For You, Mom

You've been asking for another post here for a few weeks now and since you're on the opposite side of the country right now and any other gift will have to wait until you're home, here's an Einsel House post for you today.  Happy Mother's Day! : )

The basement windows at this house have been an issue as long as we have owned the place.  Previous owners raised the level of the yard in front of the house by about a foot, basically covering the basement windows on the west and north sides of the house.  When we bought the house the west facing basement windows (front of the house) had been removed and the holes filled with concrete.  The concrete is immediately obvious from inside the basement, but when outside the only evidence of the former windows still visible are the original window lintels, which are now right at the soil line.

The west facing basement window had not been removed, but it was in a sorry state when we bought the house.  Poor drainage coupled with a poorly sloped yard meant that whenever it rained water funneled to this window, pouring through into the basement below.  By the time we bought the house the sill for the window was completely gone and the two sides of the window frame were half rotted away.   The window itself was still in place, but we removed it in 2009 to stop it from further deterioration.  Then, because we had other more pressing issues during those late days of 2009, we temporarily "fixed" the resulting opening in the side of the house with a piece of foam board secured in place with liberal amounts of expanding foam.  (Classy, I know.) Outside, we covered the atrocity with a straw bale.

And so remained until this spring.  On one of our nice March days I pulled back the straw bale and dug out the long abused window.  Charles helped to break loose the foam board, and then we stood back and looked at the result:

Not very inspiring results for an afternoon of hard and dirty work.  But it was at least a starting point. 

(On a side note - I was surprised to uncover the poured concrete window well that is visible in the pictures.  It gives a good idea of the original level of the yard prior to it being raised by previous owners.) 

The nice weather in March gave way to a cold and wet April, so the straw bale (partnered with some plywood this time) went back over the gap in the house.  Meanwhile, I cleaned up the original three light window.  What had been the bottom exterior side was partially rotted, so I removed what was too far gone and treated what remained with a rotted wood stabilizer.  I also decided that when reinstalled I would rotate the window, so that the former exterior bottom (most exposure to water/weather) would become the interior top (least exposure to water/weather).  With the window primed and under one coat of paint I got to try my hand at glazing - and found I rather enjoyed it.  Luckily we had enough correctly sized panes of old glass to put two panes in each of the window's lights.  Another coat of paint, and the window was ready to go.  The frame was another story.

After taking the pictures above, I pried out what remained of the two sides of the frame.  They were too far rotted to try to save.  Each piece was a true 2" thick and 11" wide.  I called the local specialty lumber shop, but the owner said he could manage either 2" thick OR 11" wide, but in order to do both he would need to glue pieces together.  That didn't sound like a good idea for wood that was going to be used in a basement window frame below grade.  At my mom's suggestion (Hi, Mom!) she and I went back up to the old Second Empire house we salvaged bricks from last year.  This time we salvaged wood.  While we didn't find any 2x11 boards, we did bring home a 2 x 9 1/2 that we thought we could make work.

With mom's help, we cut pieces for the new window frame.  Under the gray weathered surface of that old wood was beautiful quarter sawn oak.  I commented to mom that you'd never find 2 inch thick quarter sawn oak used to frame a house today.

Back at the Einsel House, I decided to dry fit the pieces we had cut for the new frame before painting them.  That turned out to be a good idea.  At some point during that long afternoon I decided that it was definitely easier for the Einsel House's builders to build the stone walls around the already constructed window frame than it was for me to try to fit a new frame into the already constructed stone walls. When I finally got everything to fit together nicely, I pulled everything back out.  Since this wood will all be below grade I wanted to prime and paint all sides of each piece before installing them for good.

The remaining steps took almost another two weeks, but I can type them out much more quickly:

-seal, prime and paint (2 coats) the new sill and frame

-assemble frame in wall

-fill remaining gaps in top board with epoxy filler, sand, prime and paint (2 coats)

-install repaired window

-tuck point gap between the stone walls and new frame (I called our mason who gave me the correct mortar recipe for this step)

- build a stone retaining wall to bring the window well up to the current level of the yard

And, as of late yesterday afternoon, here is the "new" window:

I'm very pleased with this.  

So pleased I may even take my lunch outside today and eat it while admiring my work.  : )   

Spring Projects

For the past few weeks I've been anxiously watching the weekend weather forecasts, fingers crossed for good weather.  I've got multiple projects started and more that I'm itching to start.  But a few days ago Charles politely suggested that perhaps I should finish a current project (or three) before I take on anything new.  He's probably right -  if because if there's such a thing as DIY-ADHD than I've definitely got it. 

About a month ago I finally gave up on the blue paint in the kitchen.  I had high hopes for it in the beginning, but after two years I had to admit it wasn't growing on me.  It took several tries to find a new color for the room - the pale yellow in the picture to the left lasted only a few days before being painted over with a more tan/gray beige.  Schwartz, by the way, loved having an 8 foot ladder in the kitchen.

Other recent interior projects included Cecilia's quilt - finished last weekend - and the living room baseboards.  The latter project has been delayed by attempts to match the color of the new baseboard to the original walnut trim.  A local paint store has graciously allowed me to take home various stains, and I'm getting closer but still not quite satisfied enough to finish the new baseboard.

Outside, I spent the first nice day this spring digging out a basement window on the north side of the house.  The yard around the house was raised a foot by previous owners and the basements windows (at least the ones that were not filled in with concrete) were in desperate need of attention.  We had temporarily dealt with this by blocking the windows with heavy foam board secured around the edges with expanding foam.  Classy, I know.  But the remaining north facing window is now dug out and ready to be rebuilt. 

The first layer is topsoil added by a previous owner.  The middle layer is concrete window well poured before the level of the yard was raised.  Below is a closer view of the window opening.  The window sill is completely gone and both sides are rotted beyond repair.

The window itself was salvageable and is currently resting in my mom's wood shop.  I replaced several panes of broken glass, reglazed the window, and primed it.  Cecilia put a first coat of paint on it tonight.  Our masons left a bag of mortar, so as soon as I get more cooperative weather I'll tackle rebuilding the window sill.

In the meantime I've continued on the shed project.  With help from Charles and my mom one of the doors built over the winter is now hung on the shed.

The bottom and inside edges of the door will be cut to size once the second door is hung, but I'm already so tickled with how this is looking. 

And finally, one last project that's in the works.  I've got my mom to thank for this again.  Over the winter she rebuilt the sashes for the springhouse windows.  They're in her workshop now (with the basement window) primed and ready for paint.  But before I primed them mom brought them over to be sure they fit the springhouse.  This is just a hint of what the finished windows should look like, but I'm pretty tickled with this as well.

Based on the forecast for this weekend hopefully I'll be able to share a bit more progress on these projects soon.  :  )

South Side of the Shed

Here's a quick pictorial catch-up on the last couple weekends of work on the shed:

My goal is to get this side finished before winter.  If Mother Nature cooperates (and I can keep myself away from Wii Tetris) I think I'll make it.

Master of None

I was reminded several times last weekend that despite nearly two years of owning the Einsel House, I’m still very much an amateur at this home improvement stuff. I’m typically confident enough to jump into a project, but unlike some other DIY blogs you won’t find any detailed tutorial posts here. I’m too busy reading other people’s "how to" advice to write my own.

This realization came afresh last Saturday afternoon as I was shingling the new shed awning and had the sudden inspiration to title my next post "Butt Scoot". Obviously, I resisted that impulse. But let me explain. About once a week, always in the evening just after the kids have been tucked in, while Charles is reclined in his papa chair and I’m stretched out on the couch with a book, Tiny the Cat will walk into the middle of the living room, sit down with her absurdly long tail pointing straight behind her flat against the threadbare Oriental rug and, well, butt scoot. 

I remember getting home from work the day the new roof went on the kitchen and seeing six men walking around on the kitchen roof. And I remember watching our mason walking on the highest portion of our metal roof to inspect the old chimneys. I felt more than a twinge of anxiety watching, but he looked confident enough to dance up to the peak and pirouette.

And then there’s me. I’ve come a long way since my first tentative forays onto the awning I built earlier this summer. But when it’s time for me to make my way from my perch back to the ladder leaning against the awning’s lowest edge I don’t walk. I, well, butt scoot.

There have been other telltale signs that I’m not a very experienced roofer. When I ordered shingles, the Carter’s employee asked me if I needed roofing felt. I told him no, but while driving home I began to worry. I had tar paper, but I suddenly I had this nagging fear that roofing felt and tar paper might be two totally different things. A brief session with Google seemed to confirm that roofing felt and tar paper are interchangeable. So, tar paper down, I returned to the computer to learn how to make starter strip from full shingles.

The next issue came when I noticed the shingles have small strips of plastic on the back that cover the tar. My first instinct was to remove the plastic strips to expose the tar. But on closer inspection I noticed a faint stamp on each strip that seemed to say "Do Not Remove". So back to the computer I went and Google confirmed that it is indeed not necessary to remove the strips, the tar is supposed to seal right through them.  Laying the actual shingles has been pretty straight forward so far.  It's nice and repetitive, with just some constant attention to making sure everything is straight and evenly spaced.  I suspect the trickiest part will be the last 14 inches where the shingle roof will join with the existing standing seam roof.  I should find out in the next few days.  And I promise to share some pictures of my handywork soon!