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thisnewdayThis afternoon, just ahead of the incoming storm, I assembled and bulled into place a 2' x 6' basement window frame that I'd kicked in the day before to gain entry to the house. Two weeks earlier, I'd re-framed the front door that we'd always jimmied open when we misplaced or were in too much of a hurry to dig out our keys. It was a simple matter of sliding a credit card between the door and jamb so that it tripped the latch.
After the repairs, done for weather-tightness as well as security, that's no longer possible. And yesterday, in a hurry to run some errands before picking up Little J at school, I locked myself out. So the only way back into the house was to blast through the basement window.
Actually, there was no window. A few years after we bought the house, the window rotted out and, rather than replace it, I screwed 3/4" exterior plywood to the inside of the frame, installed a dryer vent through it and gave it a coat of paint. But a year or so ago the sill framing rotted out which exposed the block cavities and allowed water to run into the basement. In addition, the foundation wall itself is cracked and slightly bowed below the window opening.
I had one estimate for $14,500 to repair it. Guess who didn't have 14k in his pocket for the fix? So one day I was in Lowe's and happened to browse through a book on masonary repair. And in the chapter called, I think it was, "Fixing F*cked-up Foundations," the author, who is obviously a poet, suggested putting #3 rebar down each block core and filling with morter.
So that became the plan, that and the window fix. Then I had my surgery and, once I began to recover, found myself pushing to get other more pressing projects done before the bad weather. The new plan was to have the materials on hand in case there was a break in the weather.
Then the TV went down and the computer crashed and burned and some other nonsense was happening and I missed what was probably the last good week to get the window re-framed and the foundation done. And then I got locked out.
Which necessitated plan C which was to buy the materials that afternoon but instead of repairing the foundation and then framing the window in place, which would be much more weather-tight, I would build the window frame slightly undersized so it could be temporarily installed and then removed when weather permitted filling the block cores.
So that's what I did: wrecked out the old framing, bought the rebar, plywood, and pressure-treated 2x6, chisled out the old masonary, vacuumed out the block cavities, and assembled, painted and installed the window framing and cover this afternoon.
Not counting the morter mix, which I still have to buy, I've got about $130 in it so far. To be fair, what I've done is no where near the scope of the project proposed in the contractor's estimate. But it is much closer to what I can afford to pay out-of-pocket.
Tomorrow I have to finish stuffing fiberglass insulation into the gaps between the framing and yet-to-be-repaired foundation. And install the new dryer vent. But I did beat the storm and most of what's left can be done from the inside. Tomorrow. After I sleep. G'night...
After the repairs, done for weather-tightness as well as security, that's no longer possible. And yesterday, in a hurry to run some errands before picking up Little J at school, I locked myself out. So the only way back into the house was to blast through the basement window.
Actually, there was no window. A few years after we bought the house, the window rotted out and, rather than replace it, I screwed 3/4" exterior plywood to the inside of the frame, installed a dryer vent through it and gave it a coat of paint. But a year or so ago the sill framing rotted out which exposed the block cavities and allowed water to run into the basement. In addition, the foundation wall itself is cracked and slightly bowed below the window opening.
I had one estimate for $14,500 to repair it. Guess who didn't have 14k in his pocket for the fix? So one day I was in Lowe's and happened to browse through a book on masonary repair. And in the chapter called, I think it was, "Fixing F*cked-up Foundations," the author, who is obviously a poet, suggested putting #3 rebar down each block core and filling with morter.
So that became the plan, that and the window fix. Then I had my surgery and, once I began to recover, found myself pushing to get other more pressing projects done before the bad weather. The new plan was to have the materials on hand in case there was a break in the weather.
Then the TV went down and the computer crashed and burned and some other nonsense was happening and I missed what was probably the last good week to get the window re-framed and the foundation done. And then I got locked out.
Which necessitated plan C which was to buy the materials that afternoon but instead of repairing the foundation and then framing the window in place, which would be much more weather-tight, I would build the window frame slightly undersized so it could be temporarily installed and then removed when weather permitted filling the block cores.
So that's what I did: wrecked out the old framing, bought the rebar, plywood, and pressure-treated 2x6, chisled out the old masonary, vacuumed out the block cavities, and assembled, painted and installed the window framing and cover this afternoon.
Not counting the morter mix, which I still have to buy, I've got about $130 in it so far. To be fair, what I've done is no where near the scope of the project proposed in the contractor's estimate. But it is much closer to what I can afford to pay out-of-pocket.
Tomorrow I have to finish stuffing fiberglass insulation into the gaps between the framing and yet-to-be-repaired foundation. And install the new dryer vent. But I did beat the storm and most of what's left can be done from the inside. Tomorrow. After I sleep. G'night...
