I’m still amazed at how fast time goes by. I took off the old back door, extended it, and refinished it back at the end of October, so it’s been five months without a back door downstairs!
Instead of trying to save pieces, I tore off this whole wall and re-framed it. Now it has a door opening and a window next to it. Above right is the view from inside, with the plywood already on.
A problem I am going to have to resolve later is the post from the stairs, right in front of the window (above left). I’m planning to support it from the roof (extend the roof out to make a bit of an overhang, and sit the post on the overhang). Above right, the door is in, and I’ve put the old window temporarily into the window opening (we’ve ordered new windows).
I also got a new toy. I can’t believe I’ve not used a palm nailer before, but they are awesome: The opening at the end accepts loose nails (one at a time). Then you place the nail against what you want to nail it into, and the nailer just vibrates the nail into the wood. It’s so effortless that it’s unbelievable. It’s especially useful in tight spaces that you can’t swing a hammer.
I used it to nail in the clips that support the roof rafters, and to attach the blocking. Notice the ear protection: That nailer is LOUD. Between each rafter, there’s a piece of wood cut to fit. This wood gets nailed to the roof, the top of the wall (usually with a metal ‘A35’ clip) and to the rafters each side. It serves very important purposes: It stops the rafters rolling over, it acts as a connection between the roof and the wall in an earthquake, and it closes off the space between the joists.
The problem with the last part is that when you have insulation, you need to ventilate above the insulation so that moisture does not build up and rot the wood. So we added holes, with mesh screens on them to let air in.
Above left – the door is in, and the wall moisture barrier paper on. Above right, I’m looking out of one of the random holes that’s left when I screw up all the temporary bits of plywood that I find lying around. This wall will be all windows soon. Above my head between the rafters you can see the blocking all in place (primed white).
Another view from inside the laundry room. Before the blocking was in, Arwen almost jumped out one of the openings between the rafters. We didn’t even notice that she was in the room, and then Janeen looked up and saw her hanging out the outside!
Above right, these old windows are the windows we replaced at the front of the house, and in the bedroom (2009!). They have been gathering dust in our garage, and now I’m going to put them to use.
I’m cutting the frames shorter, and reassembling them so that I can use them in the garage back room (under the laundry room). Should get them in next week…
Here’s our view when we are working on the back door.