Tuesday, November 1 – We are still at the Houston Elks Lodge campground here in Stafford, TX. With time on his hands, Paul has been doing some maintenance and other projects around the RV. One of the things Marsha has always wanted is a window in the door. Our 5th wheel only came with a “peek-hole,” and it was pretty well worthless. For one thing it was too high for Marsha to use and, due to the step arrangement, you couldn't see anyone outside anyway. A while back, Paul from Living Our Dream installed a window in their 5th wheel, so we knew we could do the same.
PPL of Houston, a huge RV consignment dealer and parts store, is just around the corner from the Houston Elks RV Park, so it is a convenient location to do these type of projects. Paul recently picked-up the parts needed to install the window and first thing in the morning he got to work.
Measure TWICE and cut once. Good motto to follow when you are cutting a 15”X24” hole in the door of your home. Paul started by making a cardboard pattern and then transferring the size onto the door. And yes, he measured several times before cutting. Surprisingly, there is only a half-inch allowance where the window frame overlaps the hole. Could have given you a little more freedom for error in Paul's opinion.
The cutting was a breeze. Paul was prepared for a tough cutting job. Paul from Living our Dream wore out several saw blades according to his blog write-up. So Paul had extra blades on hand but was happy not to need them. The only difficulty was keeping the hole straight and level since a saber-saw has such a tiny blade. After a little touch-up here and there, the hole was ready for a dry-fit of the window and frame.
See the blade cutting through the door.
Dang! It appears our door is thicker than the window frame was made for so Paul needs to find some filler/weather stripping to fill the gap. Off to Home Depot for additional parts. Foam weather stripping should do the trick. Paul also coated the outer frame with a strip of butyl caulk to seal it and make it water tight.
Surprise, surprise! After carefully inserting the glass and tightening the frame, Paul discovered the weather stripping wasn't needed after all. The window frame tightened correctly in the door after-all. Guess he should have spent a little more time on the dry-fit before assuming the frame wasn't going to work. Oh well, no harm....better safe than sorry!
After tightening the many screws in the mating frames, the glass was securely in place between the frames and weather tight.
A quick spray of Windex to clean the glass and surrounding area and the job is complete. All and all, a job nicely done. And other than the nervous feeling of cutting the hole, a pretty simple job! Next up, adding a window blind to the inside of the RV to cover the window at night.
Marsha loves being able to look out the door. She is easily amused.
I am sure most of our readers already know that Marsha’s Cleveland Indians are in the World Series.
The Tribe is up 3-2. Game 6 is tonight. With good pitching, bats that come alive and a little luck, the Tribe will win the World Series tonight. These games have been great for watching but very hard on the nerves…lol.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
