Installing Siding & Trim

After the windows were installed, each one was trimmed with a custom detail that we (Adam actually) designed. The trim around each window is 5/4 x 4 cedar that projects out perpendicular to the house, rather than lying flat, as traditional trim would. This creates a frame around each window and adds some nice shadow lines to the house. Below are pictures of the guys installing the trim and siding.

Just an overall view of the front of the house before the siding went up. The stuff with the writing on it is the building paper. It has little rubber dots on it that helps drain any moisture that gets behind the siding.

This photo shows the trim ‘frame’ around the front door. The side pieces of trim will be cut shorter and a bottom piece will be attached to complete the ‘frame.’ (Remember, the left side of the door will be glass when we get the real door installed).

The horizontal strips hold the siding away from the building paper and allow the trim to be attached.

This photo shows the HardiBoard siding installed on top of the horizontal strips. (The vertical battens have yet to be installed).

This is a view of the kitchen window with its trim ‘frame.’

This is a view looking back along the front porch.

This is the new addition that houses the master closet and bath. The windows are trimmed and the HardiBoard siding is starting to be installed.

This is a close up view of the windows at the front of the addition. The wires sticking out of the wall are for an exterior light fixture.

This is the side of the addition, where the bump-out is for the master sinks. He is installing the horizontal furring strips.

Strips installed; HardiBoard is installed on the front and ready to be installed on the side.

These are the bedroom windows on the back elevation. They have their trim and the wall is ready for siding.

These are the big windows at the dining and living rooms. These windows get wrapped with a ‘frame’ that is continuous around the inside corner. The door also gets a frame.

 

NEW WINDOWS IN THE REAR WALL!!

We lived with plywood over the window openings for one night. The next day they returned to install the windows!

The first – and biggest – window goes in!

Two guys stood on the scaffolding and held the window in place outside while Dario leveled it from the interior.

When Dario had to go outside to get another tool, I told these two guys that he went to lunch.

Window installed! Prepping for the next one.

All of the upstairs windows are installed.

The amount of glass blows the poor dog’s mind.

A view from the backyard where the pool used to be.

A view from the lower trail in the yard. The windows are all installed and you can see the shear panel at the righthand side. If you look hard enough, you can see that Useless Piece of Fur watching me from the upstairs window.

New windows @ the rear wall – MORE prep work

A few weeks later, they returned to do a bit more prep work before they could install the windows….

UPSTAIRS PREP WORK

The old window is removed and a worker begins to remove the exterior sheathing.

The exterior sheathing is removed, exposing the studs and the view…

More wall removed… More view!

Wall removed!

A view from the exterior with the window and wall removed.

Before the windows can go in, they have to frame the new openings. A large window will go on the right and a smaller, operable window will go on the left. There were no operable windows in the living or dining room prior to renovations – so we’ll not only have more view, but also more ventilation.

A view from the exterior showing the new framed openings upstairs.

DOWNSTAIRS PREP WORK

Downstairs, the concrete wall had to be cut in order to make the windows larger. Yes, we’re hard at work 36″ from where he’s cutting!

Dario uses a circular saw to cut the concrete.

Once the concrete is cut, Dario sledges it apart.

The downstairs work is happening simultaneous with the upstairs work.

The concrete is cut. They still have to remove the interior portion of the wall. On the righthand side upstairs, you can see the solid shear panel. This is required structurally to give the wall and building some lateral resistance. It’s a plywood panel with a tight nailing pattern.

All of this work happened in one day. We celebrated with all the workers with a little cerveza.

New windows @ the rear wall – Prep work

The rear wall of the living room faces the forest. Only half of this wall had a window. We wanted the entire (or almost the entire) wall to have windows. The rear wall of the family room in the basement also faces the forest (this is the room where we currently have our office). We wanted this wall to have more windows as well.

There was some structural work that needed to be done in order to add more windows to this wall (over 50% of the wall will have windows). There was prep work both upstairs and down. I’ll show that to you here…

UPSTAIRS PREP WORK

This is a view of the rear wall prior to cutting any of the new openings. Notice how the framer has built his scaffolding – that’s the new retaining wall on the left and the bucket from the backhoe on the right – with his ladder spanning between the two!

They stripped all of the siding from the exterior of the wall.

On the inside, a worker uses a circular saw to cut the plaster at the location where the new opening will go.

He stripped all of the plaster from the area of the new opening.

Plaster removed – you can start to get a sense of where the new windows will go.

We moved our sofas back in place since it was a few weeks before they got back to working in this area. Sitting on that sofa in the evening was a bit chilly – only a piece of 3/4″ thick wood separated us from the outside!

DOWNSTAIRS PREP WORK

These three windows were the windows into the family room in the basement. This is where we currently have our office.

The right hand window was removed and holes were drilled into the concrete foundation wall. Threaded rods were inserted into these holes for structural hold-downs. Since so much of the wall was becoming glass, we needed to increase the lateral stability of the wall. This was accomplished with the hold-downs and a plywood shear panel.

A view from the office side of the wall. Still drilling.

They erected a plastic ‘wall’ between our desks and the wall. While it eliminated some of the dust in our workspace, it sure didn’t block out the noise!

A view of our office with the plastic wall. You can see the removed window beyond the plastic. Yes, we worked in here while they worked out there!

Still drilling.

The holes had to be 16″ deep for the threaded rods. It was a bit challenging because the old concrete tended to crack a bit. But they found the right spots and managed to drill both holes.

Drilling the second hole. There were two hold-downs total.

Once the holes were drilled, the dust was blown out of the holes and epoxy was inserted. The blue stuff is the epoxy. The gentleman in the background is Dave, the inspector from the city. When doing hold-downs in existing concrete walls, a special inspection is required. This means that the inspector (or a third party) has to watch the cleaning of the holes and the insertion of the epoxy. (In new construction, the rods are cast into the concrete when they pour the foundation wall – so you don’t need a special inspection).

A view of both rods in place. The blue stuff oozing out is the epoxy.

A view of the two rods and removed window. This area will become solid wall and the windows to the left of it will be removed and made taller.

A temporary piece of OSB is placed over the opening until they can come back, remove the old windows, and frame the new opening.

 

new dining room windows

The existing windows in the dining and living rooms were large, but unfortunately had divided lites and storm windows. The size of the windows didn’t appear as large as they could / should have and the storm windows just reflected the divided lites and didn’t allow one to really see the view outside. Also, there were no operable windows in this area. The windows on two of the walls were replaced at the same time – shown below. The windows on the third wall were replaced later (coming in a future post!)

This is an exterior view of the dining room and one living room window. The dining room is on the left. The living room is on the right. The storm window for the dining room window has already been removed in this photo and is leaning against the house.

A view from inside showing the living and dining room windows.

Windows removed!

Standing in the dining room looking towards the terrace with the windows removed.

The cross ventilation is great!

When they pulled the old window out, we found electrical wires running down the jambs of some of the windows. We kept these in place, as they are still being used for outlets.

Before they put in the new windows, they had to remove a strange vent in the soffit above.

One guy crammed himself in the tiny space between the roof and wall in order to pry out the vent from above.

A view of the vent before it was pulled out.

A view from below – the new windows are stacked to the left.

The new windows are stacked to the left in the photo. Building paper and flashing has been applied.

A close-up of the flashing and sealant.

Setting one of the new windows.

All three new windows are set. The narrower window in the corner is an operable casement – so we can finally open a window in here for a bit of fresh air!

 

new bedroom windows

There were two bedrooms in the house that didn’t get any renovation work except new windows (and eventually will get new light fixtures and door hardware). These rooms are the guest room and Evan’s bedroom. So even though we hoped that we would have a few spaces ‘untouched’ that we could keep clean and hide out in, that really didn’t happen.

This is a view of the exterior of those two bedrooms with the original windows. The window on the left is Evan’s bedroom and the window on the right is the guest bedroom.

Removing the large window in the guest room.

Installing the small window in the guest room.

Getting ready to install the large window in the guest room.

Exterior view of the new small window in the guest room. We weren’t planning on removing all of the siding in order to replace the windows, but after a few windows, it became obvious that that was the right thing to do. The siding was not re-used. It went to the wood recycling place and we installed all new siding on the house.

A view of the interior of the guest room with both of the new windows installed. The view of the forest is lovely!

A view from the exterior showing the new windows at the guest room.

The downspout and soffit outside of Evan’s bedroom had to be removed. It was completely clogged and not draining properly anymore. Additionally, the soffit was rotted and falling apart.

A view from inside Evan’s bedroom with his new window.

Exterior view showing all of the new windows at the bedroom wing. The triangular shaped pieces of plywood are stepping stones through the muck so the guys can get around the house to work.

closing the garage windows

There was a bank of windows on the south side of the garage that were, quite frankly, useless. We want to cover that wall with shelving on the interior – so the windows needed to go. The guys started this work a month ago – before the snow. But it finally got done last week.

A view of the windows in place. You can see that we covered the interior with cardboard – since we never had any intention of using them as windows. Part of the siding is removed in this photo.

The windows and siding are removed. The hole is patched with plywood.

New board and batten siding covers the hole. Once it’s painted, you’ll never know there was a window there. The happy guy to the left is Dario, the lead framer who basically runs the show out here.

wrapping the house

Currently, the house is being wrapped with building paper. This particular building paper has small rubberized bumps on it to help keep moisture away from the siding.

A view of the laundry room, hall bathroom, and addition.

A view from the other side of the addition. The bump-out is where the master sinks / counter will go.

This view shows the  windows in the master bedroom. The headboard of the bed will be located between the narrow windows. The large window looks out to the forest and barn.

A horizontal 2×4 is set so they can start installing the soffit boards.

Master bedroom BIG window

There were two windows in the existing master bedroom before we began renovations. One was a bay window on the front of the room and one was a double hung window on the back of the room. The bay window was demolished in order to build the closet/bathroom addition. The double hung on the rear was removed so that we could put the headboard of the bed on that wall.

The new window configuration involves two small windows on the rear wall – one on each side of the bed. The other window in the room is a HUGE window facing north with a view of the barn and forest.

The guys cut a huge hole in the north wall of the master bedroom for the new window – just in time for the rain!

Just a view of the ground conditions out back. This is the reason there haven’t been very many photos taken from back here.

A view of the big hole from inside the master bedroom – all ready for the window!

Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to install the new window on the same day as they cut the hole. So we ended up with plywood for a while.

Not the best photo – but with the new windows installed, you feel like you’re in a treehouse when you’re in this room!

roofing day!

Roofing day was a big deal for us – it means no more tarp! (It’s still cold inside, but at least we don’t have to listen to that thing blowing around).

Roofing day not only included roofing the addition, but also involved quite a few repairs on the existing roof. We realized that when the house was re-roofed 10 or so years ago, they did a really bad job (rotten walls where water was getting in, random nails in places there shouldn’t be, a leak in the garage, improperly installed flashing, etc). Fortunately, with all of the work we’ve done in the past few weeks, we found these problem areas and were able to fix them. Hopefully we found all of them!

ROOFING THE ADDITION

The addition is roofed – no more tarp!

PATCHING RANDOM HOLES

The existing attic fan and stove vent are removed and the holes patched. You can just barely see the holes up there.

REPAIRING THE ROOF AT THE OLD CANTILEVERED CLOSET

The reason the cantilevered closet at the master bedroom was rotten was that the flashing above it was installed wrong. The roofers peeled back the old flashing, repaired the roof, re-flashed, and re-roofed this area. They also repaired an improperly flashed area next to the guest room.

REPAIRING THE ROOF AT THE BREEZEWAY

We discovered that the reason the wall at the breezeway was rotten was because the roofing was never even replaced at this area when the house was last re-roofed. Since there are two roofs that overlap here, it’s a tricky spot to work in. There was no new roofing and no roofing paper at the lower portion of the roof.

The guys had to open the upper roof…

as well as the lower roof to make the repairs. All of the rotted sheathing was removed.

One guy climbed up the ladder to hand material from below – the others worked above.

Installing fresh sheathing.

A view from above as the roofer installs the new paper and shingles.

REPAIRING THE DUTCH GABLES

All of the existing dutch gables were in disrepair. The roofing and flashing were not installed properly at the top of each gable. Additionally, the flashing at the bottom of each gable was only 1.5″ long – not nearly long enough to prevent water from getting in. This photo shows the existing gables. There were three alarms attached to the gables as well – we’re not really sure why…

The fascia is removed at each gable and the roofing is peeled back.

New peel and stick flashing is installed at the top of each gable.

After the peel and stick flashing was installed, the fascias were re-attached. The fascia might not look like it’s in good shape, but it’s actually fine. The painter can scape the old paint off before painting. You can also see the new large metal flashing at the base of the gable.

New metal flashing is installed at the top of the gable. The new flashing sticks out beyond the gable by a couple inches – so there is better protection for the fascia. Again, the painters can scape these fascia boards and they’ll look as good as new.

A view of a repaired dutch gable. For this one, the fascia boards were in such bad shape that they were completely replaced.