Curved and Arched "Windows" on a Budget (6-Year Review & lessons learned)

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome to another episode of Home in the Earth. This one is about how we made those curved arched windows at the ends of the radial vaults. The tech details will be down in the doobly-do to better explain things cuz I can't fit it all in here.

[00:00:23]The plan starts with making some curved window sills to place at the top edge of that wall. These will be made with treated lumber and then cut to the correct radius. I'm marking the radius on that clear plastic and then I'll transfer that to the boards after a test fit.

[00:00:37]We'll trim down these treated 2 by 12s to the right shape.

[00:00:44]I'm using that insulation strip just to help draw the smooth curve.

[00:01:05]On the inside edge, I'm matching to the actual wall shape, which due to our organic building methods isn't really a smooth arc at all. Those wedges underneath are to give this about 10° of slope. So, curving in two directions makes this much more complicated than it looks from this angle.

[00:01:23]And then I spray foam under the boards to keep it all sealed. Then I measured and found that that sill was still about half an inch lower than it needed to be.

[00:01:29]So, I needed to add a layer of treated plywood to try and get that opening down to only 24 in max, which was the width of the 10-ft long pieces of polycarbonate that I bought.

[00:01:38]Next, the top edge, which turned out to be even more difficult. So, my plan was curving thin pieces of wood, but they snapped. So, I went thinner, but they were too thin to secure. So, now I'm putting up treated plywood arch blocks attached to that embedded wood in the concrete ceiling.

[00:01:54]Fail. So, now I'm going back to thin boards, But, it won't curve in that second direction, so fail.

[00:02:01]If I force it, then the board twists a little and that opens up the front edge.

[00:02:05]And my 10-ft long piece is a bit too short anyway when I curve it. So, I have to extend it by adding a little piece.

[00:02:13]Now, I'm adding a second layer. Glue lam concept, but this failed also.

[00:02:23]Okay, batt insulation arch blocks. This time as a second layer and that sort of worked.

[00:02:31]I used some temporary bracing to try to force the boards into the right place long enough for that construction adhesive to cure.

[00:02:37]Next, I bring in some 6-mil plastic sheeting just to use as a template. I took that down and then I cut the polycarbonate on the ground using a jigsaw with a special blade that's meant for cutting that plastic.

[00:02:47]It fits, but first let's get that frame right.

[00:02:55]Okay, another day, let's try again.

[00:02:58]This looks pretty bad, but it's the first one and I'm working it out.

[00:03:07]I used a combination of construction adhesive and lath screws to secure the polycarbonate in place and then I added caulk to prevent any water from getting in anywhere. Nine more of these to go.

[00:03:17]Hopefully, I'll get better at it.

[00:03:26]This next one is the one from the opposite side of the house after we'd worked out the plan a bit better.

[00:03:32]This vault is also smaller than the first one. It's only about 8-ft wide instead of 10-ft wide.

[00:03:37]Here again, I'm just using the treated 2 by 12s for the ledge, but I got the math right. So, it will fit the 24-in high windows.

[00:03:44]It also has the right slope to shed the water. We'll use stucco to close that gap that's underneath it.

[00:03:49]The top edge of this smaller window could be done with thin strips cut from a single 10-ft long 2 by 4. Each strip was about a quarter inch thick.

[00:04:17]Here I'm templating with a large piece of cardboard instead of the transparent plastic sheeting, but it's the same idea. Little stiffer actually makes it easier.

[00:04:32]I learned to put little curved corner blocks to better support the corners of the polycarbonate.

[00:04:39]I'm basically packing the gap between and behind the wood strips with construction adhesive.

[00:04:44]Then we place the poly window and glue and screw in place.

[00:04:48]Somehow I ended up losing the footage of the other eight windows being installed and the footage of cutting the poly, etc. But here's how the windows look 6 years later.

[00:04:58]Those owls are just to stop birds from fighting with their reflections.

[00:05:01]For some reason they do with the way the light bounces, they don't fight with their reflections on the south side.

[00:05:15]Because of these vaults radiate outward, these last two over the dining room and over the kitchen have the largest windows.

[00:05:29]I like the way it looks like the vaults are just open at the end with minimal trim.

[00:05:33]That radial vault ceiling wouldn't look nearly as good if I had solid walls all the way up to the ends.

[00:05:53]>> As you walk through the house, the windows are revealed bit by bit between those concrete ribs, and the home stays bright all the way up to the ceiling even when the lights are off and the curtains are closed.

[00:06:08]This is outside the kitchen window now.

[00:06:20]And this next one is the one that we actually started with in that first part of this video.

[00:06:24]It's hard to tell with this camera how sloped this window sill is, but it's very visibly sloped in real life.

[00:06:30]After 6 years, this polycarbonate has been scratched a lot. Uh you can't really see it from inside, but it is obvious out here.

[00:06:37]These dark lines are from where water has run around this edge and dripped off. I really should have put in a sharper drip edge. Here are some scratches from aggressively trying to clean these.

[00:06:45]Acrylic windows are much more scratch resistant, and see my regrets about why I should have chosen those down in the doobly-doo.

[00:06:54]And here it is from the south side. I'm trying to encourage [music] trumpet vines to cover that trellis, but that'll take time.

[00:07:00]I had a lot more thoughts about why I did this this way and what I should have done didn't fit, so go down and check the doobly-doo. See you next time.