Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Second floor windows French mansard style

We have a French mansard roof at the second floor and for 75%. At the rear there is aluminum siding.
We ordered aluminum windows from GIT because we have a bow window from them and for more unity. Our old windows were sliding, which were not installed correctly and it was impossible to remove and wash them. We decided on casement windows to complete our windows works on the facade, and replaced 6 windows.
When we opened some wood was damaged by water, so some isolation was removed and wood replaced and covered in film. Although it did look bad, once opened from the outside it was finally ok. The company have replaced the grooved aluminum as well since we couldn't recuperate the old one.

Although the roof siding is vertical mostly under at least one window the plywood is damaged. My husband and son replaced some damaged shingles, so we can delay works to next year.






The windows look very nice and much nicer than any around in our neighborhood.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Refnishing bow window seat

When we installed the bow window in our living room years ago we protected the seat/shelf with polyurethane and it was slightly tinted in Minwax Golden Oak color.

After years of use some damage was done with a battery left there which leaked a bit and created a round imprint. A water bottle spray was left for a few days and created a stain. While examining the surface I noticed some areas were just worn off, so no surprise if even a little water would damage it.

So, I decided to remove the varnish, remove stains and re-varnish. I read many treads on Internet and decided to use a chemical stripper. This part went surprisingly well and fast.

Removing stains was a long and painful process and I couldn't perfectly remove them. I tried salt and lemon with no success. Tooth paste helped somewhat. Then chlorine bleach, but I was afraid to leave more stains. Chlorine can leave greenish stains. Then with oxalic acid by using Bartender's Friend. It was discoloring the wood around but would not completely remove stains. It has attenuated them at least. Then I used some peroxide and q-tips on the darkest parts. This helped a bit more. It looks like the wood itself was releasing some grey color that would create more stains.

You have to be really patient with stain removing and also accept wood will never be perfect. If you want perfection then may be select dark stain or just paint the wood as it was at my parents' house.

Staining clearer spots wasn't easy. I didn't want to saturate the color and get a dark result, but just match the previous stain.

After staining, I applied 4 layers of polyurethane (in the past only 2 were applied). The most difficult was removing latex caulking. I then reapplied the caulk, not easy to do a good job, but I applied tape to contain caulk and it helped a lot, but I still couldn't make a perfect job.

All in all it looks much better than before. However if we are to redo the floors, I would prefer installing new hardwood rather than refinish. This smaller work gave me idea on how messy it can be on a larger surface an much more difficult to control. Using chemicals is easy but the smell gave me headache, although everyone agreed it didn't smell much, as the window was opened and the room well aerated.
Last layer of varnish was more difficult to apply as it dries fast and I was afraid it would cause some sweating or drops on surface, but in the end it was just fine. On a small surface I had time to rectify, but on a floor I couldn't have done it. In any case we have installed a new floor in one of the rooms and have a compressor and all tools, and it looks gorgeous. It was fast and clean also.







Bathroom on second floor

This bathroom is shared by 3 rooms,, so basically by kids, grand parents and visitors. We had decided on a modern design with shower.

I have selected nice travertine porcelain tiles. Very close imitation, but glossy, so it would be easy to clean. I had actually chose big 12x24 tiles,, but when I got to the tile store, somebody had just bought the last stock of these tiles. Although I don't think they had enough stock for me. We were told more tiles were on the way which we ordered. When I got outside of the store, my car had a flat and my cell phone went out off power. Anymore signs against such big tiles?

For the floors I chose 12x24 tiles in mate finish, to prevent falls. These were difficult to set in but, we used plastic anchors to place and secure them.

Well we waited for 6 weeks, but when we called they told us the tile was never ordered in the first place, so more wait. Then 2 weeks later when we were installing the base and ready for the tile, the store has called us to offer to cut much bigger tiles for us since they were unable to restock. At that point we decided to go with smaller 6x24 tiles with interleaved pattern which looked gorgeous at the store demo. If they did cut the tile t would have uneven and cutting edges. In any case we were later very grateful for smaller tiles, which were so much easier to install.

As a base we went with acrylic, however we had to do some research to get a nice base which would accommodate teak floors inside as seen at the demo room at local Plomberium store. I then learned that teak floor cut to size would cost a little fortune. While browsing I came across teak mats at Homedepot for 100 CAD each. I bought 3 and they perfectly fit into the base. Yay. We installed the base into a cement bed, so it is very solid.

The walls in the shower were replaced with cement sheets and vapor barrier. And the shower niche using preformed plastic niche and tiling in.

For shower head I chose Moen for fixed and Hansgrohe raindance for hand held shower head and a switch button. Our shower and sink with a Moen handles as well and we decided to have a spout in the shower.

Shower doors are from Homedepot and they are frameless and very heavy. We had to fortify the walls to support the door, and needed 3 people to install. 

We decided to keep our existing wooden vanity, but to tile the counter top with marble like tiles and adding pull out wire 2 tier drawers inside.

The mirror cabinets and lights from IKEA Godmorgon collection. The mirror in the middle, I wanted it finished lower then the sides. So I went to a local glass store and the guy cut the mirror for me for 80$.

The toilet  is from Toto Aqia dual flush model which we already had in another bathroom in Colonial white.

To make the bathroom look modern we removed an arch.

This is the shower finished but vanity and mirror cabinets still to go. We had this paint paper on the walls which we removed and just painted in a natural white semigloss paint.