remodeling for geeks

Recycling CFL's

Charles and Hudson notes that Home Depot is going to Recycle CFL's,
They also have some great links if you don't have a Home Depot nearby.

This is good news especially in view of my opinion that they are an environmental disaster.

Round Cornerbead Application 2

In our last episode on Round Cornerbead, I detailed the steps for using it on new work. Removing square cornerbead to replace it with round bead on existing walls is a major project that I don't recommend unless you are really determined.

There are a few areas where it can be used on existing work. The Fireplace Freshen Project used it on the new construction, to good effect. (everybody who has seen it has gone 'wow')

The windows surrounding the fireplace are awkward. They have sharp corners. A lot of thought has gone into different ideas for covering up the windows. But this has been more to disguise them while allowing light through.

Making Square Round
We are going to change that. This is an area where we can change the lines without having to do any demo work. Make no mistake. There is work involved, but it will be worth it.

Here is our opening which is pretty much standard in the Southwest, for aluminum windows. The window openings are wrapped and the windows are applied from the outside.

Our 'trimless' opening has enough room to allow us to apply drywall to the opening without compromising the operation of the windows.

Taping the work area
Our good friend, 'blue painters tape' is used to cover the exposed window frame, to make our taping easier to clean up as well as forming a line to paint to.

What is not shown in this photo is the tape at the wall intersection in the corner. We are going to skim coat these walls also.

Drywall Application
We measure and cut our drywall so that it is narrower than our opening by a little more than a 1/2''. We do this so we can leave a thin gap on the window side to allow us to slip in 1/2'' L bead on the window side and to be able to apply our round bead on the wall side so that it will lay flat against the existing wall. I mentioned this back cutting in our first look at rounded corner bead.
Remember the radius grasshopper.

Also on this type of application, we are using Power Grab to glue the drywall to the opening. The nails are only used to hold the drywall in place.

Cornerbead Application
The installing of the beads are standard (measure twice, cut once), and we are also using Power Grab behind the beads to apply them to the wall. Nailing is standard to secure the flanges.

Taping the beads
On square corner beads, I suggest only doing one side of the corners in any session. This eliminates the tendency of the mud to roll and chunk on the other side of the corner, creating more work for you, especially if you are not going to do this for a living. On round bead, you can do both sides in the same session as there is enough space between the two angles to allow you to fill and/or coat in the same session.

Skim Coating
The existing walls around the windows have texture on them. We are skim coating them to blend the walls. I have more about Skim Coating here.

Note: On this project I am using speed set for the first coat on the walls and on the cornerbeads. It's about not spending more time on this than necessary. Your mileage will vary and you should take your time.

Coating with eggnog
I am using the USG Dust Free mud for the finish coat. It is the color of eggnog in the box, it's my blog and so I am calling it 'eggnog'. You can call it anything you want. In any case it is what they should have invented 30 years ago.

How dust free? Here is the floor and corner of one side. The floor is covered with red rosin builders paper. Regular mud dust would have covered the floors and walls and would still be floating around. I took this picture about 5 hours ago.

How dust free? This is the fireplace opening about three feet away. Regular mud dust would have made this almost white. Yeah it's that good.

Round Cornerbead Application

Round cornerbead gives you a softer line with remodeling. It has it's own requirements. In a standard drywall application, you overlap succeeding layers of drywall. This acts as a base for your corner bead. It is important that your drywall is not extending beyond the other sheet. Your bead will twist and your corner will look squiggly.

Round bead has a radius, so that your drywall needs to just come to the edge of your framing and not overlap. Remember that the radius is rounding the corner, and will not sit right if you do not do this. You also need to mud the inside of the radius bead to supply support and cover the raw edges of the drywall. This is especially critical for vertical applications so the bead does not dent when something hits it. Enough mud to fill, but not so much that the bead bows. It takes practice. Use regular 24 hour compound.
Below is a shot of one of the valance wings of the Fireplace Facelift.

This is a detail shot of the valance where it meets the wall. This is actually a 2fer. The radius bead is installed with screws as the framing is steel studs. Also on the right side of the photo is a piece of 'L' bead, as we are not going to re-texture the walls on either side of the fireplace wall.

Here is a photo of the valance with the first coat of mud. We also 'L' beaded the top of the valance panel so we do not have to repaint or re-texture the ceiling.

Inside Mitered Corners
Mitered Corners are done with the Radius Corner Bead Miter Marker Here you see the inside corner, which joins the two beads. I mentioned that the little jog of the Miter Tool was important to cut. This is why. The outside corner is open as this is the real world and not the Remodeling Channel. A little mud and it is all good.

See? Here is our corner with the last coat of mud applied.

Here is our corner with primer and paint. Clean and Soft.

Round bead gives you some options outside of the square box of most remodeling. Enjoy!

Eave Repair

This is an eave needing repair. The damage is called 'dryrot', which is a misnomer as water was the culprit.

The damage came from the foam roofing failure from above. This is a weird problem as most foamed roofs are monolithic structures and holes are not usually this large nor pervasive.

The solution begins with cutting out the bad areas, slightly undercutting them, and applying spray foam. While that is drying, we work on the underside,

We chisel out the rotted areas, and rebuild the wood with bondo all purpose putty, which is just like the plastic bondo that they use to repair cars. There is the putty and the creme hardener. It works like a thick hot mud, and sets up quickly. It is waterproof, rot proof, and you have a small window while it is curing to use a cheese grater type buffer to remove large material.

Note: This is an appearance and not a structural repair.

Back on the roof we saw off the excess material with a serrated blade bread knife, apply a coat of quality caulk and in this case re-coat the roof.

Moving back to the eave, we scrape, sand, prime the repair , caulk and repaint.

Master Bath Project Episode 8

Solid Surface Hell
One of the earliest design decisions made was solid surface for the shower. If you have a tiled bath/shower enclosure, you have experienced the heartbreak of keeping it clean, grouted, sealed, killing mold and mildew.
Since we were building a custom shower in both size and function, we interviewed a number of companies. Most could not produce the off center shower pan. Most of them were installers using buyout materials.
We finally found a local company who could produce the shower pan, and manufactured their own solid surface.

In addition to the shower pan, and side panels, they were also making the vanity top with integral sink, the makeup top, tub surrounds, modesty panel, and the caps for the pony walls.

We explained that we were going to have a swinging shower door with a simple glass panel on the top of the pony wall. ON the Inside Edge. Horizontal surfaces in showers and baths are breeding grounds for mold,mildew, and dirt. They were brought onsite early enough to be able to discuss their requirements for installation. Which is one of the reasons that we left the bottom sheets of drywall off until the shower pan was installed.

The day of installation arrived with a couple of stout lads as this pan was heavy. In wresting the pan in place they chopped up a corner of the pony wall. It sucked but I can fix anything.

The first major problem is here, where they brought the edge of the pan completely into the opening and created an area that would have the water splashing onto the floor. Remember the shower door and glass were to be placed on the inside edge of the ponywall and inset on the other side. Also floor tile selection was finalized.

The next morning, I hung, corner beaded and taped the rest of the drywall, and bagged off the solid surface, cabs and counters so the texture guys could come and spray the walls.

After some discussion as to fixing the drainage issue the solid surface guys showed up to install the walls. They must not talk a whole lot as there is a new problem. See in the corner where they did not extend the solid surface to the floor? Yep, looks like crap.

The decision was made to fill in the edge and machine it in the field. There was a lot of delay in what they said was a color matching issue. This is weird because this material was a 'standard' color from their collection, and should have been a no brainer. It wasn't. It took multiple applications, a lot of sanding which creates a dust storm to rival anything you see on National Geographic.

Complicating this was the scheduling of the tile. The tile was laid and they had to return with a new crew and redo it.

There was no reason but carelessness for the first tile job. There were no cracks, bumps, or other problems that prevented them getting it right the first around.
Not square, flat or consistent in grout lines.

1/2'' gaps on the edges and incomplete grouting was an issue as well.

The second time got the job done.

Smooth, flat and consistent.

I will be reluctant to recommend either of these two companies, as a first choice unlike my plumber and texture guys. To be fair, both of them did repair their mistakes, but it did push the project into February.

Master Bath Project Episode 7

Delay Delay Delay. Remodeling never has neat schedules. The original schedule would have had the client taking a bubble bath for Christmas. There are any number of things that for one reason or another, you subcontract out. This project had the plumbing, solid surface, cabinets, and tile work subbed out.

The mechanical A/C work was done before I opened up the first wall as part of the ductwork moving for the Walk In Closet Project. The electric was done by the client, working in the evenings. The plumbing was done by a company I have been using for years, and understands the nature of remodeling projects, and works with you. For example he did not have a problem with the shower control placement, just needing to know where we wanted it. He also helped select a brand of fixtures, that we would be able to find parts for in the future.
Plumbing In Arizona
The water in Arizona has a high mineral content, which leads to lime and scale build up, and faucet failure. One of the more interesting services in Arizona is called re-piping. Just like it sounds. They come in and replace your old waterlines with new pipes, as the scale and mineral deposits, clog your pipes. These deposits also act as sandblasters inside your pipes leading to pinhole leaks that create disasters as well.
Enough about water.

The Cabinets arrived and have been mounted.
The Make Up Area
The make up area has a floating cabinet for the counter and a storage cabinet above. Both of which are custom units. The storage cabinet is a non standard height, as the top goes to the ceiling and the bottom needs clearance for the lit mirror which is wall mounted. It will receive a solid surface counter.

The Vanity
The vanity cabinet floats between the two pony walls and the cabinet height was partially determined by the depth of the sink countertop. The placement of the vanity cabinet on the pony walls is a little shorter than standard, for convenience, and to allow for splashes around three sides and having room for the pony wall caps.

The Bathtub
The bathtub was a object of some interest, as it is a custom unit, in height, width, depth, and controls. The client liked the current tub from design, function and could make the color work. In looking at a new custom tub, the cost was in outer space. I mean you could buy a economy car for the price some folks were quoting. The only other downside was wanting some more water jets. Staying was not certain until the guy was found who could install more jets.

Some holes, re plumbing and another control and the tub question was a done deal.

At this point we are waiting for the solid surface guys to bring the shower pan, so we can move toward completion. We cannot get the texture, priming, or painting done until the pan is in.

Master Bath Project Episode 6

The framing, plumbing, and the electric work is done. So some of the drywall gets hung. The cabinet maker was here for his dimensions, and the solid surface folks got their numbers, and made their templates for the custom shower pan.
Here you can see the insulation and the blocking in place for the grab bars that will be installed after the shower is finished.

Here is a view into the shower. The bottom sheets of drywall will not be installed until after the shower pan is installed. It would have been nice to get the pan done before the drywall, but equipment breakdown, and scheduling conflicts created this. There are always surprises in remodeling, and this was one. The solid surface guys had even more surprises in store creating more delays in this project.

We used 'green' board in the shower and in the vanity area. Due to the details for the shower, we could not complete drywalling in a number of areas.

We have filled in the area in the window covering the bottom row of glass block and drywalled and taped the bathtub area. We also skim coated the walls where the old tub surrounds were.

Meanwhile we were able to drywall the pony wall by the toilet as well as skim coating those walls.

The current plan is after the shower pan is in, waiting 24 hours for the glue to set, I will drywall, bead and mud the shower area so that we can texture, and paint so the solid surface guys can return and install the rest of the solid surfaces.

Master Bath Project Episode 4

The major demo is done. The decision on the types and rough sizes of the shower, vanity sink, and the makeup are done. A mirrored medicine cabinet has been selected. So now it is time for rough framing.

Remodeling Construction Notes

This project was a field design. There are and were no prints other than quick sketches as we went along. In the case of this project, until we demoed the walls and figured out where the plumbing was, we could only guess as to what would be needed to get things moving. Once we knew what was in the walls, we could begin to figure out where things were going and what our rough sizes would be.

I do mean rough. For example, the vanity wall was built out to mount the built in medicine cabinet. The height and width of medicine cabinet, determined the room needed for the vanity height, and space and placement for the GFI outlets above the counter. This build out also gave the plumber and electrician room to work without having to spend a lot of extra time having to break things to do their work, creating more work for the next guy.

The original bathtub pony wall determined how deep the shower pony wall was going to be. The grout line on the top of the bottom glass block, in the window on the tub wall determined the height of our vanity and toilet pony walls. It also determined the height of the solid surface walls for the tub surround. The exterior door on the south wall determined the depth of the toilet pony wall. The desire for a magazine rack on one side and a heated towel bar on the other side dictated the construction details on the pony wall next to the toilet. This also let us know where to put the switches for the vanity shower and overhead lights.

The remaining space between the back shower wall and the bedroom wall determined the width and depth for the makeup counter, and cabinets. The height of the make up counter and the built in mirror and the small built in medicine cabinet in this alcove determined the placement of the upper cabinet as well as the switch and outlet for this area.

The selection of fixtures and controls for the water determines where your blocking goes, as well as providing pathways for your water and waste lines.

Those are just a few of the reasons that this was a field designed project. Now back to our project....

The Shower
The shower is going to be 42'' wide by 72'' deep. Standard shower pans center drain. The original drain is embedded in the slab. In specifying the size the client wanted, we knew that it was going to be custom. The number of companies that do solid surface that can also cast an off center drain shower pan is surprisingly small. The shower door will be a 32'' wide frameless double pivot style. This requires 3/8'' tempered glass. Because of the width of the door and not having a frame, the back wall is made with 2x6'' with a double corner to provide strength for the hinges for the door. The pony wall at the lower right of this image is 2x6 also.

The choice of 2x6 was made for a number of reasons. Strength, as the glass door will be hanging off rear shower wall, and the two vanity pony walls will be supporting the vanity which will be suspended from either side with a small drawer cabinet below. No Base Cabinets. Plumbing access on the shower side as the controls will be mounted on the shower side of the pony wall and not underneath the shower as is typical. The last reason is visual. Having all the pony walls the same width and height, we can visually tie the room together.

The Vanity
The vanity wall was built out with 2x6'' to accommodate the built in medicine cabinet and to have space to insulate the brick wall behind, and to provide room for the plumber to route the water and waste lines, as they need some serious work from the last time. Also it allows us to build square and plumb walls, which is real important with so much custom solid surface and cabinetry.

On the bath side, we added material to the bath pony wall to provide strength for the vanity as well as framing for the clean out access.

The Toilet Wall

This pony wall does double duty, On the bath side it will have a heated towel rack. On the toilet side it will have an alcove for reading materials. In this photo you can see where we installed vertical blocking so we have a wide area for attaching the towel bar.

Here is a detail shot of the outlet box for the electricity for the towel bar.

Here is a detail of the magazine alcove.

A little electric and some rough plumbing we are ready to drywall.

Master Bath Project Episode 2

Remodeling never takes place in a vacuum. At the same time as the MBP was beginning, painting was going on in the rest of the house. Having completed the Walk In Closet, and having the Master Bedroom between the closet and the Master Bath, getting the maximum value out of the painters required a little change to the 'normal' demo schedule.

One of the earliest decisions was to replace the existing bathroom door with a pocket door.
Yet another stake in the heart of the hinge door lobby!
But I digress...

Since the bathroom door was part of the master bedroom wall, and the painters were drumming on their cans, I did a partial demo to get the pocket door in and the wall finished. A more complete guide to this procedure is here

As you can see I removed just enough materials to allow me to install the frame. Notice that I used the right hand side of the existing opening as one side of the pocket door opening. On the right side of this wall on the bathroom side is the toilet, which we were not moving, and we were going to need the space on the bathroom side for the switches that are currently in the closet wall.

Once I installed the frame I also installed the door as the bedroom side needed to be drywalled for the painters. 'Normally' we would wait until the drywall was up on both sides, the flooring was in, and it was ready for paint. This also would allow us to adjust the bottom of the door to meet the finish flooring. We decided that we would paint the bathroom, so the painters could do the rest of the house while the bathroom project was ongoing.

However, we did it this way to minimize the mess from the ripping out the ceiling in the bathroom. Yes the ceiling has blown insulation which makes quite a mess and left unchecked would spread all over the rest of the house. This also allows us to continue the demo in the bathroom while the painters were doing their thing.

In this photo you can see the new round ductwork that we had installed during the closet project, because we were eliminating the closet and its soffit. We also demoed the side wall and have the electric hanging in space.

Time to rip out more stuff so we can move the switches.

Drywall Repair Photos

I have created a photo gallery of the posting on Electric Box Drywall Repair.