Working on the House....

[lookforjoe]

The last few weeks I've been focused mainly on removing the crappy vinyl siding on the front of the house that was installed at some point in the 80's by the PO. It's a fake 'cedar' - it didn't look so bad 20 years ago when we moved in, however we've never liked it & now it's deteriorating - especially on the front.

Started pulling off the vinyl about 3 weeks ago - the additional issue was that when they did the siding, I found they removed the casing from the 2nd floor windows & used aluminum & vinyl trim. We've always had drafts - no wonder! Under the vinyl is asbestos siding, most likely installed over the original wood in the 50's when it was popular. I found fiber-cement replacements, so I am only removing the few broken shingles. I don't have to deal with abatement doing that.

White tape around the window here; while I had case moldings, sills & drip caps cut. This was as high as I could reach, pulling off the vinyl.

After I did the case molding, We painted stripes to figure out which color we liked best

Then I erected scaffolding so I can do the upper area

getting 24' planking up there was no joke. Not particularly keen on heights, and certainly don't want to fall from up here.

reinforced the 12x6x24 with 2x4 to reduce bowing

works well enough, feels very stable. I made the metal guardrail from several foldable bed frames neighbors put out on bulk pickup day I have a harness I borrowed that tethers to the rail.

Going to have 8" (7.25") trim board on the siding to take up the gap evident where the vinyl siding was removed. 6" Running trim will go over the trim board, with a diamond pattern to go with the porch & deck railings. Gonna be fun nailing 14' lengths, not.

Yesterday we primed the lower section to remove the stripes - we have decided to use the dark green on the end. Today I ripped out the attic window to rebuild it

Downstairs is staying wood. It's funky, but not getting into that.

Sill & casing was rotted - just covered with aluminum trim to conceal the rot (WTF???)

The (true) 4x6's in the rough opening were also rotted - fortunately I still had some left over pieces

Got a piece of poplar sill (leaning to the right) - $42 for 3'(!)

also got new wood to replace all this, and the casing also

The old wood was all true 1-by - the new stuff is all actually 3/4", so I had to make a bunch of adjustments in figuring out the correct dimensions (I really hate that work)

The case molding 1/4 rounds I have to cut myself - I bought a router today to do that with, hopefully that stuff done tomorrow before the rain comes back

and the inner stops also

Got the new sill & casing assembled & placed for the night - window has also to be stripped, primed , re-glazed & painted

 

[Rodger]

Your multiple talents never cease to amaze me. Looking good.

 

[autox19]

Your multiple talents never cease to amaze me. Looking good.

Ditto!

Odie

 

[kmead]

Aaah the joys of old houses.

Been there, got the t shirt and never going up that high again...

I rebuilt 27 windows in our old four square. It took weeks to do all the sash’s and I redid the wooden storm windows that were a part of them. It was expensive. Had to replace a lot of broken glass, going with double strength glass made it easier. Broke more than a few sheets of glass cutting it.

Nice work. I have to rebuild my cantilevered deck. Our current house was built in 1970 and has original aluminum siding which is still in great condition. The original cantilevered 2 x 10s, not so much. The bummer is some of the wiring was run through the overlapped cantilevered joists and the house’s sistered floor joists. Not looking forward to having to put in new junction boxes until I can rewire all of the basement.

It never ends. Keep up the excellent work and it is always nice to see someone trying to avoid being the PO or the workmen the PO hired

It’s always about the PO...

 

[lookforjoe]

I rebuilt 27 windows in our old four square. It took weeks to do all the sash’s and I redid the wooden storm windows that were a part of them. It was expensive. Had to replace a lot of broken glass, going with double strength glass made it easier. Broke more than a few sheets of glass cutting it.
.

I can't imagine how many man-hours that took!

It took me at least an hour just to glaze the one 20x44 pane I added as an outer shield. This window is purely decorative at this point, so I decided the best way to keep it (and stop the wasps from nesting in the upper arch was to glaze it. What I should have done was cut the glass channel BEFORE I assembled the casing, but that would have been too easy I used the router to cut the recess in the outer stop.

Also - drawings I had to make of each section of the window casing, so I could get all the wood cut properly. I did away with the inner arch on the stop, since I now have the glass pane there.

Test fitting the new casing w/fixed pane

Using the deck table as a work bench to cut the quarter round case molding

Yesterday I installed the case moldings. After I repaired/replaced the broken siding alongside it. Still have to replace the top three courses of siding.

I made a header for the case molding - I noticed many houses downtown that had that feature in half-round/arched atic windows

On to the window itself - this has plexiglass in the lower panes - siliconed in place. Thats was fun to remove. I broke one of the arched panes getting it out, even though I was being really careful scraping off the hardened putty

The munions are weather-damaged also, worst at the bottom plate (?).

Glass stop is completely rotted. I cut that off & added a half-round to replace it - won't have the detail groove to match the others, but no one will see that from the outside

The mortice & tenon (sp?) joints are rotted out, so I have to make new joiners. I expected that they were cut as one with the bottom section, but actually they were separate joiners glued into the plate, then pegged into the vertical panels

Glued & clamped for the night

 

[kmead]

There are some great epoxy products you can use to replace missing wood. Expensive. As this is a fixed window you can alternatively use bondo, it isn’t ideal but is pretty cheap and easy to work with.

There are some good products by Minwax for stabilizing and hardening the wood, it basically is absorbed by the remaining wood and gives it more structure. Minwax’s wood filler is basically bondo.

It looks very good. Be sure to use a high quality primer. For the window glazing putty use the traditional stuff and when you paint be sure to have the paint go just onto the glass so the paint acts as a seal along the glazing. Doing the glazing is a bit of a trick but given your abilities won’t take much to get it right (the third time )

 

[lookforjoe]

There are some great epoxy products you can use to replace missing wood. Expensive. As this is a fixed window you can alternatively use bondo, it isn’t ideal but is pretty cheap and easy to work with.

There are some good products by Minwax for stabilizing and hardening the wood, it basically is absorbed by the remaining wood and gives it more structure. Minwax’s wood filler is basically bondo.

It looks very good. Be sure to use a high quality primer. For the window glazing putty use the traditional stuff and when you paint be sure to have the paint go just onto the glass so the paint acts as a seal along the glazing. Doing the glazing is a bit of a trick but given your abilities won’t take much to get it right (the third time )

I was able to repair the frame & just wood glue the joints in place. I did use a small amount of 2part epoxy for a couple of the cracks in the wood. I used oil based primer for the glass channel. On the main window panel I do need to pull the (DAP 33) putty back a touch off the glass so that the top coat doesn't overlap the inner ledge so much, as it will currently.

Poured with rain today, so all I got done was some primer on the attic window case moldings (rain doesn't hit there) - you can see the broken siding I need to replace here also

 

[bpimm]

One of the products I use for questionable wood is from a company called Rot Doctor. It's a penetrating epoxy that soaks into the wood and solidifies it, then you can use other epoxy products for the build-up. I'm working on the newel post in my new house and to mount it to the floor I will be setting 2 nuts into the bottom of it. I'll soak the penetrating epoxy into the holes first then bond the bolts into it with a strengthened epoxy then it will have bolts coming up from below through a steel bracket I will make to tie it into the framing.
Here are the nuts I'll be gluing in.

and the newel post.

This project is why I'm not working on Fiats, not until we move in.

 

[lookforjoe]

Got a fair bit done this weekend, even with the heavy snow squalls yesterday. Using the scaffold as my 'bench' - not ideal I know.

This was the hairy bit - putting an 8 ft ladder on the scaffolding to get to the top three courses of siding. I put a stop on the scaffold to make sure the ladder didn't walk, however the angle I had to work on was less than ideal even with the safety harness.

Ann took a pic of me through the attic window when she brought me a snack

Done for the day. Primered, and put test sections of the running board up

After our Mother's Day Social Distancing Dinner on the Deck - one of our cats (Lily) had to help me glaze...

 

[lookforjoe]

Got the running board/ rake board installed after work - right before the thunderstorm came in

Hopefully the running trim will be here before too long.

 

[bpimm]

That looks good, the pic with the samples of the rake boards made me think they were going to be to wide, but with the whole thing in place they look right. Nice work.

What color are you going with for the trim?

 

[lookforjoe]

That looks good, the pic with the samples of the rake boards made me think they were going to be to wide, but with the whole thing in place they look right. Nice work.

What color are you going with for the trim?

Trim will be off-white - "Garden Rose White" it's called. Siding will be "Pine Forest Green" - which is the swatch of color on the right outer side facing the house.

Not much done today, caulked the rake trim & got another coat of primer on the upper siding. Had to go for an MRI this morning - looks like I've got to get surgery on my right heel for the bone spur that won't go away

 

[kmead]

Sucks getting old.

Nice work. Not loving your staging so much its acquired a bit of a bow. The step ladder is a nice touch, yikes.

What happens on the sides of the house relative to your rake trim and where it ends? Or was the side vinylated like the front?

Stay safe sir.

 

[lookforjoe]

Sucks getting old.

Nice work. Not loving your staging so much its acquired a bit of a bow. The step ladder is a nice touch, yikes.

What happens on the sides of the house relative to your rake trim and where it ends? Or was the side vinylated like the front?

Stay safe sir.

The 24' planks have been bowed from the start - I added the 2x4 underneath to limit flex - it actually feels reasonably solid, I don't go jumping up & down on it of course.
The rest of the house also has the nasty vinyl trim that I will be removing. The rake trim will likely have a squared-off base when I finish it. Something like this, probably.

I will have to add the vertical wall edge trim (don't know what that is called) also,

under the vinyl the asbestos siding just overlaps on the wall edges with no detail trim

like this...

 

[DanielForest]

The good thing about houses is when the job is done, there is no risk of highway ramp curbs....

 

[kmead]

You might consider leaving them wild until you resolve the vertical trim and the side trim intersection approach.

I would look at other houses in your area that are of a similar vintage for clues to the way it once was.

I would make it a vertical cut with a back miter that then matched the trim running down the side of the house under the soffit (the frieze). This would join and lead your eye around rather than stopping it. Alternatively it could be a vertical cut that meets the corner trim (or pilaster as it can also be known as), again leading your eye to the next element in the building.

My four square had cedar shakes above the porch roof that ran around the entire upper story with trim above and below it but no corner trim. The shakes were countered/woven at the corner. Clapboard either met a vertical trim or often used a steel joiner that was lapped over and nailed onto the clapboard on each side of the corner (this was an innovation in the 20’s with the advent of kit houses and lower skilled laborers)

The vertical trim you are showing is based on the sad dimensions of vinyl parts or modern dimensional lumber choices at the big box stores.

I will find some pics of some of the kit houses of the era, Sears, Montgomery Wards and Aladdin all offered them and the images are good reference to how trim was dealt with during that era. There are also plan books from the time which would be appropriate reference (I own some of the catalogs from the era). I need to go to work early today so I can’t do so until this afternoon.

If you are interested in spending some time have a look at the teens to twenties versions of the Aladdin catalogues (a Michigan company): https://www.cmich.edu/library/clark...y_City_Aladdin_Co/Catalogs/Pages/default.aspx

Great progress.

 

[kmead]

The good thing about houses is when the job is done, there is no risk of highway ramp curbs....

You are a very very bad man...

 

[DanielForest]

You are a very very bad man...

Yeah! But a very very funny bad man! And at least I can walk into my garage. Not something YOU can do!

 

[lookforjoe]

The good thing about houses is when the job is done, there is no risk of highway ramp curbs....

Damn, Daniel that's harsh

 

[DanielForest]

Damn, Daniel that's harsh

Not really. It's a fact. You can burn a house. It could fall on you. But there are only a slight chance you could miss a curve with it.

I'm still sorry with what happened to you with your car.

BTW, nice work on the house.