New siding and windows project

[PEG688]

#1 - should i be worried or doing anything?  i dont think there were any brackets etc.  he talked about lots of screws and perhaps an extra horizontal 2x4 on the bottom of the window or something.    disappointing cause i told him several times i wanted things to code.  there was a permit, but didnt identify 'new' windows vs replacement windows.



#2 - I think i get the general idea you are talking about here.  "What you could do is use the the two last inner common studs as trimmers , leave a stud wider than the window is as the king stud , the next stud in could be trimmed in place to become a jack, cut it free top and bottom and from the sheathing , slide it left or right over the the "new" king stud" - but i read it a couple times and didn't 100% follow you... can you explain a bit more?

#3 - I like the idea of cutting the wire and adding -2- outlets. There is already one on the right hand side.. does it matter that there would now be two outlets 16" appart other than perhaps look a little odd?

  #1: It's hard to say , but IF there is NO trimmer and the header is bearing only on fasteners that's not the best situation. 

#2:  In the blue room  photo lets as the doubled up stud on the left side of the opened up wall could become the king stud for your RO , you'd leave those two as they are, you'd cut the next stud to the right off so your header would fit above it. Then cut the nails that hold it to the sheathing and the two nail that come up thru the bottom plate off with the sawsall. This stud now could be slid to the left with the wire left in place over to the "new king stud" so you now have a trimmer. Do the same thing to the other side and you have your trimmers all ready in place.  You'll be short cripple studs but like I said you could notch those for the wires.   

  #3:  It appears there is a outlet on the right hand side of the opened up wall, you should be able to open that box up and use it as the right side outlet , pull the wire back to the left side of the photo to set a box there . Cut a new wire to daisy chain those two boxes back together. So not boxes would be close together , you'd have one on each side of the opened up wall section . 

[duncanshannon]

@PEG - got it! thanks.  great tip.

I'm done with the 'easy' demo now... sheet rock riped out and cleaned up. Now I need to remove my fireplace. Its a gas insert.  I've got the gas off to it down in the basement and i'm thinking I can just disconnect it, cap the gas line, and pull the insert, remove the brick and be done with the interior work.  There is the 'box' on the outside that runs up the side of the house, thru the soffit and roof - but thats for when I start the exterior demo.  We are removing the fireplace and putting in an 8' sliding glass door.  should be nice.   Pictures later...

Prob. gonna see if I can rent a hammer drill or something to help remove the brick.

oh yeah... time to pick up the permit.  Sucks to drop $440 for the permit. 

[duncanshannon]

well it was a pretty good day working on the house.

Finished the demo of the office where 2 new (3' double hung) windows are going in.  The two windows are directly above the new sliding glass door thats going to go in where the fireplace currently is. 




Started the demo of the fireplace. Man, thats a lot of work.  Here is a before and after:

Before:

After (with a 3YRO who loves to mop!):

Had to disconnect the gas. that made me a little nervous, but it was very straight forward. (gas and electric scare me...) Turned it off a week or so ago (the line to the fireplace [top]).  Just disconnected the feed today, and put in a 1/2" fitting with the appropriate "pipe junk"



Went to Lowes... asked what the right tool for the job (remove a fireplace / brick) and they guy sold me a hammer drill. Tried that for about 20 minutes until I realized I was just making holes in the mortar. Was hoping for some cracking... then I took my hammer to it for about 15 minutes and got about 10 bricks out.  Then I got smart and went to the hardware store and purchased a sledge hammer (10 lb) and that made the project much easier.


What to do about that huge metal box in the fireplace... its huge. Must be 4-5 feet across/tall/deep.  How am I going to get rid of that?

Any other general tips on tearing down/out a fireplace and chimney?  Looks like the "chimney pipe" is pretty hard core too (looks like steel or something).

Thanks!

[duncanshannon]

I've got Monday/tuesday of this week off from work, so I can work on the house. I also have two guys with some experience helping me (and helping me learn).

We worked a full day yesterday (sunday) and made soem good progress on removing the fireplace. Man was that a lot of work and something I totally underestimated. 

The Cinderblock went all the way up from ground level, up 2 stories and thru the roof. We got the wood/siding off, the cinder block down to the last 6' or so and most of the framing of the new sliding glass door done.  The pictures dont do the ammount of work that was (3 men, all day) justice.

Before:


End of the day:


Everything had oversized nailes... 20p nails on those 2x trim pieces. It added to the overall amount of labor.

The framing was fun... one guy helped me do it - its really the first framing i've ever done. Got to use my new framing nailer... which was fun!

Today we should get the rest of the block and the huge steel firebox out... and 8' sliding glass door in.  If we are lucky, maybe some more interior framing for new windows in other rooms.

it was a lot of fun working yesterday!

[Danfish]

Looking good, it appears you have just the right project to provide all the variables necessary to hone your building skills.  Removing old chimneys can be a real experience...try one with 120 years of ash in the bottom 8 feet.  Does your area have any special requlations on wood burning appliances?  If so you might be eligible for a rebate check on removal of the old unit...worth checking out!

[duncanshannon]

@Danfish - no thanks on removing 120 years of ash!  holy cow.

its worth a check on a rebate for removing it.. i've never heard of such a thing around here but i'll make a note to check.

Finally got most of the removal, install of door and repair of deck finished.  Deck structure needed a little help - apparently no permit on this deck when it was built!

Still need to do the final install on the door and run a few decking boards... and post an add for free scrap on craigslist (for the fire box)...  more pictures later.

I've moved on to start ripping the siding off and wrapping with house wrap.   

The 3 days of work (last sun/mon/tue) were hard but fun and rewarding!

[duncanshannon]

I havent updated this in a while... made quite a bit of progress since June.  Starting to feel a little pressure in terms of getting it finished before it gets too cold to paint...

Framed in 2 new windows in our guest room / office.  Really opens up that room, tons lof light and views into the back yard.  Very happy with it.  It was the first framing I did solo.... took 3 tries to get the first one right. Measured wrong (measured the RO and put the king studs, not the jack studs, the RO width.  forgot the 2x6 below the header on top of the jacks). 

Before:

After:


Took our dining room (today) and future pantry/closet/hallway and added a window, replaced another: Framing went better but not great yet.  Wire along the bottom caused me grief as indicated here http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=11031.0




Replaced the kitchen sink window


Plugged the old sliding glass door hole with a new window that will go below the future kitchen cabinets and above the future kitchen countertop


Replaced 3 bathroom windows all like this:  One of them was tricky (for me at least) as in delivery the jamb extension broke.  The guy thats helping me made easy work of replacing that piece of the jamb extension with some scrap pine.  Thats me brushing my teeth and taking a picture!


Oh, also got 99% of the tear off complete and most of the the house wrap up.

On this first picture, you can see the gable end needs work still. Its going to be built out (boxed out?) like the gable end on the left side of the picture (which is complete).  I'm hiring that bit out. Pretty high and seems kinda 'custom' or 'fancy' work so I'm not even going to bother trying. Perhaps I'll help out/assist.

Need tweak two of the windows (kitchen and one bathroom not pictured) and then its time to start trimming & siding.  Trying to get an electrician out here to wire some new outlets/lights while I've got everything off. 

[PEG688]

Need tweak two of the windows (kitchen and one bathroom not pictured) and then its time to start trimming & siding.  Trying to get an electrician out here to wire some new outlets/lights while I've got everything off. 

See that tape over the big window  you should tuck the top UNDER the bigger piece of Tyvek , it looks like you did the tape around most of the windows but not around the ground floor ones in the one photo. Maybe it's just hard to see in the photos?

Always lead the water OUT when ever possible.  I've seen the tape leak when one of our guys didn't lap it right , he figured the tape was  water proof.  We caught it before the siding wen on, we had water on a window top.  We lapped the paper properly and no more water leaked in, so it does matter.     

[duncanshannon]

Good catch!  I noticed that today when grilling before the local small town parade (we live on the route).

The other taping is not finished yet... Will get there hopefully this week.

Aother 3 day weekend coming up - hoping to finish framingin the last two windows and filling one in.

[duncanshannon]

Time to work on the house again...

I'm working on starting to trim and side this side:



Yes, ive finished taping and started to trim the windows... so I should be able to start putting some of the siding on, right?

Couple questions:

I have flashing on the ledger and decking installed up the edge of the house. Hardie requires a 2" space between decking and their planks.

The reading I did says the housewrap should be on top (over) the flashing.  Seems to me that, if i follow the instructions perfectly, i'll see 2" of Tyvek below my siding and above my deck.  yuk.

Whats the deal with that?

Is that one of those things that the warranty requires but nobody actually does because it would look terrible?

thanks

[duncanshannon]

Here is a picture to be more clear:

[duncanshannon]

As part of this project, i had another thread about removing an interior wall and wether or not it was load bearing. Linking here to tie the two threads together.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=11068

[PEG688]

Here is a picture to be more clear:

Run a 6" wide counter flashing over the top of the Z metal , this extends the metal up the wall higher , you can stop the wrap above where the  Hardi starts so you'll see what ever color metal you run , Galv.,  White, Brown, Black are all stock items in 6" rolls , generally 12' , 25' 50 ' rolls .


ETA : You will have to slice your wrap , flip it up , install the 6 roll metal then flip the wrap back down , trim as required so it doesn't show.  

[duncanshannon]

Quick update... and a question.

I've got all my windows installed now... last two went in last weekend! 



Also, got the last of the gable boxing in framed and wrapped.  The plank is covering up the exterior of the new windows.



Got some siding on the house... which is a nice milestone to hit.  Winter is coming quick!  Need to get windows trimmed and siding up this year. Given up on any hope of getting it painted this year.



Now... in order to keep siding, need to get the lighting adjusted around a new sliding glass door.  I filled in the old 6' door and put in a new 8' door in.   Need to slide one light down closer to the door and install a new one on the other side of the door.

My question is.. is it code (generally) to run the wiring along the header above the door? 

the O is the existing light location.  1 is the new home for the old light and 2 is the location of the new light. I drew in red where I think I want to run the wire.



Can I do this and be code?  I tried to google and read a bit and no real luck. I don't know the code enough to even ask the right question / use the right key words yet...

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[dug]

We do that all the time, meets code here in NM. It looks like 2 by 4's up there so you'll have to put notch plates over all the holes if you can't get them back an inch and a quarter.

[duncanshannon]

It's 2x4's that have been ripped down to about 2 1/8 inch - they are nailing blocks infront of the double LVL header. (2x6 walls).

where in the UBC would this be talked about? is there something that talks about over a door, or infront of a header, or is it really just about the size/depth of hole in a stud or a metal plate covering a notch? 

[dug]

I think it's mostly about the size of hole in relation to the material, I think it may be up to 40% in a bearing wall but I'm not positive. There are some cases like posts and jack studs where you can't do it, but cripples, king studs and such are allowed. I have been working for an electrician for the past 6 months or so and I was amazed at the holes we punched everywhere. I used to ask a lot "is this O.K?", but now I pretty much drill away! Most everything we do is inspected.

[dug]

Also the hole can be as close as 5/8 to the edge, but if it's less than 1 and 1/4 inch you need a notch plate.

[duncanshannon]

Quick progress update:

Siding is all on except 2 1/2 courses (and one small piece of soffit).  Might have to wait until spring... got some snow yesterday.  And a ladder I had on long term loan has gone back to its owner (down to 1 24' extension).



Have moved indoors mostly now to work on insulation, vapor barrier, and sheet rock.  bleh.





Getting a bit anxious to get the dumpster out of the drive way... so started another small project. Will do the demo and then outta here with the dumpster.  Taking out a closet (removing walls and doors) and putting in (later) a new closet system by Elfa from The Container Store.





Time to clean up... (and ask a couple questions here...)

[duncanshannon]

And now... a couple of questions.

1) As I remove the interior walls



I'm left with the 2x4 that goes across the top of where the old wall was.



If I remove it, the insulation up in the attic is going to fall thru.  Is there an easy way to remove and patch the drywall other than going up in the attic and putting some cross bracing / backing between the rafters (flush to the top of the drywall) to screw the drywall up? 


2) Vapor Barrier -  As I put up the VB, how should I be 'connecting' it back to the rest of the barrier thats in place? 

You can see here... where I filled in a old window, I have seams...


Closer up:



There is 3/4 foil backed rigid foam under the 1/2 sheet rock. that appears to have been used as the barrier originally.  I'm putting up 6mil plastic under the foil backed foam.  Should I tape the edge of the tape of the 6mil to the edge of the foam/sheetrock?  Will hanging the sheet rock press it closed / seal the VB enough? I cant find much talk about vapor barrier online.

3) Lastly... should i be putting a bead of caulk across the top of the wall between the 2x4 and the vapor barrier to help seal that?  It seem that more modern barrier 'stuff' is so much different than what was inplay in 1984 (when this house was built)... i can only hope and imagine that what i'm doing, if not exactly right, is a big improvement over 1984 techniques.  Any good resources for talking about vapor barrier in Cold in Winter HOT in summer climates like Minnesota?

[Alan Gage]

The house is looking good. You've been doing a lot of work!

Any good resources for talking about vapor barrier in Cold in Winter HOT in summer climates like Minnesota?

http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-106-understanding-vapor-barriers/?searchterm=vapor%20barrier

http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/information-sheets/info-sheet-310-vapor-control-layer-recommendations

http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/reports/rr-0410-vapor-barriers-and-wall-design

http://www.buildingscience.com/doctypes/enclosures-that-work/etw-building-profiles/bsc_climatemap_view?climates=cold#climatemap_anchor

Alan

[duncanshannon]

Hi Alan-

Thanks for the complement and the links... will read 'em for sure.

Duncan

[duncanshannon]

thanks alan.  i scanned those and didnt see much about 'how to' install it... like how to make sure that you tape/seal joints well etc.   Did I miss that or does it not cover it much?

anyone else on the removal of the interior walls and needing to patch the gab from the 2x4 in the ceiling?

[Alan Gage]

Most of their stuff doesn't really involve how to, more of a recommendation of doing. My reason for posting them was more in response to this question:

Any good resources for talking about vapor barrier in Cold in Winter HOT in summer climates like Minnesota?

My take on reading those articles is that a vapor barrier isn't required or even recommended in climates such as ours. That it's virtually impossible to detail them correctly so that they actually perform as a vapor barrier and that you can run the risk of trapping moisture in the wall. More important is achieving a solid air barrier, which can be sheetrock if all penetrations are caulked (top and bottom plates, around windows, doors, and partition walls) and all outlets are sealed. The majority of water vapor that will make it into the walls will come from bulk air movement (like around an outlet) rather than through the sheetrock.

But that's just what I've read. I have no practical experience. Lots of houses around here are done different ways with no problems.

Alan

[PEG688]

anyone else on the removal of the interior walls and needing to patch the gab from the 2x4 in the ceiling?

The easiest way out is a fake beam attached to the 2x4 sticking down from the ceiling , either stained a accent color or painted the ceiling color to blend in.

  That 2x4 should have a 2x6 nailed to the top of it that would have been sheet rock nailer backing for the ceiling, most folks just nail a 2x6 to the top of walls like that to create the backing lip. 

That being said there could be nothing up there depending on who framed the place.

So even if there is a 2x6 up there when you pull the 2x4 out then it's hanging off the ceiling sheet rock , so it's either the fake beam , or up into the attic to shore up the situation.   

G/L PEG