Restorative
Nov. 3rd, 2008 04:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdayBeen pushing to get a few more things done before the really nasty weather sets in. Replaced a rotted-out sill plate and threshold at the side door with a length of pressure-treated 2x6 which I tap-conned into the tops of the foundation blocks. (Tap Con is the brand name for these really nasty-looking screws that create their own threads in concrete instead of using lead or plastic anchors.)
A lot of what I'm doing is what I call "repairs done in place." Meaning that, in order to save time and money, I'm fixing what's there and replacing as little as possible. For instance, the bottoms of the door frames are rotted-out due to moisture wicking up into the wood fiber from the foundation blocks.
In reality, a new pre-hung door with frame should've been installed. If I'd had the three to four hundred dollars to do that, I would've. But since that wasn't the case, I chipped out the rotted wood and replaced it with plastic auto body filler - Bondo - and sanded and primed it. The stuff cures quickly, doesn't rot, and for now looks just fine. (I buy the automotive brand because if you buy the so-called "wood filler" marketed by Minwax it costs 3-4 times as much.)
The back held up well for the most part although I did ask my son to re-install the exterior door which needed the bottom squared-off for the new door sweep - another remnant of someone else's botched repair work. Of course it's been like that for nearly thirty years and only got my attention because threshold and sill plate were falling into the driveway.
Still, it's nice to be able to do these things again as part of a reclaimed life. There's a nice balance to be had in using hand tools, in imagining then implementing answers to technical problems. I'd almost forgotten how restorative that can be - to the person as well as the property - and actually look forward to doing more of it...
A lot of what I'm doing is what I call "repairs done in place." Meaning that, in order to save time and money, I'm fixing what's there and replacing as little as possible. For instance, the bottoms of the door frames are rotted-out due to moisture wicking up into the wood fiber from the foundation blocks.
In reality, a new pre-hung door with frame should've been installed. If I'd had the three to four hundred dollars to do that, I would've. But since that wasn't the case, I chipped out the rotted wood and replaced it with plastic auto body filler - Bondo - and sanded and primed it. The stuff cures quickly, doesn't rot, and for now looks just fine. (I buy the automotive brand because if you buy the so-called "wood filler" marketed by Minwax it costs 3-4 times as much.)
The back held up well for the most part although I did ask my son to re-install the exterior door which needed the bottom squared-off for the new door sweep - another remnant of someone else's botched repair work. Of course it's been like that for nearly thirty years and only got my attention because threshold and sill plate were falling into the driveway.
Still, it's nice to be able to do these things again as part of a reclaimed life. There's a nice balance to be had in using hand tools, in imagining then implementing answers to technical problems. I'd almost forgotten how restorative that can be - to the person as well as the property - and actually look forward to doing more of it...
