Christophern, we won't be looking too carefully :-) At this point it's going up whether it matches perfectly or not. KS, the IR was what I asked for for Christmas! We've only used it a bit, but are both very impressed. It does such a nice large area at a time that you can really make progress. But we have discovered that (a) you can still make burn marks on the wood, (b) it does still smell bad even if it releases less lead than a heat gun (which I got for my previous birthday...), and (c) whether you can get to clean wood in one go seems to depend on what was on the surface first. What I love is that the debris is not mucky, so it's easy to manage. All in all a much cleaner and more effective process than any other method, and trust me, I know! Sorry to hear about your tool theft! We had someone grab a bunch of tools out of the basement in a B&E many years ago. Now we stash them so well that we can hardly remember what we have or where it is. A guy better have redeeming qualities if he goes around painting the inside of your window the same colour as the outside... Thanks for the compliments on the window; it was a real design challenge, and I think a construction challenge too. The top opening is a whole separate box; this made it easier to build, transport, and install. Going back to the framing, the amount of movement in the wall is not that much, and we have no sagging. But Macybaby your points are well taken and I have always meant to check if we are bolted to the foundation or not - we should be, in an earthquake zone, but the basement is finished so it's hard to tell. Congrats on the work you got done on your house! With the input from here I found an article (linked below) about framing around windows; maybe others will find this useful. KarinL Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Homebuilding article on wall framing

I had 32 Alside mezzo Windows install. The windows are not bad but the contractors that they have are horrible. You have to be careful because people will say that they are "Alside certified" and will rip out your windows and screw the new ones in sideway then run for the hills... One of those companies Oakland Construction or Orchard 10 is another name they go by also...

Wow, thank you all for your kind comments! @cpartist and @P Banos, here is a pic of the exterior. I will update this thread once I have the front porch back on.

Hi Maria, I saw your post and just want to share my experience so far. I purchased two Eclisse single pocket doors for our bathrooms. Both are 30" W x 80" H, and one is for use with 4" wide walls and the other for 6" wide. I live in the USVI so after the freight cost, freight forwarding, and customs/duties, I probably paid around $1,000 for the two combined. Yes, it was expensive. We are hoping it is worth it to never have to replace them. They have a 12-year warranty, which gives me some peace of mind. My boyfriend and I did the installation ourselves. He works in construction and is pretty handy! - We used existing doors, I think 1-3/8 or 1-1/2" wide. This saved us some money, but turned out to be kind of a pain. One of our doors was a bit warped--not really ideal for any door, but especially one that is supposed to slide straight! We had to cut down the sides of the doors to fit and route out the bottom where the guide goes. - The Eclisse has a feature where you can remove the track after it's installed. I can't speak to the ease of doing this because I haven't tried, but it's nice to know it is possible. - I would really have liked to upgrade to the soft close in both directions. And really, with the track being removable, it isn't too late if I ever want to add this. But after spending so much on them already, I cannot justify the cost, which is $125 for one direction or $155 for both (before shipping and duty). The self-closing feature just FYI is $220. (These prices were quoted to me in July 2019.) - We did not buy the optional $100 poplar jamb kit, and instead my boyfriend built and stained the jambs to match the doors. He made them easily removable with screws, and this was helpful when we did have to remove the doors from the hangers...since we decided to tile the floors after we had already installed them (we were originally going to do stained concrete). I definitely recommend having your floors complete before installing. :-) - I included a couple photos so you can see what it looked like before we drywalled over. - I am going to have to find some creative towel rack solution since I cannot drill into the wall where the pocket is. Keep this in mind for hanging pictures, etc. Finally, here is what the Eclisse.us rep told me in an email when I mentioned I was considering Johnson, but was afraid that it wouldn't last: "We tend to get a lot of calls for people switching from Johnson to our pocket door hardware because Johnson tends to be more expensive over time because many problems come up with either the wood frame and the track/hardware. Below I’ve put some more information so you can see Eclisse is unlike anything a wood pocket door such as Johnson cannot offer: -Extractable track – never have to break drywall to remove track in future -Frame is all galvanized steel – no wood so no warping -12 year parts warranty – Product has been cycled tested to last this long -Runner kit- tested over 100,000 cycles. A difference from our runners to most of all others is that everything is covered by durethan that helps to contain the grease inside the ball bearing and prevent and avoid the dust." Hope this is helpful!!