Builders Share

Draft Dodgin'

Now that the temperature has dropped below 10 degrees Fahrenheit,  the character of our little old house becomes a little less charming.  Jets of cold air blow through every available crack, seen and  unseen.

Hold your hand up to an electrical outlet on an exterior wall and feel the breeze blowing through the receptacle holes.  Place the palm of your hand along the base of the wall and you get the feeling of grabbing a cold drink on a hot day.

Mind you this is true even after fully insulating the walls and sills and installing sealer kits in the receptacles. It is a constant battle to cut off all the places where cold air infiltrates the building envelope.  Short of ripping off all the siding and wrapping the house in Typar, drafts are us.

One exercise I indulge in every winter is to tighten-up my old house windows with plastic sheeting.  Some day I'll be able to rebuild each of these windows one at a time and make them tighter, but until then, I'll be sealing them up every November with temporary interior storm windows.

I make these storm windows by nailing strips of wood to the window jambs and then stapling clear vinyl to the face of the strips.  If I think the window is particularly drafty, I'll take packing tape and run it around the perimeter of the window to seal it up good.

I always use clear vinyl that can be purchased at some fabric stores.  It's cheaper than the window film kits you can buy at the hardware store and it's sturdy enough to use more than once.  The kits work well too, though, and are probably more convenient for most people who don't want to go to the trouble of cutting strips of wood.

These storm windows make a real difference in holding the heat in and keeping the cold air out.

handyman

Summer Distractions

I'm often frustrated over the amount of time this project is taking, but the more I think about it, it's an absurd frustration.  It's like being frustrated about how long my life is taking.  My dwelling is an extension of me.  Even when this project is "done," I'm, hopefully, still going to be here and will probably want to make improvements and changes.  God knows I'm always wanting to make improvements and changes to myself.

It is true, though, that the tasks that make up the whole project sometimes linger longer than I'd like, and part of that's because life gets in the way.  With summer and it's beautiful weather comes the lazy porch sitting days.  Well, not so lazy if you're hopping around swatting mosquitoes every 30 seconds.  One of the nicest times of day on our little porch is the early evening with its diminishing light and often dramatic sky.  It's also the time when the blood-sucking 3 milligram monsters appear.

At some point last year we sent away for a bunch of mosquito netting with the intent of screening-in the porch, but it was late enough in the season by the time the stuff arrived that we never got around to the project. With summer here again, we realized we better take a couple hours and get the job done. The idea was to get several yards of the stuff, cut it to the right length, and then tack it up.  Simple.

After cutting it up, we decided that it would be a good idea to put grommets along the top so we could hang the netting from hooks.  That would make it easy to put up and take down as we liked.  Well, after going through the trouble of putting grommets on (first along the wrong edge and all with a poorly-made-in-the-USA tool) we realized that hanging the stuff from hooks was going to leave big gaps through which our uninvited guests were sure to come. Duh!

The 2 hour project was suddenly growing in scope.

My neighbor Bob suggested tacking it up with a piece of molding. Aha!  Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Even better than molding, I had some scraps left over from making the door jambs for the upstairs rooms that would do the trick.  I set about cutting the scrap pieces to length and tacking up the netting, flipping it so that the grommets were now along the bottom edge. To make seams where two pieces met, I simply folded the material in on itself and stapled it together with a stapler.

Now we had to come up with some kind of opening at the steps so we could get on and off the porch.  I remembered that I had one of those zipper openings that I intended to use for isolating rooms during demolition but never ended up needing.  In a couple of minutes I solved the problem of creating an opening.

After an uncertain start, the porch was screened in.  As I sat drinking an iced tea, admiring my work, I noticed the floor and how widely spaced the boards were.  Will the mosquitoes figure it out?  Will they fly underneath the porch to suck the blood from our ankles?  I'll have to spend some serious time sitting on that porch to find out.

handyman 

Window Treatments

While visiting some friends in D.C. this week I was reminded of one of the big tasks in front of me: restoring the 16 original windows in Chez Melendy.  My friends have a house built around 1918 and their original windows are doing little to keep out the cold air in winter time.  For many people, simply updating their windows with energy efficient replacements would be the answer.  But restoring old windows so that they're tighter and eliminate all the air infiltration that's plaguing them is an option that has more soul.

Aside from a house's basic shape, there is probably no other single aspect that defines its character as much as its windows.  The windows are like the eyes of the house, looking out to all looking in.  I've seen enough charming old houses with the vacant stares of modern window replacements, complete with faux muntins sandwiched between double panes, to tell me there must be a better way.  I'll admit  that where I replaced a single double-hung window with a large "picture" window, I used a typical new energy efficient model.  I justify it by saying (1) it's installed in the ell so it's technically not part of the original house, and (2) I wouldn't have been able to afford the design change if I installed a completely historically accurate window.  Where I can maintain originality, however, I will.

Of course that's easier said than done.  Although there are basic steps towards improving the energy efficiency of old windows, each situation presents a particular set of problems.

For windows that are no longer structurally sound, that is the wood or metal is rotted in the sashes or sills, the task is large.  If historic preservation doesn't rate high on your list, then replacing decrepit windows makes sense.  However, if maintaining the historic character of your old house is important, than you should know that even the most dilapidated windows can be rebuilt, and with probably less effort than you might guess.  A good resource for working on old windows is Repairing Old and Historic Windows: A Manual for Architects and Homeowners by the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

But if the windows and their casings are sound, and the issue is mainly their leakiness or rattling, then there are several things you can do to improve them without breaking your back or the bank.  The first to consider is weatherstripping, of which there are several kinds.  The most popular and easiest to install are self-adhesive foam strips and V-shaped strips.  Self-adhesive foam strips can be added to the bottom of your double-hung sash to help seal where it meets the sill.  If you have casement windows, foam strips can be installed in the frame stops.  V-shaped strips added to the channels where your double-hung windows ride up and down tighten the vertical spaces where air can leak in.  Weatherstripping also comes in the form of thin spring metal or plastic strips, rolled vinyl or rubber gaskets, and extruded rubber and plastic profiles.

Another way to increase the efficiency of old windows is by adding exterior or interior storm windows.  Storm window add a lot of R-value to old windows.  In the case of exterior storms, they can also provide protection for original glazing.  Interior storm windows are an unobtrusive solution for tightening-up an old house.  If your house already has exterior storm windows, they may need re-caulking to bring back their efficiency.

Chez Melendy has old exterior storms that need re-caulking and other work.  I haven't decided yet whether I'll keep them or remove them and go with interior storms.  I'll no doubt have a lot to say about that decision and restoring the old wood windows when I get going on that task down the road.  Until then, there's plenty of interior work waiting for me when I get back from my trip.

Handyman

p.s. Check out the following Builders Square animated How-to Tutorials associated with this post:

Applying Permanent Weatherstripping
Applying Temporary Weatherstripping
Exterior Caulking

Window Jamb Extensions

One of the principal reasons for gutting Chez Melendy was to improve its capacity to hold heat, ie. R-factor.  There was absolutely no insulation in the entire house.  It's amazing that the prior residents were able to keep warm in these northern winters.  It's safe to say, they spent a lot of money on fuel.  I'll post later on how I went about insulating the house but today I'll write about creating window jamb extensions that became necessary as a result of adding R-factor.

Adding insulation meant increasing the thickness of the walls 2 1/4".  This presented the problem where the original window jambs and sill were shy of the new interior wall surface by that amount.  In order to mount new casings and sill, I had to make up the difference with extensions.

I decided to attack the problem with extending the sill first.  The sill is the thick piece of wood that the window sash rests on. It's mounted at a slight angle so that it will shed water towards the outside.  Besides supporting the sash, the sill supports the "stool" which is the finish piece most people call the window sill.

The main problem was finding a way to fasten the extension to the existing sill.  Because of the 2-1/4"  thickness I needed to find a fastener that was long enough to anchor it securely while at the same time not splitting the wood.  At first I tried mounting several thinner pieces of wood to pad out the sill but found this to be time-consuming, and the final result weak and wobbly.  However, once I hit on the idea of drilling counter-sink holes half-way through the extension piece and then using woodscrews to secure it I was in business.

This method also worked for securing the jamb extensions.  Again I needed a way to anchor one thin piece of wood to another using a fastener that was at least 2" long and not splitting the wood in the process.

I made jamb extensions out of the same pre-primed finish stock that I used for the door jambs. I used a 3/8" bit to drill a counter-sink hole about an inch into the extension piece and then used a 2-1/4" wood screw to anchor it to the jamb.

When it comes time to trim out the casing, I may need to plug the holes I made. Some wood dowels should work for that if needed.  It will depend on how I decide to finish the casing.

Once I complete installing the  sill and jamb extensions on the windows, I'll be just about ready to  apply  skim-coat plaster to the walls.

handyman