José Vazquez and Juan Perez kept their balance steady, and put a circular touch on a budding upgrade of the Dwight neighborhood.
The pair were up in the air working with fellow crew members from Elm City Carpentry Thursday to put new exterior windows on the upper floors of the brick apartment building at the corner of Edgewood Avenue and Garden Street. It is one of 21 buildings spread out through the surrounding blocks and owned by Community Builders, part of Kensington Square, a federally subsidized apartment complex.
Community Builders is in the midst of a state-sponsored $8 million renovation of the buildings — some of them historic — that step by step, piece by piece, is giving a new shine to the neighborhood. (Read a full story about that here.)
On Thursday, the latest subtle touch involved replacing windows on the corner building where Vazquez and Perez were hard at work.
Paul Bass Photo
“We’re taking out a square window and putting in a circular one,” George Kelly (pictured) said as he watched the work from ground level.
The building previously had horizontal windows set into aluminum frames behind the circular brickwork on the building’s facade. The new windows were designed to fit right into the brick work. Besides looking attractive, they leak less that way, saving on energy costs, Kelly said.
Before …
… and after.
Overall a worth improvement.
Looks pretty good in general, but it might look a little better if the gentlemen in the basket wore hardhats, gloves and high-vis vests and used suction cups in lieu of an operable-lite in the unit to manipulate it into place. Do appreciate that they were tied off though.
Also see they overcame the gap from the window casing to the brick returns with some kind of plywood in-fill. But there doesn't seem to be a reglet or other means visible at the arch and jamb sides to flash the unit. Leads me to believe they will rely on a Henry or similar type of peal-and-stick applied rubberized flashing to span the weatherstripping to brick condition. While common, this is ultimately less durable.
Can't see the sill from the film or photos. Naturally, that is the most critical spot.
Overall I give the operation a C +.