It’s likely you’ve been inside a house that is surrounded by spectacular scenery. You may have stayed at a resort like the one in Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park. Perhaps you’ve stayed in the Mt. Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
I can guarantee you the architects who designed the buildings and specified the windows in these locations did everything possible to maximize the view you’d experience when gazing outside. Yet not all architects are blessed with the talents to achieve this in everyday plans for houses.
I didn’t build the house I currently live in. The architect who drew up the plans squandered the view I have out to Lake Winnisquam here in central New Hampshire. My living room wall that faces the lake has three identical up-down sash windows. The view out to the lake is interrupted by 10 inches of wood in between each of the windows.
To add insult to injury, the opening could have been 9 inches taller and 2 feet wider. I would have specified a huge picture window that would have been 6 feet wide by 5 feet high. A 2-foot wide casement window with no grills would have been on either side of the giant picture window.
I had the pleasure of staying in a condominium on Mt. Desert Island in Downeast Maine just after Christmas. This building used to be a sardine canning factory. The foundation of the building was installed in the tidal zone of Bass Harbor. You couldn’t ask for a more scenic view to the south and west.
As hard as this is to comprehend, the architect specified windows that contained grilles. These obnoxious horizontal and vertical lines ruined the view out to the harbor. Picture windows should have been used. An awning window underneath the picture window would have provided plenty of air should you want the salt-water aroma to fill the inside of the space.
My daughter didn’t make this mistake when she designed her new home six years ago. This quaint two-story home built on Mt. Desert Island, in Maine was nestled in the woods. She wanted to bring the woodlands inside.
This was accomplished by installing huge 2-foot wide by 6-foot high clear casement windows in the living room and dining room. Two of these windows were joined together to create each opening. The result was nothing short of spectacular. I was very proud of her. I assume she must have heard me many years prior talking about architect mistakes as we gathered around the dinner table.
You can create massive openings to bring the outdoors inside your existing home. I’ve done it many times. In the last job I did for a customer before transitioning to Ask the Builder, I installed a massive 8-foot wide picture window with two casement flankers on each side. The customer was speechless when he stood in front of it the first time gazing back into the woods behind his home.
A decent carpenter or remodeling contractor can cut openings in solid walls. You can enlarge existing windows to make them wider and taller. The carpenter will install a beam over the top of the opening. This beam can be as long as sixteen feet if need be!
I’ve created large openings in masonry buildings to install big windows. You can support brick with large angle irons. Structural engineers may have to size all the beams and angle irons, but this is the work they love! Don’t hesitate to ask them how big can you go.
Creating these large openings in new construction is child’s play. A Colorado couple hired me two months ago to act as their virtual general contractor. Their house has a giant wall of windows that is 16 feet wide by 25 feet tall. Understand that windows can be custom made to fit openings. We had to do this on this job to maximize the view out to the mountains.
Several years ago I created an in-depth video series showing you how to create an opening in a solid wall. I wanted to install two windows at each end of my garage attic. These windows were smaller picture windows with narrow casement windows on each side. The videos show you how to install the required beam or header above the window. This beam transfers the weight of the wall above the window around the sides of the window.
You never want to put weight on top of a window. The window glass may crack, or an operating window will not function with ease.
