Replies

1. 
   jesse | Mar 12, 2008 10:49pm | #1

   You always make stuff look so fun.

2. 
   JMadson | Mar 12, 2008 11:27pm | #2

   This house is actually the first house I ever worked on; in 1975

   Why didn't you do it right in the first place? ;)

    

1. 
   McDesign | Mar 13, 2008 12:15am | #3

   I was twelve!

   Forrest

1. 
   MisterT | Mar 13, 2008 01:05am | #4

   You didn't know it all til you were 13..
   .
   "After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
   .
   .
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   If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???

3. 
   Jim_Allen | Mar 13, 2008 02:40am | #5

   Nice work Forrest!

   That reminds me that my first carpentry job in my young business career was when I built the neighbor a small storm window for his basement. I carefully halflapped all the joints and sanded it smooth and painted and glazed it. I charged him $35 for it and he darn near had a heart attack LOL!

   Mabe if I ever get back to Michigan, I'll go take a picture of it.

   Bob's next test date: 12/10/07

1. 
   alwaysoverbudget | Mar 13, 2008 04:02am | #6

   if you start working cheap,you always work cheap,might as well start high. you found what the market will bear for 1/2 lap windows didn't ya? it's all history from there.  larryif a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?

2. 
   McDesign | Mar 14, 2008 08:22pm | #7

   Hopefully I'll do a little better $ on these.  This not cabinetmaking like in Small Addition!  Plastic wood, plumbing glue, Kreg and deck screws and 15 gage nails and Plastic Wood - fast and no waiting.

   I glue/nail these sections together first -

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   Got the next four ready to put in; one to go -

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   Forrest

   Edited 3/14/2008 1:25 pm ET by McDesign

1. 
   stevent1 | Mar 14, 2008 10:35pm | #8

   Forrest,Those windows look good. "Function before form"
   I do a lot of budget conscious work.Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood

1. 
   McDesign | Mar 20, 2008 07:50pm | #9

   Finished up - they got splattered as I installed them in the rain yesterday.  Mason came by; he'll repoint and repair next week.  After that, client's son will paint all the windows.

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   Ran two hose bibs out the casing -View Image

   Pretty cool under there - you can still see from when it was plastered - part of it was a summer kitchen "befaw the waw" (or "the late unpleasantness") -

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   Forrest

   Edited 3/20/2008 12:54 pm ET by McDesign

   
1. 
   JohnT8 | Mar 20, 2008 08:39pm | #10

   Yikes!  Looks like the basement has moisture issues.

    jt8

   "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."-- Mark Twain

2. 
   McDesign | Mar 21, 2008 12:55am | #11

   Yeah, I figure another hundred and fifty years, it's done for.  Lots of water running through yesterday in the downpour.  New gutters are going on this week, with lines away from the house - should help

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   Forrest

   Edited 3/20/2008 5:56 pm ET by McDesign

3. 
   myhomereno | Mar 21, 2008 01:03am | #12

   By the look of the basement pictures, I'm happy I'm not the owner of that place. I don't think I would want to raise my family in a house with such a crumbling brick and fieldstone foundation. I don't think that foundation is very earthquake proof.Martin

4. 
   McDesign | Mar 21, 2008 01:46am | #13

   Yeah - it's granite, though.  Held up surprisingly well, and we did even have an earthquake recently.  Granite quarry is just a mile away; blasting every day.

   Latest crop of kids turned out pretty well - son's going with Jimmy Carter to Nepal next week to monitor the elections.

   House was built by the Florida contingent of Seminary students at the college (Emory) here about 1848-1850.  Ministers-to-be, not builders.

   Forrest

5. 
   McDesign | Mar 25, 2008 01:58am | #14

   Her son painted them first coat (outside) over the weekend.  Color is to match the new trim color and half-round gutters.

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   Forrest - columnizing there nextly

   Edited 3/24/2008 7:00 pm ET by McDesign

   
4. 
   McDesign | Apr 17, 2008 04:22am | #15

   Hey, uh, just wanted to point out that nice cypress trim down here in the south comes in manly sizes, too, not just the little fiddly bits! 

   ;-)

   Making new columns for that front porch ~300 lbs each, and my real planer will only take 6" thick - these are a bit over 8" square.  Little Makita did well - 4 columns with only one side of a blade set.  Finished up with 36/50/80 in the big belt sander; ready to dry for a few months and scuff and paint - will install them tomorrow.

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   Forrest

   
   

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   Edited 4/16/2008 9:30 pm ET by McDesign

   
1. 
   stevent1 | Apr 17, 2008 04:44am | #16

   Forrest, Looks like you have your work planed out for you.

    

   Chuck S

    live, work, build, ...better with wood

1. 
   McDesign | Apr 17, 2008 04:54am | #17

   Ba-dump-bump!

   LOL

   Forrest

1. 
   stevent1 | Apr 17, 2008 12:31pm | #18

   How long does it take to dress each post?

   Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood

1. 
   McDesign | Apr 17, 2008 01:00pm | #19

   I got it down to under an hour per piece - planed on the four sides, then crosshatched and straight with the 36 grit in a 4x24" PC sander, then straight with the 50, then straight with the 80.  Then route the edges from 12" from each end, then soften/randomize a bit with 80 in a 5" ROS.

   Forrest

2. 
   McDesign | Apr 18, 2008 05:08am | #20

   Got finished by 5 PM today.  Started with 4 raw cypress posts, and some dollar TufBoard, at 9 yesterday morning.

   Here's the new layout - house used to have 3 columns, and no corner posts.  That was too few, so I set up four so that the window bays would be centered as you stand at the "front" of the house.  Doorway opening is wider.

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   Got the old columns out, and the new columns jacked in, and made a base and capital mock-up for the client by lunch - she OKed it.  I made up the rest in 4' sections, and maitered and whacked it on.  Cypress will shrink, but the gap can just be recaulked.

    

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   Bottom TufBoard wrap - columns sit on a 1" galvanized stand-off; the trim floats 1/8" above the highest point on the stone floor, and is level.  Trim is a 1x4 with a top bevel, a 1/4"x3/4" piece just below that, and a piece beveled from a 1x2 at the bottom - tablesaw trim! 

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   Top wrap - 1x2 edge-wise, and a beveled piece below it -

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   Forrest - still feel that fresh cypress smells strongly of dill pickles

   Edited 4/17/2008 10:16 pm ET by McDesign

   
3. 
   stevent1 | Apr 18, 2008 12:14pm | #21

   Looks good forrest.

   I like the capital and base detail.

    

   Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood

4. 
   McDesign | Apr 18, 2008 12:23pm | #22

   Thanks - felt weird about no curves in the trim profile, but the client wanted to try only straight lines.

   Forrest

5. 
   theslateman | Apr 18, 2008 12:37pm | #23

   Forrest,

   Looks really good !!

   Do you expect that the cypress will check and open up some , or is it more stable than some of our Northern woods ?

   Walter

6. 
   McDesign | Apr 18, 2008 12:41pm | #24

   They will check some - not sure how much.  I need to check on the cypress Craftsman columns I did a couple years ago up close - they look fine from the street!

   Client's decided her son's gonna put a thinned coat of the dark brown trim color she's chosen, with the plan of final painting about November.

   Here's the color on one of the new corner board/column I did weeks ago, from synthetic - the paint matches the new gutters pretty well.  Along with the columns, the "beam" and trim connecting them under the soffit will also be brown

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   Forrest

   Edited 4/18/2008 5:44 am ET by McDesign

   
7. 
   mike_maines | Apr 18, 2008 12:51pm | #25

   Looks awesome as usual Forrest--

   It almost looks like you planed in some entasis to those columns, but it must just be a photographic illusion?

   I'm down with the brown--looks extra good on those basement windows. 

   I like your straight-line trim too.  My wife doesn't like curves in architecture, so I'll steal those ideas for later use on my house....

8. 
   McDesign | Apr 18, 2008 12:55pm | #26

   Thanks - No entasis - just the lens.

   I'd love to have tried it, but no budget for it.

   I kind of feel that if they're straight, they're posts, if they're tapered or have entasis they're columns.  Guess these are just posts.

   Forrest

5. 
   qwkbrnfox | May 12, 2008 08:59pm | #27

   Hi Forrest,

   Do you mind if I bug you with a rookie question or two about your window construction? How did you seal the pane into the frame? Foam? Putty? Did you have whatever it is on both sides of the panes?

   I'm looking at building a couple of windows similar to yours for installation with clapboard siding. Would you change the design much for clapboards, instead of into brick?

   Thanks!
   Todd

1. 
   McDesign | May 13, 2008 05:16am | #28

   No prob.  I wanted no putty on the outside, so I just put 1x2 around the opening; drilling drainage holes through the bottom 1x2.  Put the glass in from the back, and just caulked around it with white silicone. 

   Water will hit the window and weep down between the glass and the 1x2, but it will eventually find its way out through the drain holes, and the TufBoard material won't rot.  I probably wouldn't do it for anything other than a crawl / dirt basement - they're relatively crude in concept. 

   Behind siding, I would just add a drip cap and flashing up top, and detail the sides according to the sheathing and expected weather.

   Forrest

1. 
   qwkbrnfox | May 13, 2008 07:45am | #29

   Gotcha, thanks! I'm looking at making windows that will be examined fairly closely - they are in a foyer and bathroom. I'm leaning towards white oak for some rot resistance. I've never seen tuf board in these parts - even Azek is nearly impossible to find. Why did you avoid the putty?If anyone has window making references or a nice website, I sure would appreciate it.Thanks,
   Todd

1. 
   Pelipeth | May 13, 2008 01:30pm | #30

   I've seen glaziers use a dbl. sided tape for simple sgl. pane installations.

1. 
   qwkbrnfox | May 13, 2008 04:40pm | #31

   I never thought of that. I guess they use that on the inside? The foam type?

2. 
   Pelipeth | May 14, 2008 03:31am | #32

   Not the foam type, glaszer specific. Installed against the window stop. Dbl sided adhesive. I was impressed with the product. Maybe 3/16 thick.