Home Renovations - Weather Permitting

tpenfield

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I renovated my home about 20 years ago and have not done much since. So, in the past few years things have started needing some attention. After having spent much time at the summer house during the boating season, the Admiral and I turned our attention to our primary residence in the fall.

I talked to a few contractors, but they were either way too busy or wanted to charge a bunch of money for some stuff that was lower on my priority list ( like a new roof :unsure: :rolleyes: šŸ¤Ŗ ). So, I set my sights on a little bit of DIY.

First the List:
The back deck: it is 28 years old . . . PT decking boards, now in need of replacement
Front Door & Sidelight Unit: The one from the renovations, now 20 years old was rotting.
Window Repair: I replaced all of the windows in 2000, but after 20 years some of the brick mold trim is starting to rot. So, I got a bunch of windows to repair.
Sliding patio door: I originally installed the patio door leading to the new deck back in 1993. It has become worn out and is in need of replacement.
Painting & Trim Repair: I painted the house about 12 years ago, but a lot of it is peeling. Some of the trim is rotting.
Roof Soffit Modification: The house does not have a proper soffit to ensure decent attic/roof ventilation and occasionally we get ice dams in the winter. I've installed some fascia board venting, but it has not done much. My plan is to extend the roof slightly and build a proper soffit to get more venting of the roof. This is an area where a roofing contractor was more interested in re-roofing than fixing the venting :rolleyes:. . . Not doing that šŸ¤Ŗ

Once we got away from our summer activities and organized, there was not much warm weather left in the season to do this sort of work so we have been playing dodgeball with the weather. Anyway, the Admiral and I have managed to chip away at some of these 'projects' over the past couple of months, leaving less to do next spring when warm weather returns.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the work so far that I'll share . . .

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Pulling up the old decking boards was a nightmare . . . even though the boards were 28 years old, looked terrible, they put up quite a fight.

We replaced the PT decking with PVC . . .
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You can see my partially assembled sailboat in the background, just yearning for attention.

The Admiral painted the post and railings, which were still in good shape after 28 years. My job was to install the decking.
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Once we got the new decking done, we shifted our attention to painting the back of the house. I had to scrape and sand the back of the main part of the house, because it was peeling so badly. I used a electric polisher/buffer with a 20 grit sanding disc. Just a light touch took the flaking paint right off.

Here is the back of the house painted and some trim repair done. We also took down a 39 foot long gutter intact to expose the soffit/fascia that I'll be modifying. My plan is to save a few $$$$ by re-using the old gutter (which is still in decent shape.)

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We managed to get a few 50-60Ėš F days in between cold/snowy days to get the work done. The roof line/gutter work will have to wait until spring.

I ordered both a front door unit and a slider from the local lumber yard. The front door came within a few weeks . . . and we had some nice days to tear our the old unit and install the new unit. Here is the door roughed in and then more finished. I spray painted the blue.
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The sliding patio door was not going te be delivered until early December, which would make things interesting in terms of the weather. this past weekend we had a 40Ėš F day and then a 55ĖšF day. So, out came the old slider and in with the new.
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I've installed one of these Andersen sliders before at the MIL's house (about 15 years ago), and my recollection was that it was wicked heavy. Not sure how I muscled it all by myself. This time, I took the panels out so the Admiral and I could easily move it, then installed it partially assembled.

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It still needs some tweaks and trim work, but at least the house is sealed back up, as today is now 30Ėš F and snowing. :oops:

I also replaced the exterior lighting on the back of the house, which seem to be much brighter than the old lights that were there.

Not sure how much more work we will get done over the winter. The work on the front of the house will be mostly next spring, unless global warming suddenly kicks in. šŸ¤Ŗ
 

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alldodge

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Looks real nice. Have read that the PVC decking is best placed on 12 inch centers, but that was years ago.
 

GA_Boater

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You mentioned the sail boat project and decking. Next I see new decking, but it doesn't look like a boat deck to me. :unsure: Could it be the Admiral set priorities?

Looks good Ted. Sliding door sets are so heavy and awkward. Removing the panels was an excellent idea. I was a deep breath away from losing control when I replaced a slider one time and barely saved it.
 

tpenfield

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Looks real nice. Have read that the PVC decking is best placed on 12 inch centers, but that was years ago.
Yes, the PVC decking is spec'd at 16" OC for setting across the joist at 90Ėš angle and 12" OC for setting across joist at a 45Ėš angle.

The boards at length do not have much resistance to bending, so you certainly would not want to go any more than a 16" joist spacing.
 

tpenfield

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Hopefully, the sailboat will be the next project after the house projects are done :unsure:
 

alldodge

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I just removed a 2 decks about as high off the ground as yours because of ground hogs, and replaced with concrete. Cost about 5K (about from memory12x24 and 12x32 with one step each)
 

gm280

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Seems other iboaters have house project on their lists of to-do's as well. We've been doing the inside of our home. And that includes scrapping the ceilings to remove that pop-corn stuff and painting the ceiling, walls and all window casings and doors as we do each room. And out came the carpet and in went the wood-look Porcelain Tile...ouch! And in went the chair rail and wainscoting and crown molding as well. Much wood cutting going on there.

You do good work on your home projects. It looks great. Thumbs Up!
 

dingbat

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Home renovations are a sore point at the moment.

Last house we installed a new roof, painted and remodeled the kitchen 6 months before we put the house up for sale.

This house will probably be no different. Thirty new windows last year. Still need to do five exterior entry doors and a four panel slider.
Put a new roof on the house, seperate 2 car garage and the pool house this year..

Next year is big bucks.....House, garage and pool house all need new siding. Currently cedar...think Iā€™m going with Hardieplank.

After that mama wants
 

tpenfield

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Yes, lots of the iBoat crowd work on their house as well as their boats. I figure it is fun to share.

I had a heck of a time last Spring getting materials for the summar house, as everyone was doing home projects, it seemed, and the home improvement stores were sold out of a lot of stuff, couldn't deliver, charged for the stuff anyway . . . yada, yada, yada. Taking form that experience, I ordered stuff from the local lumber yard this time around. It cost a little more but you know what you are getting and when you will get it.
 

tpenfield

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I have a 'plan' to modify the roof soffit/fascia that I want to share for comment.

The original house (3 BR 2-story Colonial style, built in 1965) did not have a soffit vent and relied only on 2 small gable vents. Here is a typical cross section of the upper story exterior wall and roof.

Soffit-0.png

During the more snowy winters we would get ice dams and water would back up under the shingles.

I added some venting by drilling through the fascia board and sidewall and installing some 1" round vent 'plugs', which allowed some venting as shown below . . .


Soffit-1.png

In doing this I offset the gutter 1" from the house with some strapping board pieces so air could get in behind the gutter. This sort of worked, but it was not enough venting to prevent ice dams. Also, if the gutter became covered with ice, some melting would run down the side of the exterior wall.

Since I'm doing some renovations, I plan on addressing the venting in hopes of adding some sort of a soffit to the roof line to increase the venting where the roof meets the exterior walls. The challenge is that the second floor ceiling height is only 7 feet, so there is not much header space above the windows (maybe 6" max). Extending the roof line out beyond the exterior wall to build a standard sized soffit would tend to take up all of the header space, and the soffit would be right at the top of the windows. Similar to this . . .

Soffit-2.png

I had a contractor look at this issue and they really wanted to replace the roof in addition to extending the roof line for about $35-40K. I didn't think that will work out well and probably would look terrible, in additon to being a bit expensive.

I searched around for some smaller venting that could be used to make a 'mini' sized soffit and came across a product called 'core-a-vent', which is corrugated vinyl venting material, 1" thick and comes in 4' lengths. I figure that I can use the cor-a-vent to build a vertical venting fascia/soffit that extends out on about 1" more than the existing fascia/roof line. Here is a design that I came up with . . .

Soffit-3.png

The cor-a-vent (shown in gray) would be sandwiched between the exterior sheathing (which is actually 3/4" pine boards rather than 1/2" plywood) and the fascia board. Venting would then be vertical (instead of horizontal as with the vent plugs) and I may have to extend the roof line a smidge (1" :unsure: ). Then I can put back the gutter flush to the fascia, which the new one will be PVC trim board.

My hopes are that it will create more of an 'air pocket' where the roof meets the side wall, keeping it colder preventing ice dams. I probably will want to add some rigid insulation in the area of the wall cap to keep the heat inside the house/ceiling.

Thoughts on this approach?
 

gm280

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Sounds like a plan. But I would also install a continuous top vent so that the air flow in and out through the peak rig vent setup. Amazing how much heat gets trapped at the peak. Anything you can do to drop that heat means a lot less AC bill... JMHO
 

tpenfield

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Sounds like a plan. But I would also install a continuous top vent so that the air flow in and out through the peak rig vent setup. Amazing how much heat gets trapped at the peak. Anything you can do to drop that heat means a lot less AC bill... JMHO
Yes, forgot to mention . . . during 2000, when I renovated the house (added 3 rooms + garage), there was a ridge vent installed when the contractors re-roofed the entire house. Of course snow tends to block off the ridge vent unless there is a lot of wind or melting in the days after the storm.

Speaking of snow storms . . . we are expecting a major storm tomorrow in the Northeast USA. . . . Probably going to need to use the roof rake :rolleyes:

Snow-Dec17.png
 

gm280

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Oh yes, I used to live in eastern upper north Pennsylvania up to my early teens. Coal mining district on the side of a mountain. Then we were forced to move with my dad's job to Georgia. So I know exactly all about snow and ice storms. Never seemed to mind it much when I lived there. But equally glad I don't have to put up with the snow, ice, and slush for weeks/months on end, that makes every vehicle the exact same color as it eats the metal out from under every vehicle from the salt they lay down.
The rig vent is a very good idea if it is able to breathe. And with the fascia setup you shown, you should be in good shape.
 

cptbill

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There is a new school of thought out there that says seal every thing in tight and make the attic it's own weather tight space. Seams there are a lot of builders that are doing it that way now. I'm still kind of old school when it come to venting the roof but if yours is already some what sealed it might be worth checking out
 

tpenfield

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There is a new school of thought out there that says seal every thing in tight and make the attic it's own weather tight space. Seams there are a lot of builders that are doing it that way now. I'm still kind of old school when it come to venting the roof but if yours is already some what sealed it might be worth checking out
I'll check it out . . .
In my past career in the lumber/construction industry (5 years as IT Director of a lumber Co.) the trend was certainly to seal the sides/roof of a building to be weather tight and water repellent earlier in the framing process. I'll have to read up on changes in venting.
 

tpenfield

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BTW - the Admiral just added to 'the list' . . .

New toilets in the bathrooms and a new exterior bulkhead door unit to the basement access.

One of these things . . .
BulkheadUnit-1.png

The current door unit is something I made from plywood about 10 years ago.

In other news: Winter has arrived overnight . . . approaching about a foot of snow outside and still accumulating :oops: šŸ¤Ŗ
 

gm280

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WOW, freezing weather and a metal entrance setup. I can't see any problems. I do remember wearing gloves and having them frozen to metal poles before. Forget the tongue, the glove frozen to the metal...
 
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