Tuesday, June 16, 2009

window screens and old wood windows


A bird landed on the cat food (trash can shaped) container right as I was snapping this picture. Our cat, Biscuit, spends his days looking out the screen door.

I am still happy to report that we haven't turned on the AC yet... with the new screen door and all the windows open, the house is staying breezy and cool. Someone recently asked me how we keep the bugs out of our house if we don't have storm windows and screens.

Well... it is hard to explain how the windows in our house are without pictures, so, here it goes...

Our house was originally a shingled house when it was built in 1906. Queen Anne windows were installed. Then in the 40s, new owners remodeled the house, adding a thick 1 foot layer of stone. Our house is a beefcake since it is basically a house encasing another house. Anyway, they added another set of windows in addition to the existing windows. So we have 2 sets of fully functional windows. Ours are the old school windows that you can raise and lower the top set as well as the bottom set.

We found a bunch of window screens for the house in the basement. You can slide them to collapse and expand them. So we open the outside set of windows fully, then open the inside set high enough to rest the screens inside. Like so:

I just realized how dirty the screens are. I need to spray them out with some canned air. That is the kitchen window that looks out to the sorority house beside us. Hopefully that gives a good idea of what the windows are like.

I really haven't seen any other houses with double sets of windows like ours, but they are terrifically handy!

2 comments:

solsticehome said...

spray window screens with canned air!!
what a perfect idea..
thanks for the tip
sue

Steel Windows said...

Staying clean in each corner of the house is very important, especially those of dust entrance such as doors and windows. You should always make it sure that any curtains and blinds are very clean to prevent itchiness or some kind of allergy symptoms.