Wednesday, January 23, 2008

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I awoke this morning to the sound of loud banging. It was loud and close, like just outside my bedroom window. I got up and went to another room, from which I can see the bedroom window from outside. A man was ripping out my three-track storm window, right down to the frame, including the wood framing strips by which it was attached.

This is a storm window unit that was retrofitted over the original (100-year-old) double-hungs about 30 years ago. Only the storm window unit was affected. My actual housing perimeter was not being breached.

I live in a condominium building, but I was under the impression that the windows are mine. So imagine my surprise. I called the management office for an explanation and left a message on their machine.

Within a few minutes, I noticed that the window guy had inserted some new framing and insulation, reinstalled my storms, and was in the process of caulking it. Then I noticed that he had torn out the storms on the windows of my neighbor's unit, but not on any more of mine, and an understanding of what had happened began to dawn.

Did I mention it's cold here, 16 degrees at the moment.

After talking to the building management company, the window guy, and my neighbor, it turns out they tore my window out by mistake but realized it in time to replace it. They didn't seem to damage the window unit in the process, which is lucky because the ones they were supposed to remove are being junked as part of a full replacement job on that unit, not just the storms, but the double-hungs too.

Anyway, other than the startling wake-up and the time spent dealing with it, I seem to have come out ahead, as the re-installed window is noticeably less drafty.

No comments: