Dover Projects

Welcome to Dover Projects!

You may have stumbled to my blog "Dover Projects" though a web search and now are wondering, who is this guy? Is he a professional? What is "Dover Projects"? So here's the deal.

I'm a homeowner of about 6 years now. Prior, I had only lived in apartments where no home maintenance or projects where needed. When we first bought the place, I had quite a bit of trepidation about home projects and maintenance, although I was always a fan of power tools, and making stuff, like tree houses and wooden go karts as a kid.

My wife, has the natural tendency to want to improve/upgrade things around the nest/house, whereas my main goal has always been to make sure I don't let the value of the house slide because of poor maintenance and repair. Our place is a 100 year old farmhouse, and as you might imagine there are quite a few projects that fit in to either the upgrades category or the maintenance category.

Mowing... 2 little guys make some projects a little harder...

My wife's family members are all very well versed in all types of DIY projects and thus she kinda expects that I know this stuff too. They don't live nearby so I can't tap them for information. I had to step up to the plate and learn about lots of stuff that I didn't know about. I remember when we first moved in, I'd tell people that I had know idea how the systems of a house worked, no idea how the heat worked, no idea how the pluming worked, and no idea exactly what is behind our walls (I'm still not entirely sure). ha!

Well being on a budget, having a true love for accumulating tools, and enjoying the feeling of accomplishing a a job done well done, and done by myself, has taken on what I now call "Dover Projects", a place where I share my projects. Before starting this blog, and the articles here, I would take pictures of my projects just for the fun of it. I now take pictures for the fun of it, and to be able to add them to a how to article for this blog.

My messy workbench!

Here's how my projects and articles get done. With all of my projects I know very, very little about the job before I get started. Because of this, and the love of learning about projects, I tend to go overboard with my research. I'll read multiple books on the subject. I'll research the internet heavily, I'll tap neighbor's experiences and so on. Much to my wife's shagrin, this part of all of my projects takes a huge chunk of time, but I'm a detail person and I like doing things as correctly as possible.

Here's what I read. No fiction for me! ha

By the time I'm done with this extensive research and also having now actually done the project, I feel I can write about it. Here's why I write about my projects: 1. To help others with their similar projects, 2. To show off my work! and 3. To document what I did should I need to look back.

I try to make the point that I'm not an expert. Each article has red text warning that "I'm not a professional at all..." I'm often torn between sharing a project or not. If I feel the project went well and I can add my input and share my experience for others in a thorough way I'll write it up for here. Many projects I've done have not made the it to the pages of Dover Projects because I didn't feel that I learned enough to write about something, or the project was less than successful.

I've found that no matter how many times I say, "I'm not an expert", people tend to think because they see this information in writing, that I must be an expert... I can tell this based on the questions I receive, many of which I'm not qualified to answer, so I don't, and instead I try to guide people to other resources for the correct answers.

This is my wife. We work as a team when we can, but 2 little guys makes that increasingly difficult for us to work on projects together. She has threatened to write an article here about how I never really finish any of my projects all the way, and I never clean up my tools and mess! These points are both very valid and I've offered to give her an article here, to tell the world about my flaws, but thus far she hasn't taken me up on it! She would also say I'm too bossy... perhaps this is true as well.... :)

Okay, so there you have it. That's how my projects get done, and how they end up here on my blog.

In addition to this blog, I'm also (recently) very interested in social media. This in itself is a project, but not one I write about here, as Dover Projects is about home improvement projects, and not social media.

For my real job though (I work at a software company), I'm starting to be tasked with looking in to the ways we should be involved in social media. I'm a graphic designer in the marketing department and I've had some experience with blogging, so I'm diving deeper into the social media subject and using my Dover Projects blog as the first stepping stone to rounding out what is also a testing platform for using all of the social media networks. Eventually I'll transfer things that I've learned here to my role at work, for us to be involved in social media.

So I've started a Dover Projects space on Facebook, and also have a Dover Projects Twitter account and now also a Dover Projects YouTube account where I've been posting a few videos so that I can share them via Facebook.

Though all of this, I have one over arching goal... to bring value to you, the visitor. I hope that I never misdirect you. I hope you do find the information useful, entertaining, and inspiring. I tend to write very long articles, as I want to go more in depth than the typical magazine article that might leave out half of the real world details for example. My articles are not quick reads. They are, in most cases, the entire story from beginning to end, complete with real world bumps in the road...

Oh, one last thing. People sometimes wonder how I have the time to do these projects and THEN have the time to actually write up the articles... Well, we do our projects on the weekends and during our vacations. Many of the projects you see here were done before we had kids... Major slow down with the little guys needing us now... I wrote most of these articles at 4:00 am, before the family gets up, or late at night when all are asleep. That's how much I love writing these up. I'm excited to write about my projects and sometimes my eyes pop up early with eager anticipation of a new article and I'll jump outta bed to grab those few hours of quiet time to write.

Exhausted from weekend warrior DIY projects...

And one final word. Thanks to my wife for putting up with the extra time I put into the researching and documenting of our projects. It's been many hours in the works. Many people would simply hire someone, and also not feel the need to share their projects with the world.... Thanks Sweetie for indulging me!

I should note, I do not have any affiliations with any building services, material dealers, or products. I'm not selling anything. I share my articles for the reasons mentioned above only.

Okay, let's get on to the projects! I wish you all the best success with your projects and I love when people comment on my articles to either point out when I have something wrong, or to say what they are doing with their projects, or just to say "hi"...

For more frequent updates (multiple times a day sometimes) join me on Dover Projects on Facebook! See you there!

Happy DIYing!

--Peter

Happy Holidays!

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Repair Wood Rot: Epoxy Wood Filler

How to fix rotten wood with epoxy wood filler. I'm going to show my repair to the bottom of my exterior door trim, but you can also repair other wood rot, like window sills and frames, porch columns, decorative wood, and so on. These are cosmetic fixes and not "structural fixes" (repair to sill beams for example and other load bearing structures).

After scraping old paint off our exterior door, I noticed something that wasn't good. Some of the trim around the bottom of the door was rotted out. So I pried off the middle board shown above, and found that matters were even worse than I thought. The sill beam below the door had rotted as well! Oh boy...

Here's what the sill beam looked like with most of the worst rot removed. But you can see that in order to repair the sill beam (the 6"x6" beam on top of the foundation shown above), I'll have to remove the left exterior door trim to get at the beam. Note: I don't have the sill beam repair article done yet, but I will soon.

What follows is only about making a cosmetic fix to the bottom section of the left door trim. That bottom section, although it doesn't look too bad in this photo, was very rotted (mostly on the back side) and very soft up a few inches from the bottom. This is what happens when wood is in contact moist surfaces (the steps, during rain and snow). Also the wood grain at the end of the boards is particularly good at sucking up moisture. Note: You can click on any photo to enlarge them.

Rather than remove the whole piece of left door trim, it seemed easier in this case just to cut the lower few inches off with a sawzall, make the rot repair with wood epoxy, and then reattach it later. I could have manufactured a new matching piece of wood, but it would have been quite a bit of work, as the piece was unique in size and notched out in the back, and also was not an available trim piece from home stores. I remembered seeing an article online about repairing rot with epoxy, so it was off to Google to research "rotten wood repair", as I was also eager to learn about rot repair for the fun of it as well!

After researching it was time to repair the rot. Here's what I did, using 2 products:
1. Liquid wood hardener (resin that penetrates soft wood, making it hard again)
2. Epoxy Wood Filler (2 part epoxy to rebuild/replace the rotted wood)

Here's the bottom of the door trim. You can see the rot from the front doesn't look too bad, but much of it was so brittle it just came loose in my hands, after this photo was taken.

The wood rot was worse on the back. The rotted wood was completely dry, but very soft and crumbly. Note: I'm in these photos as I was using the laptop as my camera here, and had to see what I was shooting. Please excuse my large nose!

Step 1: Remove Unstable Rotten Wood

The first step to repair wood rot with epoxy wood filler, is to remove any rotted wood that is loose, crumbly or very soft. You want to get down to reasonably stable wood. It can be a bit soft though. I used a screw driver, like a dentist removing tooth decay. Wire brushes work well for other flatter surfaces. The wood should also be completely dry, or as dry as possible before going further. This might mean using a heater, or fan, or whatever to dry the piece out. Or if it's an exterior piece you might need to cover the area with a trap for a while to thoroughly dry it out. Less than 20% moisture content is the recommended level, but who has a moisture meter? Just use common sense and get it as dry as possible.

Step 2: Drill Holes in and Around the Affected Area

Drilling holes helps the liquid wood hardener penetrate deeper into the wood. I should have drilled hole a bit bigger. 1/4" is recommended. Don't drill all the way through!

Step 3: Apply Liquid Wood Hardener

There are a number of brands out there. I just happened to have quick access to this one (Minwax, High Performance, Wood Hardener). This can was about $9.50 at Home Depot.

Lather on a few quick coats with a cheap disposable bristle brush. Be sure to get every nook and cranny. Then let it dry for 2-3 hours. When dry, the resin that has penetrated the soft wood will make it hard and stable again. My glove here looks weird as the lower half ripped off, so it's not some special fingers only glove, ha!

Step 4: Add Screws for Strength as an Extra Measure.

The screws are optional, but are not a bad idea, as they act like rebar (reinforcing bars used in concrete). The screws give the epoxy wood filler something to grab on to and will add strength to the repair. I used exterior deck screws.

Step 5: Mix up a Batch of Epoxy Wood Filler

This just happens to be Bondo epoxy wood filler. Many people have used regular Bondo for fixing wood rot before with no issues, but a quick Google search will also turn up just as many people saying that the traditional Bondo (used for auto body repair) isn't a good idea to use on wood rot repair, as it does not expand and contract with temperature changes and that a dedicated epoxy wood filler, made for wood rot does. The product above is from Bondo and say it's a "wood filler". I've never seen it before (might be the same as the auto Bondo, who knows). Anyway the photo on the front looked convincing so I figured I give it a go, as other epoxies I found online were more expensive. I'll give follow up, updates as to how it holds up in our harsh New England winters and humid summers.

First you fill the supplied cup with the wood filler. Forgot to put my gloves on here.

Then you squeeze out a bead of epoxy hardener to a length of the diameter of the cup (see your product for specific directions).

Mix the Bondo and the hardener up well with a disposable plastic putty knife.

Step 6: Apply the Epoxy Wood Filler to the Rotted Wood

Be sure to goop it into the nooks and crannies. I used plastic putty knife and screw driver to work it into the pockets of the rotted wood. Bondo suggest that you build up layers no greater than 1/2 inch thick at a time.

Bondo sets up quickly, so you'll be mixing up a few batches and applying it in layers if you have to build up a large section as I did. I'm sure there's a neater way to do this (you can build a form out of plastic), and I'm sure some people are better skilled with their putty knifes (you can wet your putty knife with lacquer thinner to keep the wood filler from sticking to it). I didn't bother much with neatness and it shows, but it didn't seem to matter. All this extra bulk will be sanded away. Let it cure for 30 minutes. It'll get warm, as the chemicals do their thing.

After about 15 minutes with a 5" orbital sander, I was able to craft a very close replica of the original trim piece, complete with notched cut out on the back side (the house siding goes behind that notch). No more wood rot here. And once primed, painted and reattached, this piece will be rot resistant, as it's epoxy, not wood.

More photos and story coming shortly of the piece being reinstalled.--Peter

Products/Tools
Minwax, High Performance, Wood Hardener
Bondo Home Solutions Wood Filler (No info. on 3M's website, they make the stuff)
Popular alternative: Abatron LiquidWood, and Abatron WoodEpox
Another alternative: Conserv Epoxy
Another alternative: PC Products
Wire brush, screw driver or whatever to remove the rot
Drill
Disposable bristle brush
Plastic putty knife
Shaping tools: Rasp, sandpaper, sander, etc.

Resources
The Family Handyman: How to Repair Wood Rot with Epoxy
This Old House: How to Repair Rotted Trim with Epoxy
Abatron.com: Wood rot repair information and products
PC Products: Product video

My Standard Disclaimer: This is what I did. This does not mean this is the best way, the right way, to building code, or even safe for your needs. So you are on your own with your project. I make no promises about the information presented here. I'm just a do-it-yourselfer, not a professional at all, sharing my story. So if something goes wrong with your project, you are on your own. Good luck, and have fun!

All content and photos, copyright 2009, Dover Projects.
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Cleaning Algae, Mildew and Mold with a Pressure Washer

Every Spring it seems our house's vinyl siding, porch, and deck attract dirt, algae, mold and mildew, and needs a cleaning. Prior to buying a pressure washer I used a hose which did an okay job. I've stepped that process up a bit now!

No, this isn't about cleaning siding, but I'm starting with this photo to show you the power of a pressure washer. This is a shot where I've removed years of surface crud from unfinished pressure treated wood. The new looking wood is where I have given the steps a good close up blasting. It's slow work doing this kind of cleaning, but the results are amazing. But please do read further down in this article to learn about the damage that pressure washers can do to wood. Also, see below for the complete rehab to these steps. Note: You can click on all photos to enlarge them.

Here's a typical shot of what the side of our garage looks like before pressure washing (after our harsh New England winters), showing lots of dirt, algae, mold and mildew on the vinyl siding. This side gets particularly bad, as our driveway snow plowing leaves 4 foot piles right up against the vinyl siding.

Here's a shot after using the pressure washer with detergent made for cleaning dirt, algae, mildew, and mold from siding, wood, and driveways, etc.

And here's the cleaned siding looking especially bright on a sunny day.

I Fell in Love with my Pressure Washer
This year I bought a pressure washer to refinish my deck (that deck article is here), but I also used it to clean many other things around the house. It's pleasing to use, as the work is easy and the results are immediate. I was going to put the pressure washer (some call them "power washers") on craiglist.org, after using it for the deck refinishing, as it was cheaper than renting, for the amount of time I needed it, but I fell in love with it, and I have kept it! By the way, this is also a good strategy to get tools past the budget department (joke, but not really)!

It's a Nice to Have
It's not something you use all the time, but it's nice to have when you want it, and it's the kind of tool you can feel great about loaning out to the neighbors. You might even want to go in with a neighbor, to reduce the cost of ownership.

I've never used a pressure washer before, so I can't compare this model/brand to others, but this one seemed to work very well for my needs. It's a Husky 2600 PSI, 2.4 GPM, Axial Cam Pump, Pressure Washer, which has a 173cc Kohler Courage XT-7 engine. I got it from Home Depot for about $320 (Spring, 2009).

Here's the wand, which feels much like what you would use at a self-service car wash. The water pressure feels about the same too. I think the tubing from the machine to the wand is 25', one upgrade I might make is to get a longer tube, which means you don't have to move the machine around as much.

Here's shot of 2 of the nozzles that this Husky power washer comes with. There are 4 provided. One is for soap application (not shown) and the other 3 vary in the spray focus (0 degree, 25 degree (not shown) and 40 degree). The more focused the pattern, the more force the spray has. All of these can rip through the surface of wood, so never ever point them at humans or pets, they could rip a hole right through them! The nozzle you use and the distance from the surface you are cleaning determines the spray strength. There isn't a control on the wand for pressure, it's either on or off. The only problem I found with the nozzle "caddy" (shown above) is that the nozzles would fall off the posts that they are supposed to be stored on.

Here's a top down view of the detergent reservoir. The uptake tube is above it here, and when in use, the tube is inserted into the detergent tank.

Gas and Cleaning Solutions

Here's what you'll need to get started. Zep makes a few varieties of cleaning products for vinyl siding, driveways, concrete, brick and wood. Be sure that you get a detergent made for pressure washers. These detergents come in concentrate, so you'll need a container to dilute the cleaning solution with water in, thus the empty milk jug on the right. Never use bleach in your pressure washer, as it can damage the pump and other parts.

A few More Sample Uses

Garage steps before shot. These steps are stained with opaque gray, below the crud.

Garage steps after shot. I intentionally removed some of the loose stain with the powerwasher, in order to prepare the wood for a new coat of stain.

Here's a before shot showing algae on our front porch (the wood is wet here, as I took this photo after initial wetting with the detergent. Dry they didn't look this bad).

Here's the after shot. You can see there is some very minimal lifting of lose paint. Loose paint will come off whether you want it to or not.

Gutter Cleaning

Here you can see the section I've cleaned in the middle. Be careful not to spray up and under shingles. And don't use powerwashers to clean shingles. You'll damage shingle surface.

Here are the gutters, and the rest of the front of the house, after powerwashing.

Here's a before shot of a hidden part of the house. I was surprised to see how dirty it was. I did this work in the spring. In the summer and fall this area is covered by large bushes, so you don't usually see it, and either did I. By the way, I've since cut back all foliage about 2 feet from the house. You should do this too, to allow the house to dry, and it keeps ants and other bugs from having easy routes to enter your house.

Here's an in progress shot. You can see where I've pressure washed the vinyl siding above the dryer vent and up, and then I cut one swath down the middle of the siding to show the immediate cleaning difference. Yes, that's a dryer vent. You can read about that energy saving dryer vent here.

Here's the after shot. I'm not sure why the right bottom is darker. Some permanent damage my have happened to the siding? All dirt and algae has been removed. It was overcast this day, so my photos seem a bit gloomy, but boy did the siding shine a brilliant white when the sun hit it. I did all of the exterior surfaces and siding in one day. One thing you want to avoid is shooting the spray up and behind the siding. It's best to work spraying the siding straight on, or at a slightly downwards angle. You'll need a step ladder to get up high and still spray downwards. For getting the second story, switch to a more focused nozzle to give you pressure to really get up there.

Speaking of technique, read the directions carefully on the cleaning solution bottle. Application of the cleaning solution should be with a low pressure soap nozzle, and from the bottom up to avoid staining The cleaning/removal of the detergent should be from the top down with a medium pattern/pressure nozzle. Your pressure washer's manual, and the detergent bottle will have detailed instructions, so I'm not going to cover proper technique fully here. It is though very important to read the whole manual as there are important safety and usage notes, that will keep you from damaging yourself or the washer.

Resurfacing Old Pressure Treated Wood Steps

Here's a shot where I'm removing years of surface crud and weathering from unfinished pressure treated wood steps. The new looking wood is where I have given the steps a good close up blasting (about 2 inches from the wood). It's slow work, as you have to move slowly to really get an area cleaned well, but the results are amazing.

Here's a side by side, before and after shot. I was really blasting this wood hard, to bring it down to clean wood. In doing so, experts would say that I've damaged the wood, which is true. You can see that the soft grains of the wood have been completely blasted away, leaving deep grooves, where the harder wood grains remain.

Here's a shot after the wood has dried. You can see that fibers of the wood have lifted and that the boards have become furry. Expert powerwashers say they use the right chemicals and only use a few hundred pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure to do this kind of cleaning without damaging the wood. I used 2600 psi, at close range! I like to live on the wild side. I'm a rebel!

To remove the fur, and to smooth out the ridges, I first pounded down all of the popped up nails, and then sanded the boards with a 6" Rigid brand random orbital sander, using 60 grit (aggressive) sandpaper.

I quick brushing and vacuuming cleans up the wood dust, in preparation for staining.

Here are the cleaned steps ready for opaque deck stain which will match my deck.

I used this stuff (Sikkens, Rubbol Solid DEK). It's an opaque stain. To me, it seems to go on even thicker than exterior paint. I love the almost rubbery surface it makes. Just one coat seems to do the job well. The manufacturer recommends 2 coats (one that acts like a primer, and then a finishing layer). I also used it with my deck project.

For quick painting (as I like to slap it on and be done with it), I'll use a piece of cardboard to keep things from getting painted/stained the shouldn't be.

And here we go, the final smooth steps are now a favorite hangout for my son and I. Don't mind the shoe issue. He put them on himself, "good for you son!".

Resources
Outdoorcleaning.com Outdoor Cleaning with Pressure Washers (By Briggs & Stratton)
The link above seems mainly a source to drive people to buy, through their site, pressure washers, but it does have lots of great basic videos. Also it shows you all the things you can clean, which was also a good reminder to me that I have more stuff to clean. They have videos showing how pressure washers can be used to clean: siding, brick, stucco, decks, fences, concrete, vehicles, boats, remove paint, outdoor furniture, grills, pools, spas, and lawn and garden equipment.

They also have great videos on technique, key features, operation, maintenance and winterizing. I was going to say that I didn't know who provides this site, but I see now at the bottom of the site it says "Briggs & Stratton" who are the engine providers for a few different brands of pressure washers. Okay, I give the site more credit now. Check it out. I'm about to go through it more thoroughly too!

My Standard Disclaimer: This is what I did. This does not mean this is the best way, the right way, to building code, or even safe for your needs. So you are on your own with your project. I make no promises about the information presented here. I'm just a do-it-yourselfer, not a professional at all, sharing my story. So if something goes wrong with your project, you are on your own. Good luck, and have fun!

All content and photos, copyright 2009, Dover Projects.
______________________________________________________________
My Other Articles