| May 30, 2003
The last two months have been spent closing up the house and getting
ready for siding by installing the trim boards and flashings. We had
to make screens for the attic vents (shown above the window here) and the
soffit vents around the eaves. Because all the vent openings were
different sizes, each screen had to be custom made. Here my wife
is painting the gable end door. |
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| The trim around the windows is Hardiplank, a
cement-fiber material. When you saw it on the table saw, instead of
sawdust, it produces sand, which the saw propels at your body at
supersonic speeds, quickly producing a Kuwaiti sandstorm. It's tough
stuff though, and should last a long time. I'm shooting it on with
stainless nails. |
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| In the pantry I put in a glass block window. Pittsburgh-Corning
now makes pre-fab glass block windows, already set in a vinyl frame with
nail fins. You just install it like a regular window, and it saves a
ton of time and wasted materials. |
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| For the front porch ceiling we used beadboards made of PVC,
shot up with stainless steel brads. It was a little floppy to carry,
but was straight as an arrow, and installed nice and tight. It
should last practically forever. |
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| Since it was easier to saw and nail, I used PVC trim (AZEK)
to wrap around the foundation vents and exhaust vents. This is the
range hood exhaust vent |
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| Here you can see the order of installation. First goes
on building paper, then the vent, then the trim boards, and finally the
3/4" cap flashing, that is slipped through a cut in the paper so that
the vertical leg is behind the building paper. Two roofing nails
hold the flashing in place. |
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| To congratulate my wife for stripping the nine double-hung
windows, I presented her with twelve salvaged 5-panel doors to
strip. Each door takes her about a week working evenings. |
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