A day-to-day strive

Monday, May 2, 2022

North wing wall build

I rebuild the rotted wood on my north wing wall. I started with pressure-treated wood, it warped.

The north wing wall on my house is 12 feet, four inches long. So I can't buy 12-foot 2x10s from Lowes and slap them on. Instead, I bought 16-foot lumber, and had them saw it down to 148 inches at the store. As a bonus, that left just enough in leftovers to make the shorter section of the wall. I had a little piece left over from the other two walls to make the end cap for this one. It worked out great.

This is not a day's work. I bought the lumber and cut it on April 26. Then I spent four days putting on two coats of KILZ exterior primer and two coats of Beyer latex color. It was the 30th of April when I started screwing the lumber to the wall. It's May 2nd and I just puttied up the holes and put on a final coat of paint. I have learned it is best to just do a little every day, and the job will get done.

This is how bad the pressure-treated lumber warped while I waited to paint it. A total loss. I had the guy at Lowes cut the boards to 12' 4" so they didn't hang too far out the back. These are kiln-dried #2 prime 2x10s. I was getting good at making a fence to cut them.

I trial-fitted the boards to make sure they were not too long. The 45-degree cuts went OK, but are a little tricky since the small side of the saw is used. More trial fitting. Loose it better than tight. Caulk can fill the gaps and allow expansion.

I got to use my Porter Cable 444 profile sander to clean up where the wall goes to the house. The end cap I made in the garage, a Wilton vise makes it much safer to do. I did a very quick sanding of the boards before I would apply the KILZ primer.

I got these 8-mil latex gloves on Amazon. I love them for paint or caulking. I put the two coats of primer and two of color and the long boards outside. Why move them? The short boards I painted in the garage. Here they have gotten the second color coat.

The color coats go on the long boards outside. Amazingly, no bugs or dirt got on the paint. Ise a fingernail brush to clean the paint brush. Warm water and a little dish soap helps. The front board fitted up. A good place to start since there is no silicone sealer needed.

The Tapcon screws were a real bear to run in. I had to oil the screws, it usually took two tries. One side did not pull in all the way.. I ran another Tapcon screw closer to the end and was able to pull up the gap. The kiln-dried lumber had twists, less than pressure-treated.

I silicone the joint, and trial fit the short face board. Four Tapcon screws hold the short face board. Seven on the long one. Looking good. To seal the silicone overnight you can use clear tape. It does not work for months, toss those.

Trial fitting the top boards show they will fit OK and silicone caulk can fill any gaps.. I marked the back where the web of the cinder blocks were, as well as to line up the board. I put these scraps under the ends, so I could caulk the back edge with silicone.

Here is the back edge with a sloppy bead of silicone. I learned less is better and neater. I could then shift the board to the back and put a bead on the front edge. I could slip the scrap wood out and drop the board in place. A clamp held it for drilling.

I had to remind myself to set back the front screws since they go into blocks, not the board. I put beads of silicone around the end cap, leaving the bottom open for drainage. One the end cap was in place, I used duct tape to hold it securely..

The end cap goes in properly and looks good. The way I cut the lumber leaves this little hole in the corner. It was better than the way it was originally, with a diagonal cut on the top board. I bought 5 tubes of caulk and used them all on the three walls. This old tube blew backwards.

The reside from the old tube was just enough to seal the back side of the wall. Working around the drip irrigation I had put in, sure enough, I broke a tube connection. The little threaded part broke off in the tube. I call this collateral damage, friendly fire.

The new sprinkler head uses green plastic. I hope it lasts better than the old stuff. Scrap lumber from the end cap has a sharp triangular tip that fits the hole in the corners. I filled the holes on all three walls with the triangular tips of the scrap lumber..

I let silicone harden in the hole, so I had to clean it with an X-ACTO knife and tweezers. I have learned to put down a comfortable seat when doing tedious work, It comes out better. Those latex gloves come out again for the wood putty part of the project.

Absurd. Bondo wood filler gives the volume of the filler, and weight of the hardener, you can't figure a ratio to weigh out on the kitchen scale. Too much hardener, froze up in a minute. Too much hardener, froze up in a minute and ten seconds.

Too much hardener, froze up in two minutes. Hole in hardener tube should be 2mm wide. The fast-setting meant I got a very sloppy job done, but the triangular wood pieces did fill in. Still too much hardener. Please bring the CEO of 3M to my house so I can slap him silly.

I gave up on a nice putty job. I can latex caulk in a year if I tire of the gaps. Meanwhile, I toss all the junk left over from the job. The drop-cloth hits the trash too. The garage goes back to where it was, I still have to put the sander away.

What looks terrible a foot away looks great from ten feet away. Don't sweat the small stuff. The middle wall got its coat of paint too., It is not perfect, but good enough. The south wall is also puttied, final painted, and ready to withstand the storms. Done.

North wing wall build

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