Tag: brick

Basement Challenges

September 21, 2016 / / 1 Comment

There are some downsides to living in a basement (who knew?!). These are amplified when it’s an old basement with brick walls, and even more when said walls have problems with moisture. We’re tackling the drainage project to hopefully address the biggest problem, which is water coming in. However, that isn’t going to solve everything. Because the roof, gutters, and siding are all problematic, water is coming into the brick wall above grade. Worse, the outside of the above-grade brick is parged in concrete, so the water has nowhere to go but inside. The result is humidity, mold, bugs, and brick efflorescence. None of these things is particularly pleasant to live with and none of them are solved by the drainage project. We plan to fix the roof, gutters, and siding, but there are a bunch of dependencies we have to do first, and that’s going to take some time.

Efflorescence

Efflorescence

We’re running a dehumidifier most of the time, as well as open windows and fans. We put a retractable screen door on the back door so we can improve the air flow there as well, but that doesn’t help when it’s muggy and rainy outside. We also picked up a used portable air conditioner from Craigslist on the cheap, but it’s missing some parts and we still have to get it hooked up. Hopefully between the two we can keep humidity under control. On top of that, we have good quality air filters running. We’ve sprayed for bugs a couple of times and picked up some stronger stuff to try on the centipedes. If it doesn’t improve, we’ll call in an exterminator.

We looked into painting the rest of the walls with Drylok, but that would actually make things worse. For one, Drylok is a water barrier, not a vapor barrier, so the moisture would still be coming through, which means it wouldn’t actually stop the efflorescence or humidity. On top of that, Drylok can actually host mold and make that problem worse. The only thing it might help with is closing up the hidey holes the bugs are living in and stop some of the fine brick dust from raining down on the curb.

We could remove the parging on the outside, but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t put up on a great-looking brick wall in the first place, not to mention the damage the parging has done to it since. Removing the parging would mean re-pointing (and replacing) a lot of brick. On top of that, we discovered the color of the face bricks on the front of the house is a rather, um, strong red, and we’re not big fans of it. That means the face brick would either have to be painted (and re-painted every 3-5 years), or replaced, both of which are pretty unappealing. In short, it’s an expensive project that probably wouldn’t actually solve the problem, because the underlying cause is the roof, gutters, and siding.

Since that’s not possible immediately, we’ll need to spray a mold remover/mildewstat/fungicide periodically and try to keep the efflorescence under control by cleaning it and spraying a water/muriatic acid solution. We put some of our wire shelving up against the outside wall, and at a minimum we’ll need to pull it back an inch or two, since as it is the efflorescence is snowing on our food (yuck). We discussed putting something between the brick and the shelf, but we’re concerned about anything that would reduce air flow across the brick and potentially make it easier for mold to grow.

All of that means that, in the end, we’re just living with these problems for the time being. Until we can stop the water from coming in, the basement is going to be somewhat unpleasant. That may rearrange some of the priorities on our project to speed up the outside, but it doesn’t change our immediate next steps: the drainage project and the second floor demo.

Basement Back Door Trim and Light

May 21, 2016 / / 0 Comments
Caulked back door

Caulked back door

I installed the basement back door in March. Once the floor was set up and the walls were framed Percy, our electrician, came out to finish the basement electrical. One of the items on the list was the back door light. In order to get the electrical run properly we decided to finish the trim on the back door. I started by caulking all of the seams around the framing to ensure a good air seal.

Back door trim

Back door trim in progress

I bought PVC trim, because I don’t want to have to do extra maintenance once the house is done. I debated scribing the edge against the brick, but ultimately I discovered I could use the angle grinder with the masonry disk to remove both excess brick and excess PVC. The door is recessed in the wall because the floor slab doesn’t come up to the front edge of the wall. Because of this, our rim joist (which is 6″ x 8″) was exposed, so I needed to trim that as well. The initial electrical was just a piece of conduit, but we wound up with a standard mud ring on a 4″ box. I used the sunken PVC screws with caps, but the color didn’t quite match. We’ll be painting over this anyway to prevent UV fading.

Trim installed

Trim installed

The biggest challenge was the light fixture. The first one we bought didn’t fit because the back box didn’t fit inside the recessed area of the trim. The second light I ordered wasn’t the same size as the specifications, so it hung down too far (the door swings out). We’ll save that one for the first floor. Finally, after a lot of searching for something that didn’t stick up, didn’t stick down, and had a small enough base plate, the third light I ordered fit (if just barely). It’s a barn style light that I put an outdoor-rated LED bulb into.

Light installed

Light installed

We’re pretty happy with the end result. Having an actual outdoor light that works on a light switch is a bit of a novelty for us. The last outdoor light we had was a flood on the back porch (on the second floor) that we didn’t use much. The three different shades of white are a bit irritating, but we’ll get to that eventually.

It works!

It works!

You can see a sneak peak of some of the plumbing and electrical work that’s been going on. In this photo I’d caulked the left side but not the right (it started raining). I’ve since finished it up, but we still haven’t painted. That will probably wait until I’ve trimmed the rest of the basement windows, and possibly until we’re siding the rest of the house.

Basement Front Window and Back Door

March 29, 2016 / / 0 Comments

With the floor in, the first order of business is to close up the basement. I put in most of the new basement windows a few months ago, but we couldn’t put in the door until the slab was in, and we left the front window open so that it could be used as a makeshift door during the work. I installed the buck for the front window first. It was a rare case where I could put the box together first and then put it into place whole, instead of assembling in place. The issue with the front window is the outermost wythe of bricks is a smaller opening than the inner two, leaving a gap to either side of the window.

Buck installed
Window installed
Gap mortared

I got the buck into place and secured it with Tapcon screws. I’ve learned a trick with Tapcons (at least when it comes to brick). I use my rotary hammer to drill the holes using an SDS bit because it’s much faster than my regular drill, but then I circle back with the regular drill and the drill bit that comes with the screws because it does a better job of removing the dust in the holes, so the screws will go all the way in. I’ve actually sheared off screws trying to force them into holes that have brick dust. I also use my cordless drill with a spade bit to drill about a half-inch into the buck so that the head of the screw is counter-sunk, and I use the impact driver to actually put in the screw, so I wind up with four power tools arrayed around me, but it gets the job done.

Footing repair

Footing repair

I rebuilt the bricks around the back doorway when I was working on the side windows, but my masonry skills aren’t so hot and it wasn’t very even. I used the laser level with a vertical line pointing toward the house to cast exactly on the brick that needed to be removed and used an angle grinder with a masonry disc to straighten it out. I did this grinding a few weeks ago before the new floor was poured because the grinder throws a lot of dust that we didn’t want all over our new floor before we’ve stained and sealed it. Once the floor was in I needed to address the footer area below the bricks, because we removed the original stone door sill and the opening was wider at the bottom. I used mortar to fill the gaps at the bottom and let it set up overnight. I used the leftover mortar to fill the gaps on the sides of the front window buck.

Installing the buck
Buck installed
Door installed
Plywood installed

With the doorway (mostly) even, I cut pressured treated 2×6 boards to build a buck for the top and sides, with sill gasket behind the sides. I used a router to cut dados from the side pieces at the height of the top of the door frame, since the doorway is a bit taller than the door. The left side fit great, but the right side had some sizable gaps behind the buck. I thought it would still work and screwed everything in place, but when I went to test fit the door I realized I was off by about a quarter-inch. I took the right side buck back off, and rather than grind the brick I planed the back of the buck so that it contoured to the bricks. This achieved the same effect and I was able to get the door installed.

There was still the matter of the rectangle above the door. Our plan is to cover the buck with PVC trim, and have a light fixture above the door. I needed a solid base to attach an electrical box, but it needed to be flush with the buck so that the trim would look right. I screwed some scrap 2x6s into the either side of the buck, recessed to accommodate the plywood. I used leftover pressure treated ¾” plywood from the first floor windows. With a little bit of adjustment I got it attached and screwed into place.

As usual, I still need to go around and seal with backer rod, caulk and spray foam, and I still need to get the deadbolt installed (once I re-key it). We’re planning to replace the satin nickel handle and deadbolt at some point with oil-rubbed bronze, but that can wait. These locks are ultimately destined for the garage (which we don’t have yet). This summer, once the PVC has dried out, I plan to go around and install PVC trim on the bucks of the windows and doors. For the first time since we bought our house, nothing is boarded up and we have proper windows and doors everywhere.

Back Basement Window

November 24, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The most complicated window installation was the one at the back of the house. The side and bay windows are fairly narrow and the top of the window is at the top of the basement, meaning there are no bricks above the window since the rest of the house is frame. The back window in the basement is over five feet wide but it’s short, with two courses of bricks above it. I was able to remove the existing window buck without the bricks above falling, but redoing the upper brick and installing a steel lintel seemed like the smart way to go. The existing window opening also didn’t have a sill, maybe because it used to be covered by the porch. I wanted to add a sill so that rain water would drip clear of the brick, preventing damage.

Removing the upper courses was a challenge because I didn’t want them to fall on me, so I wound up sitting on the new retaining wall and prying them loose (as seen in the video above). As expected they came down a dozen or two at a time, so it was a warranted precaution. I decided to go ahead and remove the second course as well, also captured on video. Once I removed everything and was down to good brick, I started with the lintel and upper bricks instead of the bottom so I could still put weight on the bottom as I worked. I bought and painted three six foot pieces of “angle iron” L-shaped steel. Our basement wall is three bricks thick (multi-wythe) so without getting a special piece of steel this was the easiest way to do it. I anchored the lintels in with brick and mortar on each side and then put in the middle course first, then the outside and finally the inside.

Demo complete
Installing the lintel
Laying the upper courses
Upper courses complete
Sill and sides complete

The next day I put together the sill, rebuilding the damaged courses and installing the limestone sill. I forgot to center the sill under the window, so it’s not perfectly symmetrical by a couple inches, but I can live with it. Then I rebuilt the sides where the center wythe of brick had erroded. Unfortunately I still wound up having to grind the sides to get it flat enough to fit the bucks. Since I bought my windows months ago with little to no clearance, I needed the rough openings to be big enough, which meant the sides had to be perfectly flat. On the side windows I did a lot of trial and error with test fitting the buck, but by this point I’d realized I could use my laser level to cast a vertical exactly where I wanted it, then grind away the red line.

Initial profile
Grinding…
Grinding…
Done!

Once the sides were smooth I installed the bucks the same way I did the side windows: pressure treated boards (though I increased to 2x10s in this case) with sill gasket installed using Tapcon screws. With the buck in place I slid the window into place, shimmed it on either side, and screwed it in with vinyl window screws. 

Window Installed


In the photo I took there were some shims underneath, but those were removed. On a horizontal slider you want it to rest on the sill. The final steps are sealing: backer rod, caulk, and spray foam. Once the pressure treated wood has properly dried (next summer) I’ll come back and paint the bucks. I plan to eventually clad the bucks on the outside with PVC trim boards, which will further protect the wood and make it look nice.

Side Basement Windows

November 11, 2015 / / 1 Comment
Old basement window

Old basement window

About a month ago I decided it was time to finally put in the side windows in the basement. The first step was to remove the existing windows and the “bucks” or the wooden frames that are attached to the brick basement wall. Unfortunately on the first window I found that the brick around the window was crumbling or straight up missing, and the stone sill was disintegrating. Realizing that I now needed to get the masonry repaired before I could install the window, I checked the others and discovered they were in similar condition, plus the back doorway needed some work as well.

We had the inside of the basement tuckpointed back in January, so I called up the masons and left a message. When I didn’t hear back I sent them an email. Finally I got a call back and set up a time to meet, but they never showed up for the appointment,or called. I contacted another mason but there were some communication difficulties and I went back to looking. I contacted two other masons, both of which came out to look, said they were interested and could do the work in a few weeks, and said they’d get me quotes in a few days. I never got quotes from either one, and with the declining temperatures (masonry should be done above 40°) I didn’t want to wait any longer. I decided just to do it myself.

Original sill
Sill and brick removed
Building up the wall
New sill installed

I took some time off work, picked up new limestone sills, tools, and a bag of mortar, and we already have a giant pile of bricks from taking down the chimney, and set to work. I knocked out the existing sills and took the brick down to a layer that was in good shape, scraping all the old mortar off. I was able to build the new sills up to a slightly higher level to prevent water from coming in off the sidewalk while still leaving enough room for the windows. The brick work was slow. I’m not very experienced, I had to run out in the middle to get another 80lb bag of mortar with my motorcycle, and there was a lot of time spent chiseling bricks into shape to fit. I also used the plastic bag method to squeeze mortar into some of the crevices in the sides of the walls, which worked surprisingly well. I also had to spend a fair amount of time grinding down existing bricks and mortar to get the openings the rights size, especially the back door, as well as one of the windows that had been previously repaired with concrete. The end result wasn’t beautiful, but it’s solid and it’s all getting covered up by the new bucks anyway.

Back door before
Filling gaps
Grinding down one side
Not pretty, but better

I let the mortar set up for a few days before I started on the windows themselves. I framed new pressure treated bucks and put them in with sill gasket and Tapcon screws. Sarah helped me fit the windows and shim them, then I went around and put in backer rod, caulk, and spray foam in all the crevices. I plan to install PVC trim on the exterior at some later date, but we need to figure out what we’re doing about the parging that covers the outside walls, if anything. The side windows are all fixed picture windows so they don’t open, but they let in a lot of light, especially in the case of the back side window that’s been boarded up since we bought the house.

Grinding the edge flat
Buck framed
Installed
Exterior (before caulking)

I still have to tackle the back window, but it’s a bit more complicated because it has courses of bricks above it, unlike the other windows that go up to the underside of the first floor framing. That means I need to put in a steel lintel (three actually, since it’s a three-wythe wall). I plan to tackle that this coming weekend.