So remember that one time we put windows in out family room??? I do and its still one of the best things we did just for the extra light in the house. A lot of people asked why we would put more windows in. Well our house does not get much direct sun light they way it faces. We get direct sun in the morning from the stair window then in the afternoon the kids bathroom and one of becalms small windows get direct light and thats it!! So needless to say I needed more day light. Our last house was lined with windows. When we built it i added that. This house was already framed and we could not add any ANYTHING. Its quite anoying but we knew that going into this home we would changing out doors and adding windows after we moved in.
So for the family room he had this huge wall I had planed on doing a massive built-in on. After living her for 6 months I realized I need more light!! I am just one who thrives on day light I despararly need it. So I decided we were going to have to change out plans for this wall. Windows were just more important. Not only did I need the day light but behind that wall I actually and a beautiful mountain view. So adding windows on this wall was a win win for me. I would get more daylight and I would be able to see the mountains. Then of course the side yard and see the kids jumping on the tramp with out having to go on the deck to see them on the side of the house. So I felt there were just so many more pros to adding windows then doing a huge built-in. It took me time to talk Adam into it….. but I finally got him to come around to it. Now that its done he agrees it was totally worth it.
Here are a couple before and afters and you will see why it was worth it to!
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
So to start we had to decide how big we wanted the windows. I went with a 2×5 window. its actually a 23.5×59.5 I believe. So it was not over powering on the wall but still big enough to look out and bring in more light. I got my windows from Window Monster there prices were awesome. They got me the same brand of window that i have with all my other windows that were put in with the build of the home. I paid $77 a window, my total for 2 windows with talk was $164. I wanted to make sure they were just as tall and same brand as the others to match the windows I had on the other wall right next to this one.
Just to let you know for a price we put in these 2 windows with the framing wood and the total for everything was around $700. That was with doing all the work other then the patch work of drywall and mud. We hired someone to do that for us. I believe I paid about $250 for that.
The quotes I got for this project to have someone else do it was around $1600. So if you can’t or don’t want to do it your self it is not crazy expensive to have someone do it for you.
Our home is wrapped in hard board not stucco so that make it easier for us to pack up the outside and make it look seamless, like it was meant to be there all along. If your home has stucko you will probably need to hire someone to do the finish work on the out side of them home. Unless you know how to do stucco work I guess haha. That is something we have never done though.
Honestly though one of the hardest parts was cutting the exterior hardy board! That stuff is next level. So make sure to have a really good blade that is specific for cutting that stuff! It will make you life a lot easier if you have to cute threw hardy.
Here are a couple links that go over what you will need to do if you are wanting to add a window to your home.