Fenestration, Part 2
At the beginning of this week, we finally signed off on our window order. This involved lots of handwringing, frantic calls/emails to both the builder and our interior designer, and a mind-numbing hour spent going over the order line by line (an absolute must).
This is what a sample window quote looks like:
There’s a lot of information contained in that description, and every word of it needs to be reviewed before the final order is placed. Let’s break it down.
As you can see above, this is actually two windows treated as one unit. The individual windows will be factory mulled, which means that they will be permanently joined together prior to shipping. Windows are often labeled with a four digit code that refers to their dimensions (you’ll see these numbers on architectural plans as well). The unit above is a 3020 (3’0” wide by 2’0” high) mulled to a 3066 (3’0” wide by 6’6” high). The top window is a fixed transom window, which means that it does not open. The bottom window is a casement window, and it opens to the right (the point at which the two diagonal lines above intersect indicates the placement of the window hinges). The cross bars drawn on the glass are full divided lights, which are decorative window grilles attached to both the inside and the outside of the windows. Andersen offers two styles of grilles, a colonial version and a contemporary version; we went with the contemporary version in a 7/8” width. The windows are black on the outside and primed pine on the inside. We’ve gone with black hardware and black fiberglass screens.
Toward the bottom of the quote, you’ll see that the wrapping of the window is a “kerfed interior drywall return bead pine.” A little bit of history is needed here.
The original quote from our builder contained a number of additional options. One of these options, listed under the drywall section, read: “Windows and doors to have square kerfed corners in place of wood casing.” Essentially, you can finish windows with trim, or you can do what’s known as a drywall return to create a trimless look (a kerf is basically a notch that makes this process easier). Examples of both:
Window with trim
Windows without trim
We really liked the clean, modern look of trimless windows. Unfortunately, we thought we weren’t going to be able to achieve it, based on a total misunderstanding between us and the builder and the architect.
When we first brought our builder on board, he included us on an email to our architect with a question about window installation. The San Carlos residential building guidelines offer two choices for window trim: you can either recess the windows (at a minimum depth of 2”) without trim OR you can install them flush to the facade with a trim that is a minimum width of 1”. Our builder noted that our plans called for recessed windows. However, because our windows are so large, the depth of the rough opening in a house framed with standard 2x4s would be insufficient to achieve a 2” minimum recess. Our only option for recessed windows would be to frame the exterior walls with 2x6s, which would increase the price and reduce the square footage of the house. We didn't want to pay more for smaller rooms, so we resigned ourselves to trimmed windows. [I’m just gonna go ahead and gloss over the night I went down an internet rabbit hole on the relative merits of 2x4 framing v. 2x6 framing. It’s for the best.]
At no point during this exchange did it occur to the Husband or I that the builder and the architect were talking about the exterior of the house. In our minds, the trim v. recess conversation was about interiors. Eventually, we all got on the same page: our windows will be flush mounted on the exterior and framed with a thin brick mould (which is, oddly enough, made from wood and not brick). On the inside, the windows will be trimless with drywall returns.
This change resulted in a decrease of approximately $900. Because the windows will have drywall returns, they don’t need jamb extensions. Window jambs are part of the structural support of windows, and jamb extensions are additional material added to the jambs when the frame itself is not deep enough to fill the window opening. In our original quote, most of the windows had jambs and jamb extensions totaling 4 11/16”, which was the depth required to fill the rough opening. With the exception of the two sets of monsters on the street-facing lower level (each unit comprised of four windows mulled together), the windows have a standard depth of 2 7/8”. This means that when all is said and done the windows will have about a 1 1/2” recess around them when viewed from the interior. The monsters, on the other hand, need a minimum 4 9/16” jamb in order to be structurally sound, so those bad boys are basically going to fill up the entire rough opening. I was really worried about these two looking different from all the others, but in the end everyone assured me it wouldn’t be an issue.
In the end, we came in about $200 under our budget line for windows. When it comes time for installation, the trimless windows will have more drywall costs associated but should save us some money on finish carpentry.
