Kitchen window phase 2

Not much work on the window over the last two days – it was far too wet in the West Midlands. But today Dave Freeman combined a visit to make an adjustment on the new gas hob with helping me get out the final two screws holding in Erin Mae's kitchen window.

In the event it needed his angle grinder to cut the heads. Fortunately the scratches it left on the frame will eventually be covered up by the neoprene insert. At least we managed to remove the window.

After Dave had left I went round all the screw holes in the hull with an M4 tap to clean out the threads.

It was a satisfying job, but I'm still amazed that whoever last put the window in didn't attach it via these threads, but via wood screws going all the way through them and into the interior wooden frame. Two of those are actually still in place, with their heads missing. The up side to that is that they are holding the wooden frame in position while I work on the whole thing.

Now I have to plan the next steps. Some of the holes in the aluminium frame seem a little large and I'm concerned that the heads of the new screws will pass through under pressure. I also want to enlarge one or two holes anyway so that the screws don't have to be forced in at an angle. What I'll have to do is slowly becoming clearer in my mind. For the moment I've re-fitted the window since we have rain tomorrow and then a long weekend in the south to attend to some medical matters. The window, of course, is now even less waterproof than it was, so I'll leave it covered with a cheap tarpaulin while we're away.