New Window Installation

The day of installation arrived. According to Pam, our project manager, the installers were supposed to arrive between 8:00 and 10:00 am. Seeing as how our track record on this project was not going very well, I decided to be up and ready at 7:30, just in case. But, like thoroughly reasonable and responsible people, they arrived at 9:20, prepared and ready to go.

Again, like professionals, they first took the order paperwork that corresponded with all of the doors and windows that they had brought with them and went around to each door, measuring, for the third time, every window and door. Within four minutes they had discovered that the paperwork for our kitchen door was incorrect and that the reverse door had been ordered. The two of them, extremely nice guys originally from some Eastern Block country with muted but recognizable accents, looked over the paperwork together to be sure that nothing was missed. They shook their heads and looked at me.

"Did you want this door to open in the same way that it does now?"
"Yes, all of the doors should open in the same way."
They shook their heads again.

The taller of the two told me that he would call his supervisor and report the incorrect purchase order (based on the paperwork that he was holding in his hands that had been sent to the window manufacturer) and that a replacement door would be ordered and shipped overnight to correct the issue. This process would take about a week, he told me. I thanked him and told him that I would call Pam and apprise her of the situation, just so that everyone would be on the same page. He sort of shrugged in a "do whatever you want" kind of gesture and I nodded. They started dragging in drop cloths, ladders, and a variety of tools while I dialed the all-too-familiar phone number.

Pam answered with the same sickly perkiness and I explained what had happened. She sighed and said, "Oh, why does this keep happening?" I didn't reply. "We have had this same problem recently, but I can see on my paperwork right here that we ordered it correctly." My ass. "But I will be sure to send out the new order right away." Yeah, right. I didn't cross my fingers.

So, another minor delay. No worries. The bulk of the work would be done before my family was to come into town for the San Diego ComiCon later in the week. The two workers (yes only two, and no I didn't catch their names) were amazing. They were quick, precise, intelligent, and very sweet. I would often hear them speaking in their native tongue, which I know wasn't Russian, German, Swedish, or Danish, but which may have been Polish or Czech, but as soon as I would enter the room, they would switch into a near perfect English. I thought that was nice. It made sure that I didn't feel uncomfortable with them speaking secrets that I couldn't understand.

I let them go about their job and tried to stay out of their way. I didn't think twice about answering a phone call from a number I didn't know about an hour and a half in to the project. The somewhat irate woman on the other end of the line was the property manager of our complex. Apparently, she had received an email from one of the HOA Board Members that morning saying that we had started work on our windows in violation of the CCNR's.

Crap.

Now I knew that we had not been completely in line with the rules, but when I realized that we had skipped one step about approval prior to work, I put together all of the paperwork and filled out all of the necessary forms to be sure that we didn't step on anyone's toes and didn't break any rules . . . well, any more rules. I had sent that paperwork over a week prior to the workmen arriving and hadn't heard a peep. Until now.

The property manager was furious. She began threatening us with lawsuits, fines, and other implied actions that I didn't really follow. She was incredibly rude, abrasive, and unrealistic. I apologized and explained that we had never before done any exterior improvements and weren't familiar with the protocol, but upon realization that I had missed a step I tried to complete the necessary paperwork and meet all requirements that I was aware of. I contacted their office to get the appropriate forms, so I was trying to be proactive.

She wouldn't hear it. She just talk at me huffily.

I tried to assuage her fears by telling her that, according to the paperwork that her office had sent me, our windows and doors were in compliance with the community regulations as well as in keeping with the new windows that had been installed by our neighbor only a few months prior.

She informed me that the HOA Board member who had contacted her (we will discuss this woman later) had told her that the window that she can see "from her unit" was not in compliance. I assured her that they all were. She replied, "even if they look like they are, that doesn't mean that they comply." Okey dokey.

So, trying again to find some sort of compromise, I asked her what she would like me to do.

"You need to tell your contractors to stop work immediately. You need to submit all of the appropriate paperwork including sketches of each window, exact locations, dimensions, specifications, and manufacturers information. It will be a minimum of thirty days before you can resume work."

As I stared out of my unit through the new breezeway created by the vacancy of metal and glass in my living room I laughed. I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help it.

I tried to swallow my laughter and I replied, as nicely as possible, "Yeah, that's not going to happen." I explained that I had giant holes in my walls where there used to be rickety, shoddy, single-paned glass windows and doors that shuddered audibly in their frames when a big truck would roll by. I was not about to send away my diligent workers, especially with the provided information (threat?) that no work would continue for thirty days. I thought, with an amused shake of my head, of my guests staying in my new guest room with a tarp stapled across the gaping breadth of the open wall.

She started to threaten me again with fees and legal consequences and I interrupted her, explaining that I would try to put together the additional paperwork that very day and send it to her. I preemptively ended the conversation with a "Thank you for contacting us, I will speak to you soon" and she gruffly said goodbye and hung up.

The actual consequences of my actions now beginning to take hold, I started to panic and nearly ran to my neighbors house, the one who had just had his windows redone earlier this year, and explained the whole situation. He laughed and laughed and laughed, then looked at me sternly and said only, "You should have given them thirty days to reply."

He went on to explain that he had followed protocol to the letter, but his thirty days came and went with not so much as a squeak from the HOA Board. When, in a frothy lather, he went to bang on the President's door asking for some answers, it turns out that the HOA hadn't even been given the paperwork from the property manager. Apparently she only reacts to crises and disasters as opposed to proactively maintaining her client needs.

Needless to say, I scheduled the final door installation one month from my most recent submitted paperwork. If they choose not to get back to me, they can bite me.

And so, the work. I went around the house the morning before the workers arrived taking pictures of all of our exposed doors and windows. I wanted to have a record of the starting point.

Master bedroom.


Spare bedroom.


As a side note, I keep moving the furniture in and out of this room. Lesson? Try to complete every project for one room at one time!! Alas, I had to move all of this yet again. . .


Living room and dining room.


Once the guys came in, they had every door and window out in about two hours. It was amazing. Two guys! I was incredibly impressed by their work, but also incredibly impressed by the amount of air that moves through this open window. It was kind of nice, like living in a castle or a Greek temple.


I liked this window being out as well. The air just flows down the stairwell. It was very refreshing.


And the crappy sliding glass door in the bedroom is gone!!! GONE I TELL YOU!!! Even if they had left it like this it would have been an improvement. Love it.


Of course, I wasn't the only one that loved it. Once I realized that I had three cats itching to get out of the house because of the strangers stomping around, I grabbed them up and tucked them away. One in a closet (don't worry, it's a walk in closet and I gave him food, water, litter, and a comfy bed) and the other two in a hallway blocked off with child safety gates. Once they were safe, I started sketching all the doors and windows painstakingly on graph paper. Stupidest thing I've ever heard . . .


And Voilà! The beautiful new three panel third-third-third window! I love this window! I love the beautiful white vinyl and the symmetry and the clean glass. SO FANTASTIC! (Of course, we have yet to hear from the HOA if this is acceptable. Apparently they do want three panel windows - not specified in any of the paperwork, by the way, it merely reads "horizontal sliding picture window" - but it has been indicated to me that they might have preferred quarter-quarter-half. Which I hate.) I mean, just look at this beautiful window!!!


Oh my gosh! And a functional sliding glass door that keeps out the noise, the UV light, the wind! And it opens and closes in a smart way so that the screen door can also open and close without catching on the door handle! SO INTELLIGENT!!!


Ah yes, the culprit. According to the paperwork, this window is to remain a fixed picture window. Remember when I said how nice it was that the air moves down the stairwell? My neighbor suggested that we install a slider here because HE did and loves it. He leaves it open all the time. And it is really nice. On the cooler days since we have had these installed, I have opened this window and the master bedroom door and the whole house stays cool and slightly breezy. It saves money, too, because I can turn the air conditioner off and just relax with nature's fan. Of course, we have yet to hear about this one, either. Though I do have precedent since my next door neighbor, our adjoining unit, has this same window. Sooooo, come on people.


See the pretty spray foam insulator! Cool, huh?


So it turns out that the "HOA Board Member" who ratted us out has nothing better to do with her days that sit and stare out her windows at the other unit owners and determine what they are doing wrong. She is a negative, witchy individual that drove by our unit nine times during the installation to stare and give evil glances, but she never once bothered to just come over and talk to me, adult to adult, owner to owner. I think she was frustrated that I didn't stop work immediately. Oh yeah, and she can only see the "culprit" window from her unit because of the landslide. Although she would have to use binoculars. Other than that, no one would ever be able to see this window except for a tiny little opening view when they drive by our unit on the private driveway into the complex. So yeah, I see why it is such a big deal.