Job One

There is an entry door in the back, off the utility room, that went completely unused during my father-in-law's 13 years here. My idea was to seal it up, put a wall, or a window, in its place. Yet it's hard to remove a door that is already there -it's like giving up some power. Before we could decide fully what to do with the space, we had to excavate the situation -a situation that anyone with experience in these kinds of things could see wasn't going to be good.

The heart of the problem is the landing at entry level. Never build a landing flush with a door-sill in a moist climate! It also sits directly beneath an expansive roof valley that channels falling moisture from two roofs onto the landing at high speed, leaping over the gutter and dropping 8 feet, then splashing up onto a door situated on the cool, dark, wet side of the house. The rust at the bottom of the door is clear, so is the rotting door jamb. The deck boards didn't look so hot and the railings were easily pushed over.

This is what it looked like behind the landing's structure. Not good. Moisture from rain and melting snow was channeled through the wall via lag screws anchoring the landing deck ledger board to the house. Well-designed homes do not do this anymore, particularly where construction methods make use of rim boards made of "engineered" oriented strand board materials, as was done at this place.

"Engineered" lumber is extremely common, but it doesn't hold up to constant moisture, fungus and insects. Only the sill plate is made of a durable material —aluminum. The siding, joists, rim, and sheathing are all "engineered" products. Sealant, of which you can see some that was under the deck, is not a miracle product. Water finds a way.

From above you can see that the rot extended under the sill, through the rim board, and into the plywood underlayment, and joists. On the right side is the door jack framing that shows a stain from water penetrating from above the door -probably due to ice damming on the roof in winter.

Once the door was removed, I then removed the basement window. We never opened it and its light would not be missed, so we decided not to replace it. I also do not like the window well framing necessitated by below grade windows. It too was under the same valley that dumps water onto the landing and I had seen it fill like a glass under the faucet during the heavy thunderstorm rains.  Removing this window was one of the easiest decisions to make. You can also see the extent of the rot, from the failed door sill flashing and sealing, well into the sheathing. More to fix. You hope it isn't like this, but it often is.

Tool Break

This project required a few valuable tools. Here is my basic list:

• Ear Protection: In the above photo, you see my ears. These are essential when hitting a crowbar with a hammer. The ringing it induces is terrible. I prefer 3M Peltor Optime 105.
• Hand Protection: I love these lightly insulated Showa Atlas Therma Fit Gloves with grippy rubber coating on the palm. Depending on your climate, good in 3 or 4 seasons. 
  
• Eat Crow: First choice is my 36" Gorilla Bar. I use for lifting concrete as much as prying wood. Shorter version: 24" Gorilla Bar. Strength is in the shape of the shaft. Good stuff. 
• Smaller Crows: Often I use larger crows with smaller crows, one in each hand, particularly when removed siding nails. I use the basic 12" Stanley Wonder Bar.
  
• Fine Cutting: Fein MM500 oscillating tool. Mine is the 350MM, but that is out of production, I believe. Love how easy it cuts sealant along doorways (put that utility knife away), shapes out of siding, and stretches of sheathing in a low-vibration way. The cord is very long, so I will do without cordless. When cutting, consider a mask like this 3M.
  
• Make sure to buy Fein Blades or at least, Bosch Blades. I've used both. See this post about fixing porch railings for ideas about cheap blades to save costs. If cutting nails, make sure to switch to BiMetal blades, like these Bosch. 
• Chop Chop: I've used the now out-of-production Dewalt DW703 since 2004! Simple & accurate. It's been superseded by the equally useful Dewalt DWS713. For siding and construction like this, the inexpensive, general purpose 10" Dewalt 40T is what I use.
  

The window removed and the void studded and sheathed with ground contact treated plywood (our foundation is made of treated wood), we then set to remove the rot —the cancer of wood frame homes.

I cut out the sub-floor rot, the sheathing rot, the rim rot, leaving only the 2x6 wall bottom plate and joist ends that, although blackened, appeared sound or that removing them would have been more problematic than their soft wood. I applied a solution of Timbor, an anti-fungal, to all molded areas. Underneath the cantilevered wall bottom plates, and the future door sill, I installed a few supporting 2x10 cuts. To the left is a natural gas inlet pipe that had to be cut to remove and replace the rim joist. That is when we started hanging our laundry.

It was here that I confirmed what had already proved obvious -underneath the staircase, to the left, is a void with no insulation. The room above the garage had its heating vents closed and the stairwell uninsulated. We learned this when we stored water and my garlic supply there in January (both froze overnight -the garlic never recovered). Added pink fiberglass to the area.

I installed the new rim board section using a similar engineered lumber —at one and a quarter inches, the engineered board is thinner than 2X framing lumber, so for a proper fit, had to use it over a treated lumber. The new rim board required a little coaxing, in spots. We then removed the old window well framing, covered the old window segment, plus extra, with 6 mil sheet plastic, filled the hole, and added a new section of 1/2 inch treated plywood kick plate.

I sheathed the framing with 1/2 inch treated plywood —overkill, but then we had the extra material. The subfloor, directly under the door sill, was also replaced with treated ply. Why not? When doing things yourself, the savings can add up to solutions a contractor would never do. I sealed the gaps in the sheathing, mostly to keep out ants. You'll notice that none of this house had any house wrap —something standard today that wasn't in 1994. I began adding it into all future projects.

For a month we went without a door, just a plastic tarp and flimsy plywood covering screwed into the framing. This is when the cat learned about the outside. Time was running out, as I was nearing time for my trip to NYC, Vermont, and Boston. The evening before I was to leave, we crammed a new door into this pocket.

When I returned, over three weeks later, I began framing the landing. The new ground contact 4x4 posts are mechanically anchored to the original concrete piers, found just below soil grade (the original posts only sat on the piers). I regraded the soil along the house to drain water away from the building. Coarse 1-1/2" granite gravel fills the void. 

 

The deck framing is above ground treated —the cedar tone stuff common to the box stores these days. The 4x4 posts were notched to accept the framing and I set the rim joints with a few #9 deck screws and two 5/16 inch x 3 inch lags like these. The landing joists are hung with Simpson Strong-Tie 2x8 hangers. I added a treated 2x4 deck board nailer, toward the back. You will also notice the front rim board is 2x12, so that it would be easier to hang the two center stringers.

 

The ledger is mounted so that the new deck boards will rest one full step below the door sill. The new, lower ledger allowed me to lag directly into the foundation wall. I framed parallel to the house so that the deck boards would run perpendicular, to allow easier flow of rain away from the house (minor detail). I also sloped the landing's framing so that it leans slightly downward, away from the house, at an eighth of an inch per foot. 

 

I am aware that my lag choices, at a minimum, are not to today's code. Code in your area is likely to require carriage through-bolts, whether posts are notched or not, wherever joists are fastened to posts. Code also likely requires deck tension ties, like these Simpson DTT1Z-KT, between the ledger, lateral joists, and the interior joists. This can be a hassle in a retrofit situation, where things might not line up easily. Safety first!

Stair cuts are always a hassle, but necessary whenever you want or need to get away from the stock 7-1/4 inch rise x 11 inch tread stringers commonly found at supply houses. Here we decided to have a deeper tread, although, for convenience, we stuck with the same rise. The four stringers (old steps had three) were hung with Simpson Strong-Tie. I used the LSCZ for the outer stringers (tabs on interior for better looks) and I forget what I used for the center. 

 

Guidance is that the stringer requires 4-1/8 inch from top of LSCZ hanger to bottom of landing rim board. I think I got it close. The exterior stringers need to be 3-1/8 inch from the edge of a cantilevered rim board, although mine are right at the end as they are essentially tied to the solid post. As always, follow your local code.

 

I duplicated the stringer landing plate technique originally used here. The old one rested on clay and sunk into it, helping it rot. The new plate is ground contact treated 2x12 and rests on a bed of coarse gravel laid over HD landscape fabric, like this type or this type, to reduce contact with soil. The funky left-side stringer/plate connection is actually shims added for leveling before adding more granite.

After adding a layer of Protecto-Wrap self-sealing tape, I flashed the ledger with galvanized sheet metal. Flashing is one of the more complicated applications at wall penetrations. The best way to think of it is like siding —work from the bottom up. I made sure our lowest flashing element protected the ledger lag bolts. 

 

I installed the cedar riser trim boards and tread planks. The landing planks, posts and handrails had to wait until the siding was replaced and the gas line restored.

 

Before new siding was added, I attached the kick board under the sill of the new door —and extended it well beyond the door frame and flashed it. I decided to allow the deck boards to slide under the kick plate, mostly for the look. If doing so, make sure to calculate that extra 1-1/4 inch to allow the 5/4 deck boards under the kick. Siding was then spliced in where necessary, and cut to fit around the new kick board. Then I had a plumber redo the gas line. 

We went with box store common new railings and posts for this hardly seen back landing. Replacing with same as the original proved too costly (see this post). The door is not a standard box store door (at the time). It was purchased from a building supply and has a plastic composite lower jamb that should resist the jamb decay that was partially responsible for some of structure's rot. And, don't forget to use a high quality sealant at the union of aluminum sill and door jamb.

To the right of the landing, three penetrations previously were cut through the LP siding. This always leads to widening rot around the penetration as well as air leaks and insects. I replaced this with a scarf-jointed cedar plank, flashed above, and rabbeted over the siding, below. Siding is caulked with quality sealant. 

 

My go to sealant was Dap 3.0, which I believe has been superseded by a product called AMP. You can find it on Amazon, here. I liked 3.0 because I could use it at well under 40 degrees, if needed, and it was heavy bodied, which I liked. It also did not bubble up in the sun, like another polyurethane brand I used on my first house project. It also could be applied on wet, although that's not something I ever did. Good sealant application technique is something that takes experience to master —I am better now, but not great at it.

The penetrations include the sump pump over-flow (black ABS pipe), the fresh air replacement vent (hooded) and the one inch hose sillcock which has yet to be soldered in. While you must measure carefully, there is a little flexibility in getting the placement of the holes just right if the pipes can move a bit. The more penetrations, the harder it gets to line it up just right. Once the holes are cut through the cedar (later, I changed to PVC plank at other penetrations), a 45 degree rip of the board is all that is needed to easily slide it over the intact pipe and vent. Notice that I began adding house wrap, anticipating that I would be replacing siding, piecemeal, in the coming years.

To the left I have been stymied by all the utility meters attached to and penetrating the siding. It will cost a few hundred bucks to get an electrician to remove them so I can build a similar cedar plank (update: did it and used PVC) plate for those to mount to.

This shirtless, burly guy was sent over by our trash hauler to take away our project waste.

I removed a ton of horseradish that was growing along this same wall, fully expecting it to return, but so far it hasn't

And the lilac I posted about weeks ago was finally cut out of the soil near the foundation. I never realized what a weed Lilacs could be. As you can see in the photo before burly guy, the lilac was dug out before I replaced the siding and fixed the rock perimeter.

This is only a sample of the many projects that have gone on here since May. There are rooms inside with new Sheetrock, new lighting, we have a new well pump, there are bats in our belfry soon to be excluded, there's a new roof, and clearing for an outbuilding. We had hired out some siding work along the roof line, to take the load off a little bit, but I am not happy with his craftsmanship. I'm likely too much a perfectionist, and that is not necessarily a good thing. Hiring people to do the work winds me up if only because I know that if I had 17 arms I could get it done and do it better without having paid them what I consider a lot of money for a couple day's work. I guess this is one reason I do these projects on my own. And, if the craftsmanship is poor, I only have myself to blame.

There is much more to do, including the front porch and yet another door, opposite the one shown here, plenty of rotting brick moulding on several windows, siding replacement, and the house (and this new door) must be painted a new color. The fleshy, mauve-pink has got to go.