Leaky Rotten Window Frame Repair

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links to products that I use and love. If you click through and make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. 

Leaky Rotten Window Frame!

When water is an unwanted guest

One of my clients had waterproofing issues. Whenever it rained water would seep in somewhere round the window. This resulted in the wooden window frame becoming rotten. When water is an unwanted guest it damages structurally, aesthetically and leaves bad smells.

In this months blog I will talk about how I repaired the window and highlight carpentry and glazing points. 

Restoration of rotten.

When I inspected the window the first time I thought, " change entire window to aluminum." 

I started the feel the fears. Big job, will I measure properly? Will the window to be sealed properly? Will I, will I, will I? I went home nervous. 

I returned the following week.  Climbed up to have a closer look, still anxious, and as I scratched and measured my anxiety and fear began to dissipate. I began noticed that it was only the bottom the sill that was damaged. The wood was so damaged, rotten thant the glass sunk into the wood allowing water to seep in at the top of the window.

I proceeded to measure up what I need and make a shopping list.

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Once I had everything I needed, wood, window putty, panel pins, nail-in anchors, screws, foam seal tape, and paint it was time to start demolition. The breaking out of the damaged wood was relatively easy as the wood was badly rotten, soft, spongy. Added to that the joint were basic butt joints so the will pulled out easily.  The mullions had also started to rot at the bottoms. The shortest one I removed and the long ones up cutting away the rot. 

 The brickwork and plaster were still in perfect condition which meant I could fix the frame by drilling into the brickwork and fixing with my nail-in anchors. Meanwhile I had treated the new wooden lengths with wood primer. They were now ready to be fitted into their new positions. I ran a strip of foam seal along the underside of the new will. Now I slide it in under the mullions, fix with waterproof wood glue and then long screws through the side of the will up into the mullion.  Close the screw heads with wood filla. 

Next I review the beading. Rotten? Throw away and salvage what I can. Sand them down, nice and clean. Refit beading internal first.  It took a while, cutting mitres is a story, got to get the joins tight. No gaps.  

Now I apply one coat of external paint. I like plascon wall and all.

Stand back....looking good!!!

While the paint drys and I admire my carpentry skills, I work a lump of window putty in my hands. I press it, squeeze it, knead it, roll it into a Ball and catch myself making figures and faces with the putty. Stop that!

Start thumbing putty onto the inter beading all the way round then fit glass. Gently press the pane till the putty is pressed up against the glass uniformly. Top beading first, tap, tap, tap my panel pins then bottom and sides. Between the glass and the external beading I squeeze in more putty. 

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I did this for all the window panes. Then I went around with the white paint adding final coat of paint.

I thoroughly enjoyed this job.
Specially when the client smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. No more water damage and it looks like new.
Before I close off a few points to remember.

• Try to keep joint as close and tight as possible.
• Work window putty till its soft. If its hard, a bit of turps or linseed oil can be added to soften.
• Roll putty into sausages and press into frame first, then fit pane.
• When measuring for the glass pane remember the glass should be smaller than the frame. Subtract about 5mm off your total. This will give 2.5mm gap.
• Allow window putty to dry hard first before you paint.

Block Bench

 Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links to products that I use and love. If you click through and make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. 

So my cousin came to me and asked "Ricky, can you build a bench with bricks, cement an stuff?". I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and giggled "yes".  She went on to explain that the people she was renting from wanted a bench next to their pool.

Later that week I went round to have a look and to here what the client wanted. The mother and her two daughters handed me a picture downloaded from the net and ask " can you make it?" I said nothing and took the page.

They lead me out the door to the back, the pool area, to show me the space.

 Picture to the left is what I found. The client told me that they got a guy in who claimed to be a bricklayer and he said he could recreate the bench on the page.  They where mortified by the result.
I'm standing there smiling thinking "Damn, this guy is gonna make me look SO good".
I proceeded to break the existing structure with my hammer and chisel. Cleared the space out. I use a straight edge and spirit level to level out the ground.

I marked out a curve in the sand and packed out the blocks to create a visual. Then I called the girls, and granny, to come look. Granny took one look and said "it too big, make it a bit smaller". I did. Then called them out again. They where happy with the size. Lucky their gardener was on hand to help bring closer the sand, stone and cement. Together we mixed up a gauge of concrete. We cast the concrete foundation. Then let it set over night.

Next day started with the block work. Block by block. Brought the bench up. The seat I left hollow. The seat I filled with rubble and sand. Compacted that.

I layed a row of blocks on their side as seen in the pick to the left. Good bum to seat ratio.

I started to plaster the structure up. I'm not the best with a plaster trowel and hand hawk but the job came out Beautiful.

I went ahead with the levelling of the area in front of the chill area. Layed the pavers that were there and spread the stone about. The painting was done by the family themselves. They did an excellent job.

How To Survive Load Shedding

HOW TO SURVIVE LOAD SHEDDING

             A Layman's Guide

All is well, the TV is on, the kids are occupied and calm. Pots are simmering and hubby got his feet up. You're home and it has been a long day....and then....

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It happens. Load Shedding. Eskom strikes again. You feel the sadness creep up into your soul as you scramble, scratch and fumble around looking for your phone to activate the torch app. Meanwhile the kids have 101 questions about the obvious and your mind hasn't processed "the we need light" part properly yet. Know the feeling?

Well, here are some suggestions and ideas

Luminous paint. Paint a one of the kitchen drawers with luminous paint so when the lights go out.....glowing drawer. Why do I need a glowing drawer? That's your emergency drawer. Matches, candles, lamps, torches etc.

Or one could invest in rechargeable bulbs. Clever bulbs that have their own batteries that charge while the power is on and then stay on when the power goes out. I personally love these bulbs however, they are a bit pricey so, I would not fit the entire house rather the necessary areas like kitchen, bathroom, outside....OK maybe the living room. 

Nothing worse than not being able to cook or God forbid we can't make a cup of tea/coffee. For me the obvious choice here is gas. Two plate stove is all you need really. One for the kettle and one for the pot. There a range of gas stoves to choose from. If your a camper then don't break the bank your only gonna whip it out for those three hours of load shedding then pack it away after.  If your already on gas good for you. Work safely with gas. 

To keep devices charged there is a power station ( a big larnie power bank) which can charge most devices and power lights. These cost a pretty penny so in your emergency drawer have spare emergency power banks to top up cell phones. 

For surviving load shedding the fridge and deep freezer can remain off for the three hour shut down. Fridge will retain its cold for 4-6 hours freezer 24hrs. Freeze up a few bottles of water and when the power fails pop the frozen water bottles into the fridge. Also a full fridge holds its temperature longer. 

TV? ....leave it of even the devices for that matter. Devices (cell phones) are there for any emergencies illness, accident etc. Talk to each other it's only three hours. Dust off the old board games.

Oh p.s. remember switch off appliances at the plug sockets to protect them from returning spike or surge. Or purchase surge protector it looks like this.

The name of the game is "be prepared."  So in closing, when the lights go out don't rise to the occasion, sink to your preparation.

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links to products that I use and love. If you click through and make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. 

Hallway made Heavenly

The status of the hallway was warn, weathered and a tad out dated. Added to which the ceiling paint was cracked and peeling. Not on.

Enter woodenthumbs AKA gifted hands.

  

First things first, drop sheets down. Scrappers out. I start scraping all loose flaking paint from the ceiling. It's now snowing paint flakes.
Working with a ladder on stairs is a hassle at the best of times. In this case the client happened to be a fellow DIYer and hooked me up with a nifty accessory for the ladder.

As seen here to the left.

Done making it snow?....with all the loose paint scrapped off the ceiling you are left a patchy ceiling.                                                

Like this, see.
Now a step is formed between old paint and the unpainted surface. That step will show up soon as it's painted. To get rid of the step I used fine crack filler. I blend the two surfaces creating a 'ramp'. This now needs to dry. Leave it.

                                  

When the filler has dried completely it is time to start sanding. Another round of snow. Ha ha ha looks like I've been messing with flour. So now the surface is smooth and the step disguised. Time to paint.
Now to prevent a patchy finish the scrapped, original, surface gets a coat of masonry primer. Then a further coat of the colour, in this case white, before the ceiling gets coated as a whole. Remember to allow paint to dry between coats. I applied two coats so the finish is twice as nice.

That takes care of the ceiling. Now the wall. Thankfully the walls where in good shape so all I did was roll on the new colour.                                                                                            Just like this

Water Harvesting Tank Installation

Catch and Create your own water

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links to products that I use and love. If you click through and make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. 

With the resent scarcity of rain, water has becomes the new 'rare commodity'. Soon we'll be trading it on the stock market if things continue the way they are. With low to no rain fall coupled with a "....I pay my water." attitude we are heading for trouble. So in keeping with the 'green' trend and the save water campaigns being run by government, here's what I did.

I installed a 5000l water tank. Simple as that. Rural South Africa has been doing it for years.
First I cleared out a space for my tank and leveled the space out. Then I proceeded to mix up a batch of dagga...mortar, not weed! Cast a circular foundation and let that set and cure, 24 hours.

Since I was on a tight budget I opted for stone instead of buying blocks or bricks. Stones were free and I happen to like a stone finish. It was time to tap into my inner stone mason. I had to tap quite deep. I'm not gonna lie, it was labor intensive. Collecting and carrying. Then I sorted them and began to lay my first course. It was like doing a puzzle. Looking for the right piece to fit in and those that didn't cooperate got chiseled to fit. I must say, with all the chiseling, mixing and carrying my arms got quite the workout, it would have been great to have a mortar mixing machine but my protruding veins and glistening skin from the sweat gave the ego a great boost.

I brought my master piece up six courses. Cleaning the cement off the stone. 

                    






 

I filled her up and compacted the earth and rubble till it was hard. I now had a hard solid platform for my big green water tank. Now an empty water tank is not that heavy. It's getting ones arms around the thing to that may cause problems. At this point it's good to have a second pair of hands to help lift and position.

Right! Once I had it up and positioned I anchored it down with wire. On the top are 'pikes' that are for tying the wire round. Within my stone work I build in steel pegs. As the tank is positioned under and at the end of the roof, one can simply redirect the down pipe to run into your tank.
Now when it rains all the water God sends, you catch....amazing!

Now what happens when it doesn't rain? Well you make your own water. How? Easy, an what's more you've been making it the whole time and you didn't realize it.
The roof on your house is a water making machine. Condensation people! We have been wasting liters and liters of water. But now with my snazzy green water tank I get water even when it doesn't rain.

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