The framing lumber is salvaged, purchased and prepared. I took a last look at the 1450 square foot, wide open basement. This will probably the last time I see it in this state. It is time to begin with the interior wall framing.

We decided that the most urgent walls were those around the utility and bathroom, which includes the 12 inch utility wall that continues upwards through the 1st and 2nd floor. Once these walls are in place we can begin with the installation of the mechanical equipment and plumbing.

Our friend Drew stopped by to help, which is a good thing. He has some experience in rough framing and taught me a thing or two.

Lesson #1: This is called rough framing for a reason, not cabinet making.

Well, he had to work a little to get this into my head.  I am an exacting sort of character, and it was good to step out of my reputation for measuring to the millimeter for a moment – a brief moment.

Lesson #2: Pre-assemble the wall sections on the floor and lift them into place.

Don’t laugh at me, but I would have built the walls at a snail’s pace in place! Think of all the fun I would have missed! The swiftness with which we pre-assembled the sections and placed them was pretty cool.
One section of the utility wall was not so cool. We had to build it in place, because of PEX tubing and other plumbing that was in the way.

Lesson #3: Bring strong nerves.

Once the framing was in place, we nailed the top plates to the overhead floor joists and anchored the bottom plates (the cedar studs) into the concrete floor. The anchoring is a little nerve wracking because of the PEX tubing in the concrete floor. The last thing we want is to drill into or through the tubing. That would open a big old can of worms!

For that very reason, we used anchors that only went one inch into the concrete. We also checked the pressure gauge on the PEX tubing after each anchor was set to make sure we didn’t screw up – or through for that matter.

May be this is worthwhile repeating: We checked the gauge after EACH anchor so that we would have known, without a doubt, where to repair the PEX. I do not recommend drilling a few holes and then check.

Lesson #4: Feel free to be creative.

I discussed a landscape design matter with a colleague of mine. He used the analogy that you would lead visitors to your home into the nice living room, not the boiler room in the basement. That gave me some pause.

We are sure we will have quite a few visitors who would like to see how we rehabbed the building. I bet that a good number of them couldn’t care less about our living room furniture or decoration. Rather, they would be interested to see and learn about our green technology mechanical systems, i.e. the boiler room in the basement.

The mechanical room is not something we should hide, but make visually accessible. To follow through on the idea, I purchased a used door with a large glass pane at the ReBuilding Exchange. I also got a piece of plate glass which we’ll use as a window next to the door.

This way we can have small groups of visitors looking at our mechanical gadgets from the large laundry room, rather than falling over each other in the small and packed mechanical room.

Our friend Drew and I are warmed up after preparing and installing the window bucks, followed by the doors. We considered starting with framing work in the basement, but first need to organize some 2 by 4s.

I am proud to say that the only lumber that I bought at a regular home improvement store or lumber yard to date was the treated material for the bucks and a couple of plywood pieces way back when. The remaining 95% of material has all been salvaged and reclaimed lumber.

Not only does it help with our resource efficiency goal, it also assists with our rehab budget. I have been fortunate enough to find salvaged and reclaimed framing lumber for the fraction of the cost of new lumber.

It gets even better, because of the material we got for free! We salvaged a good quantity of old growth and nominal framing lumber during the deconstruction of the basement and 1st and 2nd floor. We de-nailed it, cut of the bad areas and split ends and then organized it by length so it was ready to be reused for the new basement framing.

Although this will keep us going for a while, my count showed that the stack was not enough to finish the job. It was time to make another trip to the ReBuilding Exchange, where I found more framing material for the basement job.

Earlier this year, the ReBuilding Exchange was overflowing with construction lumber. This time around, the lumber section looked somewhat empty and I learned that a lot of the salvaged lumber was bought up by various community gardens for their raised beds. I am glad to see that the reuse market is growing!

I loaded up enough 2 by 4s to finish the basement job, brought them home and slipped them through a front window into the basement. Now we are almost ready to go.

Despite all my bragging about the salvaged materials, I still have to make one trip to the lumber yard. I decided I need to buy a handful of cedar studs for the bottom plates on the concrete floor.

We are going to great lengths to manage and control moisture in the basement. That said, if there are any moisture issues (such as a spill) they would first show at floor level. Thus our proactive interest in using moisture resistant material, i.e. the cedar studs at the concrete floor to bottom plate interface.

After we determined what pre-hung exterior doors will meet our needs and budget, we indulged in actually spending the money. It is always more fun doing so after having put some research into a product. It’s somewhat rewarding.

Our friend Drew stopped by to help with the door installation and we decided to have a test run with the back door.

The process is similar to the window buck preparation and installation. To begin with, we prepared the masonry opening to make sure that the buck fits in with a little thermal break gap that we can spray out with foam.

Off the shelf, doors with frames come in standard widths (typically 32 and 36 inches) and standard heights (typically 80 inches). We had to decide what door size would fit into our masonry openings.

A 38 inch wide masonry opening would have room for a thermal break gap and a two by six buck on each side. That leaves us with a 34 to 34 ½ inch opening (depending on the width of the thermal break gap), just enough to fit the frame of the 32 inch wide steel door we purchased.

The door height is 80 inches (6’-8”) which is pretty good for a basement, and just about enough for a tall guy like me (6’-7”). I won’t fit through if I were cowboy boots, but should otherwise.

By the way, this was all figured out before we purchased the doors. I had made a couple of trips to the store to measure and re-measure the outer door frame dimensions to determine what would fit.

Back to the basement: We pre-assembled the buck, then made sure it was square and big enough to receive the door and frame. This one is different than the window buck because it only has the two sides.

We set the buck into the masonry opening and then put shims on all four sides while making sure it was plumb, level and square. Before we fastened it to the wall we checked once more that the door and frame would fit.

Each side of the buck is anchored into the masonry opening with five 4 ½ inch long, ¼ inch masonry tap screws. Like with the window buck, and as mentioned above, we prefer a small gap – a thermal break – between the buck and the masonry that we can spray out with foam.

Next we set and shim the door and frame into the buck, making sure the assembly was level, plumb and square. Ideally, we have a minimum of 3/8 to ¼ inch gap between the door frame and buck, which eases the installation. That gap will also be filled with low expanding spray foam to eliminate air leakage potential.

Another quality control mechanism that is recommended is to check all weather stripping gaps between the door and frame. These gaps along the top, bottom and sides should all be the same size. If not, you are guaranteed that the doorframe is not square.

Last but not least we fastened the door frame into the buck with the supplied 3 inch wood screws and tested that the door opened and closed properly.

We still have to install the locks, but there is no immediate urgency. So we leave that task and the security storm door installation for another day.

Maybe I should take a short break from the windows. How about doors instead? We still have to resolve the exterior door issue for the basement front and back.

Having secure doors that make a break-in difficult is important to us. My research earlier this year led me to a couple of commercial steel door products that would do the job and somewhat met our energy requirements. The problem was the price tag. Around $1,500 for a steel skin door with foam filled core and thermally broken steel door frame. Ouch!

We had the time to step back from the whole issue, rethink and wait for the lucky coincidence that may spark a new idea.

The new idea was triggered when we were looking at storm doors. We ran into a category called security storm doors.

Rather than spending $1,500 on a heavy duty commercial door that has no NFRC rating, we could spend up to $600 on a light duty residential steel door with a security storm door to the outside.

We have no illusion that the residential steel door, typically a gauge 22 or 24, would not offer the security of a commercial door, typically with a gauge 16 or 18. But that security deficit is bridged by the storm door, typically manufactured out of heavier duty steel.

We found an affordable product with a large laminated security glass pane and a three point lock system. I am sure someone could still break in, but only after having gotten the neighbors’ attention.

The security issue appears resolved, the price tag of $600 seems much more reasonable, but what about the energy side?

We had no problem finding an affordable, pre-hung, 22 gauge residential steel door with a foam core, a thermally broken aluminum threshold and U-value of 0.14 (R-value of about 7). The door has the ever-important NFRC rating and as such would qualify for the tax credit and comply with the Chicago Green Homes Program.

Now that we shifted the security performance onto the storm door, I also feel comfortable with the wooden door frame of the pre-hung steel door. That eliminates the worries about a thermally broken steel frame, satisfies our energy expectations and carries a much more reasonable price tag.

Furthermore, if we install the security door relatively airtight and with good weather stripping, we may be able to add another R-1+ to the whole assembly, which gives my energy-ego a big boost.

The beauty of remodeling is that you think you are done with one job, only to find out that you are not.

I proclaimed that we had taken care of the basic masonry repair in the basement and around the windows. That was before I took a close look at the window sills of the two basement bathroom windows.

The sills, once one nice piece of carved limestone, were pointing and sloping in all sorts of directions, and were a lit wobbly and cracked into three pieces. A situation that was incompatible with the installation of new windows.

I still had salvaged limestone sills in the yard from a nearby tear-down that I could use for the replacement. First, though, I had to remove a lot of concrete that was poured all along the western edge of the house, presumably to keep water away from the foundation wall.

Removing the old sill pieces was comparatively easy. I also removed some of the loose limestone from the foundation wall under the sills and mortared them back into place. This should provide the sills with a firm footing. Last but not least, I fitted and placed the new sills, making sure that they were level across the window, but had a slight slope outward into the yard.

Does that conclude the masonry repairs? I am afraid not. The list of minor and major masonry repair works is still growing.

The old window bars, which are let into the masonry wall, have rusted so much that they have begun to push the brick work out. We would like to install new bars and at that time repair the brick around the outside window opening.

We also have the issue with the cement parging around the bottom of the house. The parging covered up water-damaged brick, which actually made the problem even worse because it prevents the masonry from drying out. We would like to remove the parging  and replace all the water-damaged brick.

Then there is the foundation wall that we will need to re-point once we start excavating for the footing drain and insulation. Cathy and I know that we will not shoulder that task again but will have a pro on the job.

Back to the basement windows! The basic masonry repairs are taken care of and I would like to get the final measurements, which allows me to get a final bid on the windows.

First, though, I have to frame out the masonry opening with what is called a buck. The buck is the wooden frame that sits inside the opening of the brick and holds the window in place.  I will get the final measurements for the window from measuring the interior of the buck.

My friend Ben from the 168 Elm Ave. project was kind enough to stop by and offer his advice on the buck installation. He pointed out that nine out of the 16 window openings were almost the same size. Rather than tailoring each individual buck, he recommended that I pre-assemble nine of the same size for those openings.

I have a bunch of lumber to cut, although ending up with a number of same sized window bucks expedites the process.

The basement windows are rather close to the ground, therefore close to moisture sources such as splashing rain water. To add to the longevity of the window buck, we purchased 2 by 6 treated lumber for the sides and top, and 1 by 6 composite lumber for the sill plate.

The sill plate will have the most severe exposure to moisture, thus our decision to use the composite lumber, which provides an excellent rot resistant material.

The hardware also influences the longevity of the assembly. I have to use coated screws to put the buck together. Uncoated screws would corrode in the treated lumber.

The lumber is cut and I’ve got the hardware; time to put the bucks together.

It is important to assemble the buck as square as possible. To add rigidity and keep it square while I am moving it around, I stiffened the top corners with triangular plywood pieces and added another plywood piece along the bottom.

Here is another subtle detail that helps with moisture management and should increase the longevity of the buck assembly.

I cut the bottom of the two sides at a two degree angle, which gives the sill plate (the composite lumber piece) a slight slope outwards. This, so I hope, prevents any water from sitting on the sill plate or at the bottom of the window.

It’s time to install the buck.  I set it into the masonry opening and shim on all four sides. While doing that, I check several times that the assembly is level, plumb and square. The easiest way to check for square is to measure diagonally across the buck from corner to corner. Both diagonals must measure the same distance.

This is somewhat important as the window units will come perfectly square, and we want them to fit into the buck opening.

The last step requires attaching the buck with ¼ inch masonry screws into the brick opening.

Once that is done we can take a closer look at how it all fits.

Yes – what you see there is a gap between the brick opening and the buck – and it is intentional.

The triple-glazed windows we are about to install will have a U-value of 0.20, which is about R-5. The assembly surrounding the window should meet, or preferably exceed R-5. If not, we will have paid good money on high efficiency windows but lose energy through the sides, defeating the whole point of the investment.

The pressure treated lumber (pine) has about an R-value of 1 per inch. The gap gives me a thermal break between the masonry and the buck, which I can spray out with foam to increase the thermal resistance to an R-5 or greater. This is a subtle detail that will have a significant impact on the thermal comfort.

All right, now I am ready to take the final measurements and get the bids for the windows. I hope we won’t end up cost-shocked again!

Late last year I re-pointed (or tuck pointed) some areas of the interior brick wall on the first floor. It was only necessary where I had localized moisture damage.

I am now moving down one floor, into the basement, where the moisture damage is much more wide spread, and as such a lot more re-pointing is needed. There are two general kinds and causes of moisture damage.

The soaked wall

A part of the front basement wall was completely soaked. The source for all the moisture was a disintegrated roof drain that must have had water running down the brick work for years.

Having had the wall open and exposed for a few months now allowed some of the moisture to dry out. Still, we will need to re-point this entire wall section.

Sorry – no images of raking out the joints with the angel grinder. Too much dust for the camera to handle.

Parging trap

The rest of the re-pointing work was limited to the lower section of the brick work in the basement. Above that, the mortar is in pretty good shape.

The line between deteriorated joints and sound mortar coincides with the cement parging on the outside of the building.

The parging acts like a vapor barrier or vapor retarder and only allows the brick work to dry out towards the inside of the building. This one directional drying process is not very effective and will cause elevated moisture levels in the masonry. That in turn led to the deteriorated mortar joints on the inside.

Re-pointing these lower sections of the brick work around the basement is only half the remedy needed. To fix the elevated moisture levels, we will need to let the wall dry out into both directions – we will need to remove the cement parging on the outside wall.

Why is the parging there in the first place? Well, it is one of those ‘sweeping it under the carpet’ issues. Rather than fixing a problem, it gets covered up.

The problem here was water damaged brick above the limestone foundation.

The solution was and is to replace the brick, keep moisture away from the wall, and let it dry out in both directions.

Hmm, sounds like another interesting masonry repair project, doesn’t it?

Repairing the masonry work on the inside around the hole in the wall – namely the one added basement window – is less than half the story. Dealing with the exterior repairs is much more interesting.

All original windows have proper stone window sills. This one had not. It was half-heartedly set on the limestone foundation wall with plenty of nooks and crevices for critters, water and air to get in and out.

I fixed that by removing some of the limestone to make room for a salvaged cut stone sill.

Then, as with the inside, I deconstructed the edges around the window back to the original brick work and rebuilt it from there with salvaged brick and the right type of mortar.

The work around this added window was bad, but at least it was consistently bad.

The window had no header on the inside, nor on the outside. Adding the outside header was a little involved.

We took our cues from the architecture around the original windows, which all have a two layered segmental brick arc. This construction is structurally super sound, and something that has been used for centuries. Just think of arched cathedral ceilings.

To install my modest arc header, I build a template that I fitted into the window opening. It allowed me to mortar in place the two segmental brick arches. Once the mortar was cured – a couple of days later – the template could go.

From the removal of the original windows to the small masonry repairs at every window, this was a bigger task and accomplishment, which we began to refer to as our little l’arc de triumph.

I like to think that its sustainable impact could also be somewhat triumphant. So many thinks that are done or that we do around our buildings are often executed with so little thought, which can lead to long term damage rather than adding to the longevity of a structure. It is about the other side of green.

I removed the old basement windows and now have repair work in the masonry opening ahead of me. There is some moisture damage to take care of as well as filling the recesses of the old wooden window sill and head in the top and bottom corners.

One of the windows is an unusual case and requires a little more tender-loving care.

We discovered during our basement deconstruction that it is not an original window, but had been added sometime later.

This is a curse as well as a blessing as with most other things that had been added later in this building. We don’t mind having the extra window in the basement, but we now have to deal with shoddy masonry work around the edges, which was done with the wrong mortar. But worst of all, this window had no header and thus no support for the two floor joists. Instead, they were just resting on the window jambs – not something you can call a structurally sound solution.

That said, this setup obviously has worked for a number of years. Nevertheless, I got increasingly nervous each time I looked at the window and decided quickly to shore up the non-supported floor joists.
I now could safely remove the shoddy masonry work around the window edge, deconstructing everything back to the original brick work.

After everything was cleaned out, I began to rebuild the masonry opening with salvaged common brick and the right mortar (type O). I finished the job by crowning the window with a 4 by 6 old growth header, the same kind of header we have over all other basement windows. This set-up has a 100+ year successful track record … enough to convince us that this is the way to put it back together.

This takes care of the inside work. Next step is to get the outside part of the window fixed.

I got on a roll—the window roll, that is. And I’d better be, because there is still a lot to take care of regarding the windows…specifically the basement windows.

Some of them are the original 100-plus-year-old windows, which are falling apart. Some have been replaced once with single pane double hung windows, but the jambs are still original, and show a lot of rot. There is nothing to salvage here. I have the privilege to rip out the entire window assembly down to the brick opening. The job involves a sawzall to cut the jambs, and a hammer, pry bar and a lot of dust.

What are we putting back into the opening? High efficiency double hung replacement windows.

I would have preferred casement or awning windows, because they usually have a lower air leakage rate and better energy performance. The problem is that both those styles open outwards, which would interfere with the exterior security guards.

Hopper or tilt-and-turn windows would have been another option, but I couldn’t find these styles as high performance windows or at the right price point. So we are settling on the double hung which do not interfere with the guards.

Our research led us to Uniframe and Serious products, which fall within our energy performance parameters.

Once I have framed the brick opening with a new buck and once I can take the final measurements for the replacement windows, I will request pricing for both and take it from there.