Month: October 2013

Momentum

October 25, 2013 / / 0 Comments

We put in the last two bay windows last week, meaning all of the first floor windows are in, aside from the sliding door that we have to hold off on. I need a few more strap anchors and some more flashing tape to call the last window done, and we still have to go around with the Great Stuff and backer rod to complete the air sealing. In addition, Lester, our radiant heating guy, finished the rough-in work ahead of our new boiler installation. It’s been a lot of work but it’s also a very tangible feeling of progress that we’re eager to keep up.

Derek helping

Derek checks for square

Our next major goal is to get the new subfloor installed. We need that done in order to start a whole host of first floor projects like framing interior walls, building the new stairs,  insulating the exterior walls, and getting the radiant floor heating installed. With the weather getting colder day by day, it’s those last two in particular that have our interest piqued.

With so much riding on the subfloor, and the time required to level the wonky floor joists, we’ve decided to hire it out. I’m working on getting quotes this week and hopefully we’ll get some good numbers and people. We’ll need to set to work clearing out the first floor. It’s accumulated an impressive pile of scrap wood from the removing the old windows, plus the giant steel pallet the door shipped on, the sliding glass door we can’t install yet, and all of our tools.

The other thing standing in the way of new subfloor is the radiators, steam pipes, and chimney from the old boiler. The old boiler is disconnected, and so far we’ve been making do with electric heaters. We’ve been reluctant to remove it because it’s still a viable way to heat the house if the new boiler takes longer to show up than the freezing weather.

In short, we’ll get started clearing things out and see how things play out. Hopefully we’ll get our new boiler in quickly and the chimney and pipes will come down before they’re in the way of the subfloor contractor. Worst case, we’ll have to hook the old boiler back up and the contractor will have to wait or work around some things. Either way, things are moving and we’re getting excited.

Window Week

October 15, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I took off work all last week to instead work on the house. After we installed the door on Sunday, I spent Monday doing some follow-up tasks like replacing the handleset with one that fit and matched the door, plus reinstalling the porch railings, mailbox, and doing some weather sealing. With that finished I got to work on the windows.

We installed the first window a few weeks back and I figured out the details and made a couple of tweaks to the plan. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I installed a window a day. Each one took roughly twelve hours start to finish. The reason it took so long was all of the steps in the process. I’m pleased to say I didn’t need to make a single trip to the hardware store to do these windows and the whole thing went smoothly, it was just very time consuming.

Old window
Reframed, removing siding
Jamb extension
Flashing and insulation
Sill pan
New window

Here’s the rundown of the process: first I removed the existing window, established the exact window height with the laser level, reframed the opening using existing lumber and modern window framing methods (king post, jack post, header, and cripples), removed all three layers of exterior siding to expose at least 6″ of sheathing around the window opening, installed new sheathing to account for the higher sill, and built jamb extensions. With everything framed, I stapled on housewrap with taped seams, installed two layers of 1″ polyiso foam insulation with staggered and taped seams, flashed the window opening with a sloped Weathermate plastic sill pan and 4″ tape. At that point Sarah helped me fit the window into the opening and screw the facing clips through the foam and into the framing. With everything secure, the last step was to apply more of the 4″ tape to the sides and top, sealing everything up. I’ll come back through later and fill the gaps on the inside with Great Stuff and foam backer rod.

Bay with siding removed

Bay with siding removed

Friday I was running low on some materials and I went to the store, then started removing the siding around the front bay, which has three windows. I discovered that the decorative sheathing had a frame that meant I had to do it all at once rather than just the 6″ around the window. Saturday we wound up completely removing the framing on the front section of the bay and rebuilding it with new sheathing. Unfortunately after putting everything together, the window didn’t fit into the opening. Between the existing studs and the taper of the lumber, we’d managed to build a parallelogram. All the dimensions were right, but it wasn’t square. We wound up unscrewing one side of the jamb extension and cutting down the length of the jack post stud at an angle to make it straight enough to fit the window. We didn’t get the window screwed in until 11:15 at night.

We still have two more bay windows to go, but this week I’m back at work, so I’ll need to figure out when I can get them in. I’ll be sure to check for plumb studs as I go to avoid a repeat of the last window. Thanks to Will for helping us on Saturday!

New bay window

New bay window

Iron door installed

Iron Front Door Installation

October 7, 2013 / / 0 Comments

All right, front door installation time. Because we’re putting two inches of poly-iso foam insulation on the outside of the house, I had to blend a number of installation methods, starting with  the Building Science instructions for both the door and the transom window. We didn’t want to remove the existing porch, and we plan to have a porch in the future, so we used the Green Building Advisor ledger attachment detail to plan around that, and of course we had the instructions from the door manufacturer.

Sarah removing siding
Matt removing siding
Wood siding
Down to sheathing

Before any of that could happen, Sarah and I stripped off three layers of siding from around the existing front door. The top layer was vinyl, followed by old cement fiber siding, and finally wood clapboard siding. Interspersed were layers of old paper house wraps.

Next we turned to the new door. When the door was delivered, we tore open enough of the packaging to make sure it was undamaged and then left it until now. Sarah started peeling back the cardboard and foam and asked, “Why does the glass look shattered?”

Broken door glass

Broken door glass

We really don’t know how this happened. The door has been leaning against the wall in the same spot for a month and a half. The glass is actually broken on the other side —that is— the side with the wrought iron. We can only speculate as to what caused it. I contacted the manufacturer and they’re going to have a glass company come and replace it. I’m really impressed by their customer service, since they could easily argue that it happened after I accepted delivery and that it wasn’t their problem. In any case, it wasn’t enough to postpone installation, we’re just really upset about it.

The door crew

The door crew: Dean, Mike (Sarah’s dad), Matt B, and Eriq

Sunday morning the door crew arrived, comprised of regulars to our house project. Dean and I got the old door out of the way and cut out two additional studs. We propped up the wall with some temporary boards while we framed in the header, just in case the house got a case of the saggies.

Trimming the sheathing

Trimming the sheathing

I’ve gotten pretty handy with a reciprocating saw. Once we framed in a sill plate, jack posts, a 2×4 between the door and transom, and a proper header (spaced with insulation), we nailed 2x4s flat on the outside around the opening. We wrapped the edges with housewrap and then attached ½” foam on top of the 2x4s. That way the two inches of foam on the rest of the house will be the same thickness as the edge around the door. We used WeatherMate flashing tape and sill pans to flash around the edges and make everything water tight.

Then we slid the door frame into position and tipped it into place. We put in one bolt in the top corner and then pivoted it a tiny fraction of an inch to get it perfectly level before putting in the remaining lag bolts to secure it to the inside of the framing. The transom was attached from the outside with facing clips that were screwed through the foam and into the framing, just like the other windows. With some exertions from Eriq and a lot of yelling we got the door hinges aligned and the door onto the frame.

Iron door installed

Iron door installed

We realized that my existing handleset with an interior lever wouldn’t work because the lever didn’t clear the frame of the window in the door, so I picked up a replacement with a knob. The matching rubbed bronze looks better with the door than satin nickel anyway. I also put in backer rod around the edges and filled the gaps with Great Stuff foam and Sarah finished the interior with another layer of backer rod.

For the time being it looks kind of silly on our otherwise crappy-looking house, but eventually when the rest of the house catches up to the door, it’ll be amazing. As always, I have to finish my post with Sarah and my heartfelt thanks to everyone that helped: Dean, Mike, Matt B and Eriq. Thanks, guys!