Early Summer Updates

Bungalow Friends,

It's been a busy past few months--shame on me for not updating you on the happenings at the bungalow (shame, shame, shame!)

To set this up, Kayla is 8 months pregnant, so the projects have changed with a focus on making the home more newborn-friendly.

The updates:

1. Refinished the basement.  This involved repainting the walls and adding a very durable, 2-part epoxy floor finish.  The result?  The space looks finished, and has room for the "man-cave" rec-room, the office, and storage.  

The 2-Part Epoxy Floor System from a local home center
really cleaned up the floor and provided a durable,
finished appearance!

The office.  So far I don't use it...sitting on the couch seems to be
the most comfortable place to work!

What....gotta have a little fun!

2. Find a comfortable rocking chair for Kayla.  DONE!

Mission-Style Rocker found at antique shop in Indy matches
time period of home.

3. With a now-empty bedroom, make room for baby. DONE!

Our black lab wasn't as excited as we were
about this...she knows she will always
be our first child!  She's still trying to eat
all the baby toys.

4. Rain Barrel.  This was on Kayla's list for me this year and honestly, it's been really nice to use a little bit of the rainwater to water plants!

All for now!  What exciting projects do you have planned at home this summer?

-Ryan and Kayla-

Refinishing a 1930's dresser

Hello Bungalow friends!

It's been a busy winter around our home!  We had a very enjoyable Christmas (complete with Family and a real tree, of course!)  We also had a sewer line replaced, which required pulling out the deck...and eventually just building a new one.  Fast forward a couple months, and with Kayla expecting in July, we've been trying to find time to relax and take it easy, and enjoy our last few months while its truly just the two of us.  Not that three is bad, but you have to enjoy every day for what it is!  And lately, the days have been all about rest, relaxation, and preparation. 

With the baby on the way, the discussion has turned to where Ryan's office will be relocated to make room for the baby.  I learned that this was a lesson in how important framing discussions is.  There is a big difference between "should we move the office furniture?" and "where will we move the office furniture?"    

Well....no decision on the nursery vs. office, or nursery/office/guest room hybrid, just yet, but what I can tell you is that over the past month, I decided to refinish an old dresser from the 1920's that I found at a local salvage yard.  It's top drawer opens to reveal a desk.  This could be a very good piece for us to have in the kitchen if we decide to leave a desk in the nursery...because many times, with the baby sleeping, we will need to find refuge in another room if we have office work. 


For furniture projects, I normally like the get down to bare wood, use stain, and several layers of polyurethane.  With this project, we went a different route and used a tinted poly which turned out very well.  It is marketed as a stain and poly in one step.  We also found glass knobs at a local big box store.  Admittedly, Anthropologie had some very nice knobs, however they did not attach to the doors as easily, and cost significantly more...we kept this furniture project simple and stuck with the big box knobs.    

Here are the final results of the desk refinishing project and the new pseudo-office-space in the kitchen!

Rebuilding a historic wood window

All,

I hope you had a fun New Year's celebration.

As we get into the new year, I am mapping out projects for next year and reviewing a few I never posted on. 

One of those was rebuilding a historic wood basement hopper window.  Most people that have a 100 year old basement window have been perplexed with what to do with these windows...
These historic windows are usually 3' x 2' openings, or another similar cinder block or brick opening size, and swing into the home.  They feature a 5-1/4" door jamb cut to make a window frame, and a 1-3/8" window sash which mounts to two top hinges and typically has a center cam lock.  They are set into a cinder block opening and secured with concrete at the sill, nails through the sill plate that they rest against at the head, and sometimes, fasteners through the side jambs into the concrete foundation walls.  In many cases, glass has broken from lawn mowers throwing rocks, etc...and often the replacement glass is merely siliconed, rather than glazed, in place with historic glaze that is built up flush with the mullions to prevent water infiltration. 

Before we go any further...let's look at the options for this window:

• Glass Block - High security, low maintenance, high light transfer, somewhat energy efficient, low or no ventilation (a small vent can be installed)
• Vinyl replacement slider with block frame - Medium Security, low maintenance, lower light transfer due to reduced opening and buck opening requirement (window opening must be framed out), higher energy efficiency, medium ventilation
• Original Window, Inswing wood hopper window- Low security, high maintenance, medium light transfer, low energy efficiency, highest ventilation.

I chose to rebuild the original window frame and sash to keep the historic integrity of the home, keep the option for increased ventilation in the basement or to get things through the large opening, and addressed the security concerns with reinforced locks (there are many options here, but I don't want to get into the weeds).  We also used a window well covering system to increase energy efficiency and lower the maintenance requirements (more below).

These windows typically sit at ground level...as such they are suseptible to quite a bit of weathering without proper maintenance and installation.  This was the issue with mine.  Below, a before picture of one of the basement hopper windows.





Original window had cracked glass, peeling paint, gaps between the glazing allowing water infiltration, a damaged frame, was sealed shut, and had multiple locks added through the years.


Now, let's look at each challenge to restoring this window:

• Damaged frame: Rebuild, or if necessary, replace
• Damaged locks: Replace, and consider upgrades with metal reinforcement behind the wood frame or security bars. 
• No weather strip Peeling paint
• No storm window
• Cracked glass

Here are a few ways to tackle this issue:

1. Retrofit, or use new wood frame with applied weatherstrip.  Add flashing on bottom of sash to dicect runoff water away from the frame, or add quarter round with weather rubber applied weather strip in combination with flashing.   I used a new wood door jamb made with Auralast, a wood which resists water absorption, wood decay and termite infestation.  This is perfect, since these windows sit at ground level.  But, that said, it is also good to dig a window well 6" - 12" below your wood window, and fill it partially with gravel so that water does not collect around your window frame. 
2. Remove all paint and repair wood work as needed (determine if you have lead based paint and take appropriate precautions if it is present).  I used a wood hardener on the softened wood on the bottom of the sash and treated it with Boiled Linseed Oil. 
3. Replace Cracked glass or Reglaze Window Panes: Remove all old glazing compound, metal glaziers points, and glass. Re-install with silicone between the inside wood sash and inside glass side.  Add glazier points to hold the glass in place while the silicone dries.  Then, re-glaze glass to the exterior side.  Repair mullions (I used square dowell rods to rebuild a mullion)
4. Reassemble or build a new frame (Sorry, no process pictures here...but you will basically replicate the old frame with new materials.  Again, I purchased a 6-9/16" door jamb kit from Home Depot and cut the jamb to size, and assembled the frame with 2-1/2" wood screws and metal reinforcement at the corners. 
5. Install New Frame by screwing the head jamb to the sill plate it sits against, shimming the sides, and bottom.  Underneath my sill (planed down from a door jamb), I had pressure treaded lumber which was secured to the opening with tapcons.  The Sill was then anchored into these boards. 
6. Complete your job with closing hardware and a window well cover or storm window.  This is for security, energy efficiency, and water mitigation.

After photos:

Finished Window.  Visible are the double locks, finger pull, window well and well cover.

New framing or retro-fitted weather stripping will dramatically improve the energy efficiency of the unit.  A storm window or window well cover will also help with this, reducce future maintenance, and help resolve many security concerns. 

Be sure to re-grade the land around your window, and add a window well, dug at least a foot below the window frame and partially filled with gravel.

Window Well protects our restored window.  It can be applied to the foundation wall with tapcons and is removable for large construction projects in your basement that require passing items through your window. 

Some of the products mentioned in this post to rebuild the window sash are shown above.

This mullion was flush with the window..which meant we could not glaze it.  So, we cut two square dowel rods, glued them together, glued them onto the existing mullion...and after glazing and painting, the window sash is fully restored! 

Other Resources:
More detailed window rebuild information is available in the following Preservation Brief: http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief09.htm


All for now,

-Ryan & Kayla-