Window Repair and Dining Room Tile

So this is the first update I've posted in almost 3 months...I ran into a leaking window that pretty much derailed the project until I could find a way to seal everything up and keep the rain out again. That, along with moving to the other side of the duplex, our week and a half long vacation out west, and all of the other camping and weekend activities, has really slowed down progress this summer. My tenant has been out since July and I'm now starting to notice the rent check missing every month and I'd like to get the place put back together, cleaned up, and up for rent within a few weeks.

Here are some pictures of what I've been up to since May.

After ripping up the particle board I put down 5/8ths plywood to provide a solid base for the tile. This picture shows the plywood cut and laid in place. I then secured it with a TON of screws and was really impressed with how much stiffer the floor was.

This is where the trouble started...I had to patch up some drywall cracks anyway and since I noticed some water damage on the old particle board subfloor I figured I'd open the wall under the window and check things out. The insulation was actually wet and some of the window framing was starting to rot.



Checking outside it looks like the only thing standing between the rain and the inside of my wall was this caulk joint...which had clearly failed a while ago.



I pulled off the aluminum casing and found the whole lower window frame rotted away. I figured this was a pretty big deal so I actually talked to 3 or 4 contractors about how they would handle this and was considering replacing all the windows in the house if needed. In the end no one had a real good solution that didn't involve ripping off ALL of the stucco to properly flash the windows and then residing the whole house. The solution that made the most sense was to patch up this window and then keep an eye on the caulking on the rest of the windows to catch this before it happens next time.



Since I had already ripped off all the aluminum casing I had to pull the window out in order to rebuild the frame and add flashing to keep the water out.

I used treated lumber to build up the lower frame.

I then used flexible self adhesive flashing to seal it up. I started at the bottom and overlapped the exterior of the stucco since I couldn't get to the tar paper drainage plane. I then worked my way up the sides and finally tucked the top piece under the drip cap.

Once the flashing was in place I put the window back in.

I then applied generous amounts of silicone caulk and trimmed things off with an aluminum cap at the bottom and PVC brick mould trim. We got a heavy rain about 3 days later and the inside was nice and dry so this seems to have done the trick.

Since I already had the wall open I figured this would be a good opportunity to run coax cable up from the basement to the smaller bedroom upstairs.

Now that the rain stays on the outside I could fill the walls with new insulation and patch up the drywall. This is where things slowed down for quite while as I moved over to the other side of the duplex and then went on vacation...also I HATE taping and mudding drywall so I wasn't too excited to work on it.

The drywall was eventually done, textured, and the whole place painted...basically back to where I was in May :) I could finally start prepping for the tile. Here I have the Ditra underlayment set.

Rather than set all the full tiles one day and come back later to cut and set the partials, as I did the last two times, I thought I'd try something different and set them all at once to save a few days of cure time. This meant I had to layout all the tile ahead of time to measure and cut the partials. After spending a few hours working this I was starting to get a bit nervous that they all wouldn't line up the same when I actualy set them.

Here I finally remembered to take a picture of the drywall patch job around the window.

Tiles picked up and ready to go.

Half way done and everything fits so far.

All the cuts worked out and I got everything set in one afternoon. I'm hoping to get everything grouted tonight.

Underlayment Removal

Now that the kitchen portion of the project is basically done I cleared out the dining room and started prepping the floor for tile. The existing particle board needed to be ripped up so that I can replace it with plywood later.

I pulled up the carpet and pad and then set the circular saw to 5/8ths and cut some seems in the particle board to make it easier to pry up. I then started in the corner with a prybar and flat shovel and ripped all that nasty stuff up.

It actually pulled up pretty easily. Heres a picture with the particle board removed and all the nails pulled. The subfloor is 1/2 of 5/8ths plywood and its not nailed down very well which explains why my floor always felt bouncy and make so much noise. I'm going to have to secure this layer with a few pounds of screws prior to laying anything else on top of it.

DIY Countertop Attempt 2 - Success

I couldn't live with the marks on the first countertop edge so I thought I'd give it another shot and start over. I didn't have quite enough particle board to for a solid two layers so I cut out a solid top and added some blocking to the back to build up the thickness.

I used the first attempt countertop as a template and cut out the new top with the flush trim bit.



I then flipped it over and glued and screwed blocking in place to make up the full inch and a half. Once that was dry I used the flush trim bit to trim the blocking down to shape. One theory on why the edge got messed up when trimming last time is that the edges weren't quite square so this time I flipped the whole piece right side up and ran another pass with the flush trim bit from the top. I think this actually helped quite a bit.



Lon came over to help again for this part and we got the edge strip on trimmed flush. This time we set the top edge as close to flush as we could and then used files and a sanding block to bring it flush which avoided having to use the router on both sides of the edge. We also used Lon's plunge router this time and the better depth control made things a lot easier.



Same as before...apply the contact cement to both pieces and take a picture while waiting for it to setup. We also applied a layer of packing tape to the edge to help protect it from getting damaged again while trimming the top.



We again used some scraps of wood to help line up the top and then rolled it on working from the center out. Once it was stuck down we used the router to trim the edges. This time I actually tried to leave a little bit extra especially around the corners. I then came back with the file and carefully cleaned them up by hand.



Here is the final product, there are a few areas where I went just a bit to deep when filing the edges but its barely visible and much better than the last attempt.



The next project was to trim out the toe kick under the sink. I had to allow for an vent register and also build up the front enough to cover the gap I mistakenly left between the tile and the vent duct...



3/4 plywood with some extra 1/8" spacers built up enough thickness.



I then glued and stapled the veneer, installed the register, and finished up the corner with a piece of oak trim that I stained to match.