Basement part 2: Window shopping

Remember the saga yesterday with the broken window? Here's the breakdown:

The windows are ancient and open as shown below.

(This one is right at the bottom of the step- watch your head if you see the window open!)

Each window has a hook and eye fixture to hold it open (see the rusty hook attached to the rusty loop near the top of the pic below? Yep- that's a pretty doggone good system- obviously).

See the hook up there near the insulation? Yeah, that squiggly thing is a hook and eye closure.

I tried my best to get a good pic, but it was a little challenging in the location where I was.  There's the hook. Beauty isn't it? Definitely secure.

Well, apparently when I was opening the window and putting the hook through the eye, I failed to put the hook completely through the eye which lead to gravity pulling on it and the window slamming and busting everywhere. 

Since we are on a super budget, I was freaking out about the window breaking. My mom reminded me of a place I believe I may have introduced her to: Building 9. They are fantastic! They have all kinds of home repair supplies at fantastic prices.

Of course, with the house being 93 years old, we knew we would have to special order whatever we needed. Nothing is ever easy for us. Everything must be complex- it's how we roll. Shoot, we wouldn't know what to do if anything we needed was in stock and ready to go from the shelf when it comes to home repair.  Could Building 9 order it cheaper than anywhere else? It was time to find out.

We headed down to downtown Akron to Building 9. Our measurements were 30.5" x 23" (measured cement to cement). Of course, while they had a bunch of windows in stock ready to go, they didn't have our size. We decided to get a quote and then shop around.

   Building 9 said for a window that is 30" x 22" with a vent it would be $99, without the vent $76. Special order would take 4-5 days.

    Lowes: window is 28" x 21 1/4" with a vent it would be $148.69, without the vent $134.69. Special order takes 14 days to get in.

Hmm.... well, I can get it in 5 days and a bigger window size (more for my money) and save $50 or go with tried and true Lowes. Going with Building 9.

We couldn't be happier. We placed the order with Building 9 on Monday. On Wednesday in the early afternoon (1 pm), we received a call that the window was in and ready for pick up! WOW! I couldn't believe it. I saved $50 and got the window sooner? How often does that happen? In the Carder world, RARELY! Clearly, God is looking out for us!

The window is beautiful.  I believe we tackle installation tomorrow. Be sure to check back for that post as the basement saga continues.  Oh, and if you want to check out Building 9, click here.