Our masonry fixes around the 1st floor windows concluded with the west facing kitchen window.
So far, the repairs focused on the window guards and other exterior fixes. To get to the bottom of this window, we’ll need to look at the inside, at the kitchen layout.
The window in question is marked in red. Our kitchen counters run along the north and west wall, with a corner sink next to the kitchen window. Unfortunately the window dimensions—or to be more precise, the window height—does not agree with our kitchen counter plans.
The bottom section of the window would be hidden behind the counter. We decided that this is not a good idea. As it is with kitchens, debris from food preparations would end up in this hidden space and we would constantly have to clean it out.
Instead we opted to make the window shorter by bringing the sill above the kitchen counter elevation. And this is where Antonio, our mason, got back to work.
As before, he removed the window guards and did the necessary brick repair work. But he also filled the bottom of the window with brick and raised the limestone sill, while I adjusted the existing window buck to the new dimensions.
We feel that the new and shorter window is a much more elegant solution and avoids the creation of a garbage trap behind the kitchen counter.
I didn’t want to make a window smaller. It took a little while to sell me on this. I thought we could just have a little window box sort of area on the bottom part with succulents in it. But the thought of food getting back there and having to clean it out all the time – yep, this is the solution.
Bummer about the brick color not matching the original. Was it not possible to find matching bricks?
Hard to see how the shortened window solution works in the context of the entire facade – could be fine, could be less than fine!
I wonder if another option would have been to put a black-backed fixed pane glass on the bottom and build right up to that on the inside (no gap), and have the window continue to function at the upper portion (open and close), thus retaining the original look on the outside. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnecapa/2794047451/ for an image of a Rite Aid drug store in our town – all the windows above the ground floor are fake, black-backed. There are only roof trusses behind them. It is “new construction” ie not a retrofit.
Very smart. So many homes are jerry-rigged to fix a problem, thus creating a whole new set of problems that someone has to deal with later. I’m glad you still have daylight by your sink! I love having a window over my kitchen sink and wasn’t sure when the corner sink was first mentioned (how many posts ago?) if you would be looking at the wall or not. Glad you are not!