service Desk.

Lots of Switches to Replace
Lots of Switches to Replace

Lots of Wiring
Lots of Wiring

Lots of Plumbing
Lots of Plumbing

My skill sets have increased greatly in the home improvement category.  I’ve been doing a lot of electrical work myself, including swapping outlets, switches, light fixtures, fans, and more, both re-wiring and breaker replacement at times.  I’ve plumbed a few sinks, and replaced about 5 faucets with new water lines so far.  Replaced a toilet too.  I’ve done a ton of backsplash tile work (a skillset I’ve had from a previous home) and of course I’m getting better at painting (now with a professional sprayer at times.)  The truth is, none of this is that hard, it just takes some patience and know-how which you can learn easily online or with a few conversations with someone who knows a bit more than you do.  Really it’s about having the time, but if you consider how much you’re saving when you do work like this yourself, many times the hourly rates are worth venturing on your own rather than bringing in a plumber, electrician, painter, etc.

Obviously it doesn’t go as fast as when you have a team, but if you’re trying to stretch your budget, or make money on the remodel – doing a lot of it yourself is definitely the way to go.  One day’s worth of plumbing projects I just did saved me about $1,200 I calculated.  I really have no idea to tally up all I will save in the end in labor, but I know it’s going to be a lot.

The View (our largest apartment) is almost complete, and looks like it’s on target for August 1st.  Our friend KC is moving into that apartment on a longer term rental for now while he’s here still working recovery efforts from last year’s storms.  It’s really beautiful.  If we weren’t renting it out immediately, Shaleece and I would have definitely moved down there while we completed the upstairs remodel.  I completed the bathroom remodel there (minus new tile which will come down the road), and the only thing left in the apartment is some painting trim, a bit more backsplash in the kitchen, some outlets and switches to replace, and a new fan to be hung in the Master Bedroom.  That’s such a small list from when I started in there!  I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

New Light Fixtures Installed
New Light Fixtures Installed

New Backslpash Almost Done (The View)
New Backslpash Almost Done (The View)

Lots of New Paint
Lots of New Paint

Not much progress has been made on the middle apartment as of late, the wedding and honeymoon took up much of our time, and I realize my target dates in the last article to have all three apartments done was way off.  So goes it with construction projects though, right? I did rebuild the top cabinets with a friend Vaughn on the island since the previous ones were destroyed by termites.  We’ve also put in the new granite counter tops, sink, faucet, and I’ve started on the backsplash here.  More photos of that to come when it’s complete.

Rebuilding Cabinets
Rebuilding Cabinets

Tearing Out Old Cabinets
Tearing Out Old Cabinets

Rebuilding Cabinets
Rebuilding Cabinets

We ordered our windows, but not from my Uncle Bob after-all.  The main reason behind this was because PGT doesn’t offer any windows that “breath” like jalousie style louvers, which are critical in our open air breezy home with natural air conditioning.  This house was designed to stay cool throughout the summer months with no AC due to the way it breathes.  Replacing our windows with side-sliders would kill the natural ability to get constant breezes without having to have the windows all the way open, all the time, which isn’t feasible when it rains. We plan to add AC to the bedrooms since we won’t need to cool the entire house in the near future.  Although it’s not completely necessary with the breezes up here, I think from a an online AirBnB marketing prospective, people stateside will be “looking” for AC.

We found a company in Puerto Rico, called Airmaster, which our Home Depot down here carries and sells due to their geographic area.  I measured them all out, and put the order together over the course of two weeks.  Every one is custom made.  The order includes over 46 windows, three sets of french doors, and three regular entry doors.  This house is massive.  It’s going to take 12 weeks before they get here, and I have no idea where I’m going to store them all while I await them getting installed, but my friend Dave from the mainland who helped with my Lakehouse’s kitchen said he would come down a few weekends to help me install them and show me the ropes of putting them in a concrete house.  That was the big addition to the expenditures this time around and has put us over $40k now.

My cousin Kira also came down and helped us paint our master bedroom and start on The View right before the wedding.  She is definitely a weekend warrior!  She is the reason we were able to move into the house so quickly!  THANK YOU KIRA SO MUCH!  <3

My Warrior Cousin Kira
My Warrior Cousin Kira

Master Bedroom Repaint with Kira
Master Bedroom Repaint with Kira

Hopefully I will get to updating this blog a bit more often.  Some other big news to announce soon, stay tuned.

 

Removing Tile Sucks! …But These Apartments Are Well On Their Way!

Day 17
Total Spent So Far: $14,303

Well, the amount we’ve spent is climbing steadily, and I see no signs of it slowing down over the next 30-60 days.  We’ve bought much of our supplies for the remodel of the apartments so far but have a long way to go on the entire house.  Remaining for the apartments will be fans and light fixtures, tile for the Mermaid (Apartment 2), shower, and the labor to install the granite counter tops.  We’ve purchased our sinks and faucets for the kitchens downstairs.  The sinks are a modern under-mount granite and should compliment the granite counters and backsplashes we selected for each apartment nicely.  All three are being shipped to Miami, and then forwarded over to St. Croix via VI Cargo.  That’s how we get everything into the island that isn’t through the United States Postal Service.  They make it pretty simple actually, and the cost isn’t outrageous in reality.  It does add 5-15% more to everything, depending upon how much an item weighs and how big it is, but the price to live here is well worth it.  It also adds a week or two in additional time to arrive, again the price you pay living on an island.   Oh, and I almost forgot import tax into the territory… that adds a few more percent to the cost.

Counter Removal
Counter Removal

Demo to the counters and cabinets has been fun.  Redoing the ones in Windsor’s Rest went well so we’re doing the same with the Mermaid.  The Mermaid has some old wood damage from termites so we’re replacing some of the cabinets this week before getting the granite installed. After pulling the backsplash off of one of the walls in Windsor’s Rest (which was just a piece of Formica) I noticed some crazy demo had been done at some point to replumb.  It’s not a concern of course, as I’ll be installing our slate backsplash soon enough so you won’t even see it, but I took a few pictures as it looks pretty gnarly.

Plumbing Exposed
Plumbing Exposed

The sinks should arrive around the first or second week of June, and we should have them installed shortly after, and just prior to our wedding it seems.  (June 23rd.)  Most likely, all three apartments downstairs will be finished and ready to rent out by mid June or the first week of July.  We’re incredibly excited about that, and the ability to start earning some income from them while we continue making progress on the rest of the remodel.  The sinks have to arrive before we can insert the granite counters since they’re under-mount, and then the backsplashes can be installed.  Windsor’s Rest is now finished (with the exception of a small rum barrel vanity project I’m going to tackle and the sink/counter/backsplash.)

Cruzan Rum Barrels
Cruzan Rum Barrels

We bought six rum barrels yesterday for $190 to include delivery.  Besides turning a few into vanities by cutting them down, sanding and refinishing them to add a bit of Cruzan flair to the apartment restrooms, we’ll use the others in our garden.  They look awesome outside when plants are around their base and set on top of them.  It gives the gardens a real caribbean flair.

In addition to the sinks and vanities, we’ve also measured out all of our windows and doors in the house.  Right now the Jalousie windows are incredibly outdated looking, and over the years the previous owner has replaced any that broke with wood – which make a great hurricane shutter but impossible to see through… and with these views, I’m not sure why anyone would ever block the windows.  Even the glass Jalousies are hard to see through though, and the breaking up of glass really impedes the view.   We’re going to purchase flat pane horizontal sliding windows with vinyl tracks made by PGT Windows.  These can be slid open to catch the breezes, but when closed they will show the most glass for the best clear views.  Vinyl is our choice instead of aluminum to cut down on the corrosion that happens here to metal since we don’t run central heat or air, and the salt from the sea assists in the breaking down of metals. We will have two walls with pocket sliders that open up completely to a wrap around balcony (on both the South and East end of the home) when we are finished.  The photo below is an example of the glass sliders we’re installing and sort of what we’re going for.

Example of PGT Pocket Sliders
Example of PGT Pocket Sliders

My Uncle Bob Royall, who works at World of Windows in St. Petersburg, Florida, is helping me with the Windows.  21 of them total which includes the two long pocket sliding door walls.  He’s given us a great deal and even spoke with the manufacturer to get an extended family discount for us.  If you need windows, please give him the opportunity to assist you!  He made some great suggestions for us and even came up with a customized solution for a kitchen pass-through window we want to install.  The total cost for the windows, not including shipping through VI Cargo and import taxes is just around $22,000.  That of course, doesn’t include any installation either.  I’m guessing on the installation, it’s going to run us around $10,000-$15,000.  I could be way off.  One person told me it may cost as much as $1,000 per window in a concrete house.  Jeeze, I hope not.

I started with a hammer... and got no where...
I started with a hammer… and got no where…

Removing Tile Sucks! For the past week, I have been removing tile in the Mermaid.  I started with a hammer, and got no where… so I used a medium size tile jack hammer that I rented for $78 on island to do most of it over the course of about 6 hours.  In that time frame I had a few pieces of shrapnel cause me to bleed, and a nice metal floor track slice my leg up pretty bad.  There were some areas I couldn’t reach with the jack hammer so I’ve been pulling those up manually with a chisel and a hammer again.  I’ve hit my hand so many times I’ve lost count and my thumb is twice the size it should be I think.

Medium Size Jack Hammer for the Win
Medium Size Jack Hammer for the Win

When we go to do the upstairs (5 times the size of the downstairs floor I just removed) I am definitely hiring someone to do that removal.  So far we’ve only hired the lawn guys to clear our view, and plan to hire the granite installer.  Other than that, everything else has been done by Shaleece and I.  My cousin Kira is flying down to assist us with some painting in a week or so.  We’re super grateful for her and can’t wait for her to get here.

That's Me Removing Tile
That’s Me Removing Tile

We’re on our second dumpster now; it’s filled with much of the demolition from the second apartment including the tile from the floor I’ve been wheel barreling out.

Finally, I did take some time to clean up the logo we found and added “Estates” to it.  I couldn’t find the font, and most likely it’s a treatment anyways, so I had to create it from scratch to match.  Took some time, but I think it came out great.   Next update soon.