66, ...and in they go.

Before the windows could be installed, the vertical stone rebates needed to be trued and trimmed out with a jamb. The three earliest window openings, which I had constructed prior to the building of my stone saw, were made just wide enough to fit a window in snugly. Subsequently, I realised that a timber jamb would need to be fitted, in order to provide some method of securing the frame. In the photo above, the rebate on the right has now been shaved out to the required 100mm to accomodate a 21mm thick hardwood jamb, with the left hand side waiting to recieve the same treatment. The mortar joints needed to be chipped out before I could rough out the rebate using a chainsaw, with chisels and sanding blocks used for the final shaping. This wasn't one of the most fun, (or cleanest), jobs I have had to endure!

The 90 x 21mm hardwood jambs were glued and screwed to the limestone using 100mm galvanised, countersunk "batten screws". These were driven into pre positioned, Ultra Long RamPlug's, which were glued into cleaned, pre drilled holes using "liquid nails", before allowing a couple of days for it to set.
For subsequent windows I have found that a product called; KF2,  a Polyester Injection System, (picked up from eBay, of course!), offers superior holding power for the screws and I now set the RamPlugs in with this. It is, although, more labour intensive, with a pilot hole needing to be bored, using a masonary drill, into the cured plug.

Working on my own, I was easily able to manouvre the windows around on their sides using pipe rollers, however, getting them up the steps and into the front of the house was going to be somewhat more difficult. To achieve this, I jury rigged an pole, with a swivel coupling, to the scaffold frame. This was supported, using a chain, from a higher level. I positioned it so that an attatched electric winch would pivot between a point above the landing, which was about the same height as my van floor, and the centre of the verandah. This system worked flawlessly and once at floor level, it was a simple matter to roll them where required.

With the bottom of the window frame shaped to fit into the rebate in the stone sill, the plan for the installation was to form a table at sill height, lift the unit on to it, apply the flashings and mounting brackets, locate the timber sill into the opening, then lift the window up into position. What I didn't allow for was the internal stone arch, which prevented the side/angled bay windows from being tilted up in this manner. To compound the problem, after wiggling the window almost into position, I was reminded of another issue.
Some years back, when laying the stone sills for this bay, a stuff up, on my part, had me place them about 10mm too high. This error wasn't picked up until setting out the limestone quoins, which were adjusted to suit, to ensure that the lintels were all level. I had completely forgotten about this by now and, of course, these were the only openings not checked when calculating the window dimensions. So then, of course, the odscenities started!.

Following my 5th attempt, after much planing, trimming, adjusting and swearing, the first window was finally in, but I am more than happy with the result.

To secure the windows to the jambs, I made a number of brackets from 3mm stainless steel angle. These measured about 30 x 22mm and were about 20mm wide. The long leg was screwed through the ply backing into the inner lining and roofing screws, fitted through the other leg and drilled into the jambs, pull the frame firmly into the rebate.
I didn't notice until uploading this image that this particular mount was the one that needed to be rotated slightly, this was to enable a new hole and screw to be drilled into the jamb. With all the refitting of this window, at least one screw had to snap!.