Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[shafty85]

By no means a renovation but we recently bought a place and I have to replace the front door weather stripping. The sellers had obviously replaced the original with an incorrect style as well as just taken it out from one side. Anyways - anyone know what type of weather stripping goes with this style of threshold? Home Depot doesn’t seem to have anything and the google has come up empty.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Looks like a t-slot seal that was installed in the threshold before the door frame was installed. A possible fix would be a wedge shaped rubber or silicone seal that you could glue into place. Shoe Goo or some similar type of ultra grippy adhesive would be needed for it to stay in place. Trying to install a new t-slot seal would prove frustrating imho.

[RootSkier]

I am having a hard time seeing what is going on there but are you sure it's not just a bumper sill that uses a regular, off-the-shelf weather strip that friction fits into that slot right below the top of the threshold?

Like so: https://www.lowes.com/pd/M-D-6-3-4-f...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you google "bumper sill" you can see pictures with this exact weather stripping installed in similar-looking thresholds.

[Vt-Freeheel]

That lowes item is the seal for the lock side jamb of a wooden door.

[RootSkier]

I dunno, I got a shitty steel exterior door for a sunroom at our old house and the sill weatherstripping was the same as the jamb weatherstripping...and it was that or something extremely similar.

[Art Shirk]

What would you guys suggest here? Wife wanted a leveled path in front of the planter boxes so I just started excavating a bit. I want to finish with stone or brick or something similar. What would you use and how would you lay it? Grade, gravel, sand then stones? Treated 4x4s on the borders? I would box in the steps but would you put 4x4 border on the street side of the main path too? I want to make it look ok but I don’t need to overdo it.





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[dtown]

^^^ obvious but make sure drainage goes away from planter boxes. For the borders I’d go stone, even treated lumber will eventually rot and it’ll look much nicer. Everything else sounds like the right approach.

Or you could do stone boarder and crushed limestone on the walkway but if you went that route I’d lay a couple of layers of weed mat.


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[zion zig zag]

Corten steel edging and flagstone. You don’t have enough room to mess around with a thicker edging material. Crushed limestone is nice but it gets in shoe tread and scratches floors.


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[BFD]

I agree it looks narrow. I would suggest grass with flagstone. looks like you are already up on a retaining wall. May be hard to hold the outside edge going higher.

[nickwm21]

If you want it to last; excavate/grade out like 4”, then get it wet and hit it hard with a tamper, then fabric, then 2” of rock, grade the rock well and hit hit hard with a tamper, then whatever your finish is: pavers on stand, flagstone, DG, etc...


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[Art Shirk]

Thanks for the input. I like the corten steel edge idea due to space and ease. That’s making me rethink boxing in the stairs with treated wood and going for some other option there as well, if there are any others. I’ll post an update later if I can source this stuff during the apocalypse. Would prefer to stay out of Home Depot.


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[glademaster]

I'm sure there are smaller lumber yards/hardware stores doing no contact pick-up for materials such as what you're looking for.

I know Chinook is offering services like that at their locations.

[shafty85]

I am having a hard time seeing what is going on there but are you sure it's not just a bumper sill that uses a regular, off-the-shelf weather strip that friction fits into that slot right below the top of the threshold?

Like so: https://www.lowes.com/pd/M-D-6-3-4-f...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you google "bumper sill" you can see pictures with this exact weather stripping installed in similar-looking thresholds.

Unfortunately, that’s not it. Installed that on the sides and top but it sits loose in the threshold notch and it doesn’t fill that bottom channel.

[::: :::]

Unfortunately, that’s not it. Installed that on the sides and top but it sits loose in the threshold notch and it doesn’t fill that bottom channel.

just for clarity...
you are trying to push it into the slot on the vertical leg of the threshold, right?
(not down into the horizontal surface of the threshold)

[::: :::]

Thanks for the input. I like the corten steel edge idea due to space and ease. That’s making me rethink boxing in the stairs with treated wood and going for some other option there as well, if there are any others. I’ll post an update later if I can source this stuff during the apocalypse. Would prefer to stay out of Home Depot.


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doesn't have to be COR-TEN (or any other pre-finished pre-patinated steel), mild steel will be fine & will look great

1/8" mild steel 4" x 120", leave it to rust
cut with grinder or hack saw

set it 1" above grade
you can stake it in place w/ cheap wood stakes until you have the finish gravel filling the walk space

you can set side "stringers" for a stair with 12" x 120"...just do a little math prior to order so that you don't overstock on that size

(img before finish gravel & welding makes it stronger, but with some ingenuity could be done w/out)

[Art Shirk]

Whaddaya think of this stuff that has the stakes already integrated?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/COL-MET-...814B/100137006

And glade, I’m with ya, I think there are some pick up options. And I know of a local place that will drop the gravel off for me.


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[::: :::]

Whaddaya think of this stuff that has the stakes already integrated?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/COL-MET-...814B/100137006

And glade, I’m with ya, I think there are some pick up options. And I know of a local place that will drop the gravel off for me.

Do black, not brown

As far as working with it
Making corners makes somewhat rounded results
[score/cut back & bend over a right angled shape, like a 4x scrap or somesuch]

the integrated stakes are useful for DIY install
[always have odd conditions where you terminate a piece & there's no integrated stake slot, tho]


I prefer the raw steel plate look & creating square corners by individual pieces, not bent (even if you get the prefab stuff)

[shafty85]

just for clarity...
you are trying to push it into the slot on the vertical leg of the threshold, right?
(not down into the horizontal surface of the threshold)

Correct. But I believe the channel on the bottom should be filled by the correct weather stripping. Just a matter of finding the correct one.

[::: :::]

Correct. But I believe the channel on the bottom should be filled by the correct weather stripping. Just a matter of finding the correct one.

more likely a "sweep" on the bottom of the door (the weather seal would be the one on the vert leg of threshold)

take the door hinge pins out & flip door over to see properly what was installed on the bottom edge of the door...several styles available

[shafty85]

I’ve looked at that - currently nothing there. I find it hard to imagine one would design a threshold with a channel to collect dirt/debris and potentially water. Once I figure out what the threshold seal is meant to be I’ll move on to the sweep. The door weather stripping does fit into that slot on the vertical face of the threshold but it’s a loose fit, whereas on the sides of the door it was a tight fit. But it does need something or there’s just a gap on the exterior side of the door.


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[Garbowski]

My basement in Seattle has painted concrete walls and floor- I bought it like that. It's not particularly humid or wet, but of course the paint is peeling in spots and we have some minor efflorescence. We do hang out down there to watch movies and the kids do art projects and horse around. I would just like to freshen it up- not trying to waterproof it or anything.

Is it really worth it to scrape all the old paint off, or just scrape off what is flaking? Any other prep tips? What kind of paint should I use? Part of me wants to just throw some old ceiling paint I have on there and call it good- seems like all the 'concrete' paint wants a bare wall. I feel like nothing is going to last more than a couple years anyway.

[Vt-Freeheel]

With the peeling and efflorescence there is likely moisture coming out of the concrete. Lay a sheet of clear plastic over a peeling area and see if moisture condenses under it. If so it will be hard to get paint to adhere long term, especially ceiling paint.

[Nobody Famous]

Will an elastomeric paint work on this? I suspect it would be a water barrier and keep any moisture in the concrete, not sure that's what you want.

And you'd not want to have part of the wall with old paint and some parts elastomeric.

[Garbowski]

Thanks! I'm not sure I want to keep moisture in- I feel like it would be better to go into the basement air (I do run a dehumidifier) than stay in the foundation. For all I know the paint could be elastomeric already. It's not major efflorescence or peeling- I do have some bare concrete in other parts of the basement that don't seem particularly bad for a 115 year old basement, but there's definitely patterns where you can see how the moisture is coming in. I thought that was normal for concrete though. We've apparently had some of the heaviest rains/wettest months on record since we've lived here and no water issues. I'll throw some plastic up to see if this is a problem or if it is just a cosmetic thing.

[Nobody Famous]

Elastomeric paint will not let any moisture through provided there are no breaks in the coating. If the existing is elastomeric paint you do not want mix paint types, so forget the ceiling paint, because you'll have problems, with dissimilar chemistry where the two types overlap.