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Archive for the ‘exterior’ Category

re-decking

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Finished just yesterday, the floor downstairs has to dry for 10 days, which makes this the perfect time to re-deck the undeck.

As you may recall, the rotting deck was pulled out on November 15 and its replacement has been on hold since the end of March while we waited for our engineer to get back to us. So we’ve been living with a harrowing two-story step from the upstairs slider for the last 5 and a half months…

In all that time, nobody tried to step out onto the deck. Good thing.

Today Joe and his nephew Josh started dismantling the exterior of the deck…

The plan is to do some spelunking on the inside of that wall in order to see what the structure detail is.

The engineer drew up a concept for supporting the deck without the posts, which David says he’ll share with you tomorrow… The question is how much rejiggering will the current structure need in order to accommodate the engineer’s design. A little? Or a lot?

Tags: construction, deck, remodel, wood
Posted in exterior, projects | 1 Comment »

geometric love

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Spotted on my run…

Tags: concrete
Posted in exterior, randomness | No Comments »

the deck: where we left off

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Let’s see, what’s been going on at the homestead since I last had time to share?

Removing the siding on the inside of the deck surround…

Turns out the wall on the west side of the deck was completely soggy to the point of rotting…

It absolutely reeks of mildew and was covered in slimy goo. Gross. The wood on that side is not salvageable, unfortunately. Especially once you add in the carpenter ant damage…

They love wood that’s been softened up by poor drainage. Luckily we got rid of the ants right after we moved in.

So where does that leave us? The walls are temporarily covered in housewrap to keep out the spring rains…

And now there’s a slight pause in the rebuild of the deck while we wait for the engineer to chime in. On what, you ask? Biggify this and check out the deck as the architect imagined it in 1970…

Cantilevered. No supports.

Compare that to how it actually got built a year later…

A single post stuck in the middle. Well, not exactly the middle — slightly off-center so that it wouldn’t interfere with coming and going through the lower slider. Weird.

Compare that to how it looks now…

At some point, posts were added to either end in addition to the one in the center. David and I think this looks a little clunky and have always imagined we’d try to go back to Irving Hayne’s original vision if possible. Next week, Eric over at Structures Workshop should come back to us with drawings and we’ll find out if we can make it happen. Good man. We’ve tapped him more than once for this remodel.

Tags: construction, deck, engineer, Haynes, remodel, wood
Posted in exterior, projects | 1 Comment »

let there be sun!

Monday, March 12th, 2012

Progress, people! On the front of the house, Joe and David made and added the flashing to the upstairs windows and slider to match what they did on the lower level…

And now the siding is done, top to bottom…

Wait, is that SUNSHINE reflected in the upstairs window? IT IS!

The blue tarp that’s been up since well before Thanksgiving finally came down!

One…

Two…

Three! No more tarp!

I can’t tell you how happy I am to no longer be in the abyss!

Next: the soffit will get closed up…

After that, David and Joe will turn their attention back to the downstairs. They’re going to install the cork on the floor and ceiling. Then it will be time to rebuild the deck.

I still can’t get over being able to see the view…

Just in time for spring!

Tags: deck, paint and stain, remodel, windows and doors
Posted in doors and windows, exterior, projects | No Comments »

and the siding?

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

Painting is done — shall attempt better shots. Siding is still in progress but the bottom floor is just about done. Yay!…

That black mesh in the shot above goes beneath the siding…

Called Cedar Breather, it creates a 1/4″ air space between the house wrap and the back of the siding so that moisture can’t build up there. After all, it’s water that encourages paint and stain peel off the wood, causes rot and mold, and invites insects to dine. Better not to give it a chance.

Around the slider, Joe and David created and installed aluminum flashing to match what they did around the window…

So instead of the bulkier wood trim that used to surround the windows and doors, now we have a nice, clean metal edge…

Looks fantastic, boys!

Really loving how the dark stain worked out!

Tags: construction, paint and stain, remodel, windows and doors
Posted in exterior, projects | 2 Comments »

exciting siding

Monday, March 5th, 2012

The boys are out in the freezing cold today nailing up the siding…

Details later. Thanks, Joe!

Tags: construction, paint and stain, remodel
Posted in exterior, projects | 1 Comment »

okay, vacation’s over

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Back to work!

So David and Joe have been getting the un-sided end of the house ready to close up while the plasterers finish up downstairs. David can update us on the proceedings thus far.

——————————————————————————————-

Now that the siding is all stained and had a chance to dry, we can get ready to install it. First up: flashing the sides and tops of the door and window openings.

Here, a side piece was carefully mitered onto the existing sill flashing that went in when the window was installed…

Next, the side flashing got nailed to the house and then taped to the house wrap. The joint between it and the sill flashing, as well as the joint between it and the window frame, will be caulked with the same low-VOC grey caulk we used between the windows and the house…

The top flashing rests on the two side pieces of flashing and was also mitered. It extends up through a slit in the house wrap and was nailed in place…

The corner junction of the top and side flashings was taped and then the house wrap taped down to the top flashing. The goal is to shed water out as it goes down, never allowing it entry to the house.

That piece of pressure-treated wood with the big bolt in it and the nice piece of flashing under make up the the deck ledger…

The ledger board had to go in before the siding, but that story deserves a post all its own. Here’s a sneak peek of the newly stained siding installed around the big downstairs window…

Hot. Love how clean it looks — no more clunky trim! Don’t worry, the blue strip above the siding is just the blue of the overhead tarp captured in the shiny new flashing.

Tags: construction, remodel
Posted in exterior, projects | 1 Comment »

the dust is flying

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Literally. Flying. Before I go any further, let me note that February 1 was the one-year anniversary of the permit that gave us the green light on our remodel…

We’re running out of window space.

So, about the dust. Two crews working today. David and Joe are prepping for the install of the deck ledger board…

That should be done sometime after lunch and perhaps the siding will start to go up? Drilling holes through the insulation and into the wood behind it is definitely dusty.

Now that the walls are closed up downstairs, a plastering crew is busy making them look absolutely impeccable. Installing corner bead, taping, lathering on the drywall compound…

Oh, and sanding. Dusty.

More on the progress of both crews later.

Tags: paint and stain, remodel, wood
Posted in downstairs, exterior, projects | 1 Comment »

transformation under way

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

No wasting time here. Now that a color decision is made, the deck-end of the house where the siding was removed can finally get closed up and the tarp can come down…

As mentioned, the redwood that was on this inset was removed so the new windows and slider could get installed. Eventually, that painted redwood will be planed clean and added to the outer envelope of the house — later in the year.

The new cedar for the deck-end inset…

… got a healthy coat of stain yesterday, front and back, by David and Joe.

It’s winter — too cold outside for the stain to dry. So the stain had to be applied indoors. The vapors were wicked awful, even with respirators on and all the windows and doors open…

After a night of airing out on the drying rack David whipped up, the siding should be dry now. The stench isn’t so bad today.

Next up: the new siding goes on the house. Then we get to live with a temporarily odd sage-green and grayish black color combo until the rest of the siding gets tackled. Yay!

Tags: paint and stain, remodel
Posted in exterior, paint, projects | 1 Comment »

is there a hi-fi way?

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

… as opposed to my remedial colored-pencil approach to trying different colors on the exterior of our house? Of course there are other ways. There are a number of software choices out there, but not all of them are good and they’re not all designed for the basic homeowner.

The one that seemed to have the best reviews was Benjamin Moore’s Personal Color Viewer (PCV3), available for Mac or PC….

At $10, it seemed like something worth trying, so I did. It’s Adobe-based software so it’s not particularly stupid-proof if you’re new to Adobe. Out of curiosity, I tried it out a couple of different ways.

First, I uploaded an architectural rendering and played with that…

Hard to tell what’s going on by looking at a rendering, it turns out.

So then I uploaded a photo and played with that, too. Here’s one somewhat sloppy example…

The software comes loaded with BM’s color palettes, but it’s laborious to experiment with colors — I tried to find the right gold-green but it literally takes FOREVER to change what you’ve done. The navigation is horrendous. I say this as someone who’s in the business of helping to make things online more user friendly.

I do like being able to see what colors on the exterior look like in the context of the houses around ours. But overall, I think my results were hardly worth the time I had to spend trying to compare different shades on the areas I masked out.

Bottom line on the Personal Color Viewer: If you have hours and hours to waste, go for it.

If you’re in a hurry, whip out the colored pencils.

Tags: color, gadget, paint and stain, remodel
Posted in exterior, paint, projects | No Comments »

Archive for the ‘exterior’ Category

re-decking

geometric love

the deck: where we left off

let there be sun!

and the siding?

exciting siding

okay, vacation’s over

the dust is flying

transformation under way

is there a hi-fi way?

come on in…

crudité? beverage?

sneak a peek in the medicine cabinet

get right to the dirt

Archive for the ‘exterior’ Category

come on in…

crudité? beverage?

polite gossip?

sneak a peek in the medicine cabinet

get right to the dirt