When a window installer offers to cap your windows, even though you didn't ask for it to be done, say no.

Last month I had four new windows installed on the front of my house. I picked a company, did some research, went to a home show, hired the company, got the home show discount and booked the install.

The deal was to retrofit right into the existing wood frame, The installer did just that but commented on how my wood frames were rotting, and to prevent further rot and the need to repaint year after year, he would cap the windows. I agreed and not once did I have any reason to believe after he did the first two windows (plain, rectangle frames) that things would go south real bad once he got to the two cathedral windows.

Here's the before:

Note the lovely globs of caulking in the arches, Plus, the original builder flashing is a totally different color. It was hideous. I had no idea that to cap an arched window, this practice of "crimp & caulk" was considered the norm. I also learned that many home owners in my subdivision who have cathedral windows have been cautioned by window companies to leave the original wood arch in, as these are difficult to cap. And in driving around the neighborhood, I now see many owners have taken that to heart. I wanted all of it gone (no original wood window left) but the company who sold me my windows didn't caution a damn thing.

It took me a week to find a company, any company with a tinsmith background, or expertise in arched window capping. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I had almost given up, resigning to the fact that my house will look like a dog's breakfast, when I stumbled across a blog for an Oshawa company called Top Rung Contracting Inc. Dylan and Josh are PVC artists. Enthralled with the photos of their work on Facebook, I called them, begging in my voicemail to come and rescue my house.

Here's what Dylan and Josh managed to accomplish:

That is art. They also capped the tudor trim and window box so that the new flashing around the window was uniform in colour.

I nearly burst into tears when they called me outside to see the finished product.

The anxiety I had been having over this was enormous. My house is important to me. It needs to look well cared for, and Dylan and Josh made it feel like home again.

And what does this story have to do with riding buses and trains? I can see my house from the bus.