Combined Day Trip and Screen Window Installation along Lake Pepin

We drove down to Stockholm along the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin to deliver some screen windows Tom had made for an St. Paul customer who had inherited an old farm get-away cottage.  Tom brought eight (8) new painted screen windows with him.  However, the original windows had more than likely settled and taken on slightly different shapes since they were built, so the screens would have to be fitted.  

 

Here Tom is deciding which screen was made for which window.  That was not as easy as it looked at first glance.  Often he will have to make minor adjustments when he comes to install them.  

Such was the case this time too.  Here he is trying different screens on different windows to get the best fitting screen on each window.  

He brought along a table saw in case he had to shave off a little here or there on the screens to get them to fit perfectly.  In the case of this screen, he had to shave off a thin slice on the right side.  Then, of course, that side of the window was no longer painted.  So, he had also brought the exact shade of green paint the customer had originally used and painted the right side to match.  As a general rule, TC Woodworks requests that the customer provide the exact shade of paint that the rest of his/her windows are painted.  

There can be a number of tools that have to be carted to the customer's location in order to get every screen into the correct window and to fit perfectly once installed.

It was a beautiful day when we arrived, but a short rain shower did make an appearance before the job was completely finished.

The last job is screwing the turn buckles in to the window to securely fasten each screen to its window while still allowing for the owner to change out the screens for storm windows in the winter.  Tom has a large supply of turn buckles in his shop to meet every window's needs.

One more satisfied customer!

Once the job was done, we headed back to St. Paul, stopping for some tourist photos at overlooks along the bluffs on Lake Pepin.  Lake Pepin is essentially a wide space in the Mississippi River that qualifies as a lake.  

It is a beautiful lake and it was a beautiful drive that day thru the woods along winding roads that came into and out of view of the river for miles and miles.  Unfortunately, the famous pie shop along the way was closed that day.  Bummer.