on Windowizards

Even though the housing market has become a little (and I mean a LITTLE) more reasonable, I think houses are still overpriced. I wanted to move to a little "more house" now that my kids are out of school, but six months later and the economy being as scary as it is, I realized I can't afford "more house" even in townships with less-than-desirable school districts. I feel sorry for all the people that got suckered into overpriced houses with interest-only mortgages that they would never be able to pay when the principal payments became do. Greedy banks/mortgage companies and home owners put a hefty nail in the coffin of the American dream, not the President or the government (but that is another rant). So before I get off the subject, I decided to make the unusable spaces in my house, more usable. I had useless enclosed porch. (I don't understand why people do that.) This porch had custom made windows. Well not really windows, more like an outer single pain storm window and a custom built interior storm window with nothing in between. The whole room is on a slant. There is a good 2" difference from where the side wall touches the house and the front exterior wall. A challenge for any window installer. The front door was not the standard 80" door and the framework between the sidelites and the door where very thin. My brother used "Castle Windows" and was very unhappy. They put the wrong windows on his enclosed porch on the back of his house- but he learned to live with it. I researched Windowizards and read a lot of good feedback on them. The salesman came out and we discussed the pros and cons of replacing the doors and windows vs. turning it back into an open porch. I decided to go with the replacements. The windows were very nice and I very reasonably priced. I got 2 large sliders for the front of the house (at the salesman's suggestion)and decided to go with 2 regular pane windows on each side so I could put in a window air conditioner. I need to seriously think about the front door though with the 2 sidelites. I was expecting $1500 and it was really more like $3000. I decided to go for it, albeit painfully, but I thought realized I was putting these beautiful windows in with this old, drafty, wood/glass door in desperate need of TLC with a non-working lock. The carpenter was out about a week later measuring so everything could be ordered. After the carpenters visit, the salesman called to tell me since the framework around the door was not standard size, he wanted an extra $500. I said I didn't want the door then because it was so much anyway. We argued and guess what-I didn't pay the extra $500. The order arrived and was installed 2 weeks before the ETA. That was great. They did a beautiful job and the windows and the door look great. The space is now usable living space. Yea!! There was one set back. Two days after the door was installed I noticed all the wood on the base of the door jam was breaking off. Was this the result of the carpenter not getting his $500?? I sent the salesman a picture on a Saturday and Monday morning they said their service department would be out on Thursday to do the repairs. They were and I am quite happy with the finished product and my "new" room.

on Irish's Concrete

I wanted to put a deck on my house and I actually know a very good builder. He's just a little slow on getting back to me. I wanted a fairly large size deck, 20x18. I was going back and forth between using pre-treated wood or composite materials. I like to consider myself enviromentally conscientious, but this is a very controversal subject. On one hand, wood will decompose quickly and on its own. It would involve alot of painting and up keep. On the other hand, composite materials are basically plastic, they will be around for a long-long time, longer than us. They will scratch and fade and emit posionous gases/carcinogens that we are not aware of (look what has been discovered about water bottles and #5 plastics). The house will fall down before the deck will. Did I really want to spend 3x as much for this kind of deck? When the estimate came in at $12, ooo for regular wood, I decided to pursue other options. My builder suggested concrete. I went on line and found I liked stamped concrete. I called a few contractors and settled on a company called "Irish's Concrete". Joe Irish answered the phone right away. He was at my house the next day with a book that had a variety of styles and colors to choose from. It was March, so there season hadn't quite begun. I ordered a stone path stamp and the colors I wanted. Joe suggested a curved style to add character, in leiu of a rectangle. In a matter of a few days, I had a beautiful 20x18 patio and front walkway and they removed the "sidewalk to nowhere" that stopped about 6 feet short of the road in front of my house(?). All this in the neighborhood of about $3500. They were efficient and professional and very reasonable. I highly recommend them!!!! Five stars! I think there is a picture of my patio on his website gallery but it just shows the stamp and color not the whole patio. http://www.irishsconcrete.com/