Will this Wall project ever end?

The past two weekends saw continued progress on completing the wall.  The pace as slowed greatly as the urgency of the situation has lessened.  When there was no wall and some slime bag decided to help themselves to my tools it was critical that we get the room enclosed both for security as well as to keep rain water and critters out.  Once the windows were installed it was basically sealed.  Granted a two legged tool stealing critter could have gotten in with nothing more than a pocket knife but they would have had to figure out where the door opening was behind the house wrap.

First step was to address the fascia by the roof.  This had previously been covered by aluminum siding as well as the gutters.  With all of that removed we were back to the original wood siding.  This is actually cedar and in surprisingly good condition.  Other than the fact that many layers of probably lead based paint was pealing off.  Went to PPG paints (Formerly Porter Paints) to get a good primer and some paint.  The man that helped me asked what I was painting,  I gave a quick general description. He again asked what it was made out of, I told him wood.  He asked what type of wood so I told him that it was cedar.  He said that is very important to know when picking out a primer.  He said that because of the way cedar takes the paint it really needs to be an oil based primer.  Who knew?  Turns out that the primer and paint were on sale with the end of the labor day sale.  The top coat didn't need to be oil based.  Anyway after scrapping and painting I came to two conclusions:  It looks a lot better and there is no way I can be climbing ladders all day to paint!  My knees and feet were killing me.

Next step was to install the door.  We knew we had a problem here.  The height of the header is 81", pretty much any pre-hung door needs 82".  The door that I had torn out was only about 7 or 8 years old.  It had been installed when a tree fell on the house sparking a small electrical fire back when Dad was living there.  I hired a contrasctor to repair a hold in the roof, replace the gutters and put a new roof on, the existing door was in terrible shape so I had them install a new door while they were at it.

When the wall was demolished earlier this summer I had tried to save the door but by the time I got it out the door frame was ruined and so I pitched it.  I knew that they had modified the door to remove the bottom of the frame and to instead rely on a threshold that was attached to the concrete floor.

Ray and I picked went to Home Depot and picked out our door.  Ray got a cart and we loaded it up and took it home.  Once back at the job site we took it out of the box.  First step was to remove a brick mold around the edges as that would only make a bad situation much worse in terms of height.  We then removed the bottom of the door frame.  We had bought a new threshold and were trying to determine exactly where to cut the frame to shorten it.  It wasn't until I was trying to see how much of the threshold we would have to trim that it dawned on me that this door was not 36 inches wide.

So after weeks of trying to figure out what door to get I had managed to pick one that lacked in the single most important dimension and then proceeded to ruin it before figuring that out. DOH!

That was pretty much it for that day.  A $230 door that we can't use and can't return.

On Sunday it was back to Home Depot to rebuy the door, this time carefully selecting the correct width.  We disassembled the door as before, cut about 3/4 of an inch of the bottom and then tried to install it.  The process involved trying to get it level and plumb and then install shims behind the frame to nail through.  We had a pretty big gap to deal with and in the end we had the door in place but it wouldn't close properly because somehow everything had gotten out of kilter.

Monday was labor day which meant another day to tackle the wall,  This time we cut some 3/8" plywood strips that I was able to place between the frame of the door and the studs.  This narrowed the gap we were dealing with and ended up with a door that actually fits pretty well!  We had found a lock set that we installed to at least have a door knob that would lock.

Ray had to get going to head back to Nashville, I really appreciate all of his help but I know that going forward he is going to be plenty busy with his new job and getting moved to Nashville.  During the week I did manage to get over to work at least a couple of evenings.  I installed the threshold and put a strip of flashing tape along the bottom of the sill plate where it meets the concrete.  This should help channel water away from the sill plate.  It is not the final solution, I still need to get some sort of metal flashing installed but this would at least help in the mean time.

The following weekend I started looking in more detail at the wiring inside.  I think I pretty much know how I am going to deal with that.  Gloria, Roger and I were able to get the gutters back up.  They are not really installed perfectly but at least they are up and hopefully will send the rainwater way from the house and the wall.

View prior to gutter install

This should be my final wall post for a while.  There is still a bit to do but now it is mostly a bunch of smaller items such as:

• wiring
• insulating
• installing drywall on the inside
• some more flashing
• put siding on it.

Putting siding on would seem like the next step but there is a bigger problem located on the left side of the picture above.  I am pretty sure that the wall to the dinette off of the kitchen is pretty rotten as well.  It isn't as bad as the playroom wall was but the window sill under the two windows is completely gone, and there is evidence in the basement that there are bigger problems below the windows.

So I will probably take a few weeks off to catch up on little stuff and other issues at the homestead prior to my next wall adventure!

Installing Windows

After endless hours of google study on "How to install Windows" and the previously fun trying to buy them at Home Depot it was finally time to get started.  Ray and I headed over to the house on Sunday afternoon.  We started on the first window which involved cutting the house wrap, folding it back around the studs.

We then started putting strips of flashing tape around the edges and across the sill frame.  We started at the bottom of the windows and worked our way up doing the top of the windows last.  The idea being that as water runs down all of the pieces overlap from top to bottom, similar to what is done with siding.  

The next step was to put a bead of calking around the edges and then put the window in place.  We would then square the window up using a level and some shims.  Once we were happy with the placement of the window it then got nailed around the edges.  No pictures of this process as we had our hands full at the time!

After taking a short break we got started on the second window.  One thing we had spent a lot of time trying to figure out was how to have two windows side by side that look OK.  What we finally came up with was to put a single stud between the two windows and then to overlap the nailing strips.  This worked out quite well.  The nailing strips are very flexible,  with three sides already nailed the overlap on the last one did not seem to create any problems.  It did require that we drill our own holes since the nailing holes didn't line up.  One of our first observations when we started the second window was that we could have saved some time by doing both at the same time.  

About the time we finished the first window I got a call from Home Depot, They were on their way with the two windows that we had problems getting the day before!  I was quite impressed that they actually delivered them for free on a Sunday.  We moved a lot faster on the second window;  Our first took almost 2 hours, the second was just under an hour.  By then it was time to head home.  Here are a few pictures of our work:

Outside view

Inside view

Two down, four to go

On Monday Ray was still in town and I was able to take the afternoon off work so we headed back over.  We did the next set in a about an hour and 10 minutes, we were getting faster!.  We then started on the last set, we were a window installing team!  Both of us working non-stop, no talking, no time spent determining what is next.  The result; the last set installing in 50 minutes. 

All we need now is a door!

Wall work and Daniel

Needless to say the loss of the circular saw and many other tools has been a set back.  None the less when bad stuff happens there comes a time to move on, since on the scale of bad things that could happen this was still pretty minor it didn't take too long to move on.  After consulting with Bill i picked up a new circular saw.  It is certainly an upgrade over the old one but the blade that came with it was as you might expect a piece of junk.  I will need to pick up a new blade but for now this one worked well enough.

Gloria and I got to work on the sheathing during the week.  Ray came home and also helped.  It didn't take too long to get it done.  Here are a few photos:

Gloria pounding a few nails

Our results after one evening

A job well done!

I guess I forgot to take any pictures after the subsequent days but you get the idea.
Note:  the rest of this post recounts my frustration with buying stuff at Home Depot, no house content

This past weekend Ray and I got to work on the windows.  I already had two of the windows that we bought when we got the initial load of wood.  We wanted to see them and figure out how we would mount them before starting on the framing.  The entire design of the wall was based upon the one size of windows that Home Depot stocks that would fit the space.  Turns out you can get just about any size window you might ever want as long as you don't mind waiting 4-6 weeks for your order to come in.  The big box stores do stock a handful of sizes including ours.  The online inventory showed that they had 9 in stock before we started the project so it shouldn't be any more difficult than heading to Home Depot and getting them right?  Wrong!  It turns out to not be quite so easy.  We quickly found one window that was readily accessible and loaded it on our cart.  We searched around for it's 8 buddies and finally spotted 3 of them up on a shelf 10 ft. off the ground.  Time to find some help.  I spotted the guy that works in the window area.  He was struggling to load a huge patio door set onto a cart.  I helped him get that loaded and then asked for help with the windows.  He was grateful for the help and promised to help me out after he took the patio door to the front for a customer pick up.  After about 10-15 minutes he did in fact reappear.  He had to track down a helper and then climb a huge rolling ladder to get the window down for us.  When we got the windows home we noticed that the one that was up on the shelf said "Hold for Mike" on it.

Fast forward a long time, we finally have a wall up with sheathing ready for windows.  Ray said I think we should do what Mike did and order these for pickup.  Good idea.  Ray checked the online system, they still have 7 in stock.  We order 4 more, should be ready by 2:30.  We work on some other stuff.  Gloria gets a call on the home phone from Home Depot saying that there was a problem and they only had two windows.  We head over to Home Depot to get our windows and more supplies.  First stop the "Pro Desk" where our windows that have already been charged to my debit card are supposed to be waiting.  No sign of the windows, but I do find a man behind the counter.  I ask him about my windows but he informs me that he Pro Desk was closed (despite it being manned) you need to go check with customer service.  Great, trod across the store to customer service remembering why I hate going to both Lowes and Home Depot.  My knees seem to only be good for a few hours of standing per day.  Every trip to one of those places seems to take over an hour which is an hour that I won't have latter in the day to work on things without unbearable pain.

Arrive at customer service there seems to be a pretty short line.  There are two ladies working, one is sitting down talking to a customer on the phone the other is handing the guy at the front of the line some money.  Good deal, only one more customer and whoever is on the phone between me and finding out what the deal is with my windows.  Well not so fast.  Turns out the lady on the phone is apparently dealing with a rather unhappy and talkative customer.  The lady in front of me has an entire shopping cart full of stuff that she is returning.  I quickly find that it gets better.  This isn't one purchase but several, many of them internet purchases.  Each order has to be dealt with separately.  Each item needs a reason why it is being returned.  The reasons could have been summed up by "because I don't want it"  but instead a full explanation was provided, "the light fixture just didn't work in my kitchen".  Finally as the lady was down to her last of what turned out to be five different orders of stuff the lady on the phone finishes up.  Things are looking up which is good because by now there are about five more people behind me.  The phone lady apparently doesn't deal with customers in person so she picked up her phone and called for reinforcements to the service desk.

A skinny young kid with "Daniel" written in marker across the front of his apron shows up.  He asks who is next, I step up and explain the situation.  He thinks about it for a minute and asks

"So what do you want to do?"

"I want my two windows and I want to know what is going on with the other two."

He then asks my name and pecks away at his computer for a little bit.  He finds the order, still seems uncertain what to do next.  He then informs me that they should be at location "PR".  Great. I ask:

 "Where is that?"

"Humm, I don't know"

Noticing that I don't seem to happy with that explanation he asks a co-worker "What does location PR mean?"  They inform him that means "Pro Desk"  He then turns to me as if I didn't already hear this news flash at the same time he did and tells me

"They are over at the Pro Desk!"

  I can imagine that at this point he is thinking "problem solved"  I tell him that I have already been there and that they do not appear to be there.  Some more nervous pecking away at the computer followed by some more consultation with a co-worker who tells him to have someone go get them up there where they are supposed to be.

OK, so we have a plan on the two windows that are in stock.  What about the other two.

"Yeah I don't know about that, maybe check back in a few days and see if they come in?"

I don't feel like that is really a plan.  I have already checked the Home Depot inventory and know that in addition to the 5 windows that the web site is now confident that this store has there are only two other "nearby" stores that have these windows.  Crawfordsville show 2 in stock and Hamilton OH has 3.  After explaining that i need a better answer he checks some more and determines that they should be able to order them.  At this point i have no confidence that this is going to work.  I tell him that since Home Depot has already charged me for them maybe the best thing to do is get them removed from the order, get my card refunded and I can try to find them somewhere else.  His response was

 "That certainly sounds plausible but I don't know how to do that".

By now I can't help but notice that the five people behind me are all gone and everyone at the service desk seems to be working on helping Daniel  The  lady that sits in a chair and is probably the manager offers to check with Crawfordsville and verify that they have the two windows.  If they do she will have them shipped to the store tomorrow and have someone deliver hem to my job site.  Great thinks are looking up.  Daniel then completes something on his computer terminal and asks me to sign the key pad acknowledging that I picked up my order.  Before I can act out of desperation to get out of Home Depot, Ray looks at the fine print I am supposed to sign and notes that nowhere on this does it say I am only getting some of my order.  Daniel assures me that is what his computer shows.  Eventually he turns his monitor to let me see it.

I ask if I will get a receipt that shows this and he says yes.  I sign and a couple of papers print out.  He hands me the first and tells me it is for the entire order as it shows me buying and paying for 4 windows.  He then shows me the second paper which does in fact show that I am picking up two of them today.  Perfect.  I start to take the papers but then Daniel tells me I need to give him back the one that shows me only getting two windows because that is their copy.  Some more discussion with Daniel who tells me that it is impossible to print out a second one.  I notice that there is a copier right behind him.

"Can you just put it in the copier and make me a copy?"

You could see the gears turning,  eventually he does seem to recognize that this is a plausible solution to our joint problem because I am sure he was looking forward to seeing me leave almost as much as I was.  Armed with the paperwork and assurances from chair lady that they would find me two more windows Ray and hiked back over to the Pro Desk where the windows in fact had magically appeared, loaded them up in the Burb and headed out.  By then it was late, my knees and back were killing me and we didn't get any further than unloading our two windows and calling it a day after of course retelling the story of Daniel to Gloria who was already over at the homestead.