John Leeke's Historic HomeWorks™

    207 773-2306      26 Higgins St. Portland, ME  04103
[Home][Library][Restoration Reports][Seminars][Forum][Internships][Office][Workshop][Front Porch][Search] info.© 1994-2009 JohnC.Leeke

Stabilization

Stabilization saves historic materials and features. Plus it buys time to raise funds to do longer-lasting work another day. Learn three methods to stabilize roofs, siding and windows.

Taking care of an old place is a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be a struggle. Mowing the lawn can be fun. But I know I’d better fix the window before the glass falls out and hurts someone, and if that leak in the back porch roof dribbles down the back of my wife’s neck one more time she’s going to shoot me.

Part of the problem is that there’s always more to do. Maintaining an older home is an ongoing process. This is true because all building materials continuously deteriorate. Ancient granite blocks, old pine trim and even plastic vinyl siding—they’re all weathering and wearing away over time. When the exterior paint film cracks rain water soaks in swelling the wood beneath and a joint loosens up. Water dribbles in, rotting out the wood and the loose joint widens into a gap. The water pours in causing extensive structural damage within the wall. It’s an accelerating cycle of deterioration and damage. The key is to interrupt that cycle.

What if there just isn't enough time or money to do everything that needs to be done? Then you set good priorities and apply limited treatments that can be done with the resources available. You can get fancy up front at the big house and call it “Stabilization,” but out here on the back porch we call it the “quick fix.”

All the old-timers had a big bag of "quick fixes" that many of us now-a-days have forgotten about. Some may call these "slip shod shortcuts," but with the right attitude, an additional step or a key material, they can effectively stabilize many rapidly deteriorating situations. Stabilization saves historic materials and features. Plus it buys time to raise funds to do longer-lasting work another day.

 



Janet Tobkin, Parsonsfield, Maine, knows that spending $10 and two hours today buttoning up the corner of her barn to keep the rain out will prevent hundreds or thousands of dollars in rot and damage, so in five or ten years she can afford to have the carpenters do permanent repairs.

Here I'll show you three step-by-step examples that address common problems:

All these methods are relatively quick, low cost and do not require special skills. They do require some knowledge about the building, and about the materials you are using. They all follow this basic stabilization strategy:

Safety is first when doing any old-building work. Wear safety glasses or goggles and use other safety equipment to protect workers, occupants and passers-by. Pay attention to controlling the lead-dust health hazard. Follow manufacturers’ directions and Material Safety Data Sheets for all materials and tools you use.

Stabilize Window Sash Joint

When a sash joint is seriously weakened and letting go it can be stabilized to await a more permanent treatment in the future. An old-time repair method is to screw on a flat corner iron or brace.

I have repaired many sashes that had corner irons slapped on years and even decades before. Without the angle irons those sashes would have fallen apart and been tossed out as trash long before I came along to save them with more effective repairs. I now consider corner irons a reasonable low-cost short-term repair that saves sashes. Even if everyone forgets what “short-term” means, the corner irons can do their job of holding sashes together for decades. I add preservative and sealant treatments that make this simple repair a more effective stabilization.

Time, costs, life: This is a quick low-cost treatment that can take 15 minutes to gear up and 15 minutes to stabilize two joints at one window.  Material and supply costs are about $3 per joint. Life is 3 to 5 years.

Step 1. Tape and brace

Tape the glass panes above if  you plan to leave it in place during this treatment and especially if they are broken or unstable. The tape will help control flying shards of sharp glass if a pane breaks during the treatment.

If the joint has decayed enough to let go, the meeting rail may have dropped down a little. The meeting rail needs to be braced up in case the joint lets go all together. Cut a stick of wood about 1" longer that the distance from the sill up to the bottom surface of the meeting rail.  Lay a wood shingle on the sill to protect it from marring. Wedge the stick lengthways between the shingle and the meeting rail, right near the loose joint (photo, right). Don’t force it in too tightly, wedge it just enough to hold the stick and the meeting rail in place.

Step 2. Clean and position

Clean loose debris out of the stile joints, any muntin joints and glazing dados with a putty knife so the meeting rail can be lifted back up into its original position next to the glass pane, without stressing the glass. The pane may have shifted downward, so pay attention to the top edge of the pane where some cleaning may also be needed. Slide the lower end of the bracing stick toward the window frame to provide a slight and controlled pressure to lift the rail up into position. If the pane needs to shift upward, but it is not moving easily, it may have to be removed or you may accept its current position and the fact that the meeting rail cannot be lifted all the way into its original position.

Clean loose paint and debris off the surrounding wood and glass surfaces with a wire brush for good adhesion of the sealant to come.

Step 3. Inject preservative 

Prevent or limit decay by injecting borate preservative directly into the joint if moisture problems around the window cannot be resolved right away.  Inject the preservative right into the open joint while it is still open a little if decay is minor. Or, drill an injection hole so it does not weaken the joint by cutting the tenon. In cases of major decay inject right at the interface between decayed and sound wood. The wood need not be dry for this treatment; in fact, borate preservatives migrate into wet wood faster than dry wood. Borate preservatives are usually compatible with effective future treatments such as wood-epoxy repairs and wood Dutchmen. Keep the borate preservative well within the joint or holes so it does not prevent adhesion of the sealant to come. Do not use penetrating water-repellent preservatives because they can prevent future treatments from penetrating and may cause adhesion problems for paints and sealants.

Step 4. Seal gaps and joints

Seal any gaps in the joint and between the glass and glazing compound or glazing rabbet with removable sealant. This type of sealant can be easily removed in the future without significant contamination of the surfaces. The surfaces must be dry for good adhesion. Fan wet surfaces or warm gently with a hair drier or hot-air gun for several minutes to promote drying. Apply the sealant with a caulking gun and tool away excess sealant flush with the face of the sash right away. Then let the sealant cure for several minutes until it is no longer tacky, so the corner iron to come will not be unintentionally glued to the sash.

Step 5. Screw on the angle iron

Pre-drill pilot holes and screw on the corner iron. Use utility screws (similar to wallboard screws) made of hot-dipped galvanized or stainless steel. Ordinary wallboard screws could be used, but they may rust out in a few years making later removal difficult and may not withstand the shear-loads encountered on larger sash.

The stabilization is complete. List the sash in a future project for a more permanent repair, or add it to the maintenance schedule to monitor its condition at least once every three years.

Stabilize Corner Boards

  Janet had serious high priority issues at her old farm house in Portland, Maine:  a failing furnace, no plumbing and electrical that buzzed in the walls during lightening storms. They were soaking up all her funds. Yet she lay awake at night worrying about her poor old barn. The corner boards around back had blown off decades ago and rain water poured in rotting the timbers. She put up plastic, but that last storm blew it right off.  I showed her how to button up that back corner with roofing felt so she could rest easy for at least five years. If we can keep the water out of the wall it will slow down or halt the deterioration.

Time, costs, life: One hour to gear up, crew of two for two hours, $10 in materials, to button up 14 feet of missing corner boards for 5 to 8 years.

Step 1. Clean and Assess 

Most of the original clapboard siding was still hanging on, held in place by a half-done shingling job started years before (right). Most of the horizontal sheathing boards under the siding were still good. We could get just a glimpse of the vertical corner post and how its end was beginning to shift off the horizontal sill timber (lower left), but the structure was still fairly stable.

 

 

 

 

Step 2. Document and Plan

 A structural framing repair will be needed within 5 to 10 years, by 15 years it probably would be unstable. Next I documented conditions with photos and sketches so when the carpenters come to give a proposal they will know what it is like under the roofing felt without having to open it up.  I installed a simple movement monitor with a strip of wood and pencil marks, so there would be a record of any movement in the future. We’ll take a look at the monitor again in 3 years. If there’s a lot of movement we’ll know it and plan to do the structural repairs sooner rather than later.

I did the same for a pocket of decay further up along the post.

Step 3. Wrap with Felt 

Starting at the bottom we tucked 3’ sections of 15-pound roofing felt (tar paper) underneath the clapboard, wrapping it around the corner and under the clapboards on the other side. Each section overlapped the one beneath several inches so they would shed water like shingles. If I wanted this treatment to last longer I might use 30-pound roofing felt.

Step 4. Batten Down 

Then we tacked down battens with galvanized shingling nails. Here we used wooden lath left over from plaster removal inside the house. You could use any kind of wooden strips you have on hand, even cutting them out of an old board on the table saw.

Step 5. Flash Missing Siding 

Finally we flashed missing or split siding with pieces of roofing felt fastened with stainless steel staples. You can see we have carefully removed nails from the surrounding siding so the felt piece easily tucks up underneath. Once the felt is secure we tap the same nails back in place.

Stabilize Roof Leak

  .Here at my own place in Portland, Maine, the porch roof has holes in the 3-tab asphalt shingles. The thinner underlying band of asphalt weathers away where it is exposed in the slot between the tabs. Rain water pours in, down through the joints between the roofer boards and dribbles out between the beadboards in the ceiling beneath. There’s no ventilation for that interior space and it’s only a matter of a year or two before the structural rafters and joints start rotting away. I know I’ll be re-roofing my whole house in three years and it will cost a lot less to do this little porch roof then. So, for now, I’ll just patch up these holes with roofing felt flashing.

Time, costs, life: 1 hour to flash 20 slots, about a cent per slot in costs and it should be good for 2 or 3 years.

Step 1. Loosen the Shingles 

These shingles are old and brittle so I must work carefully. I’ve made a simple tool by bending a half inch lip on the end of a piece of sheet metal. I work it up under the shingle to cut and loosen its seal with the shingle beneath. I’m working on a hot day, but if it was cold I’d use a hot air gun to warm up and soften the shingles.

 

 

 

 

Step 2. Slip in the Flashing

Pull the tool half way out and slip in the roofing felt flashing.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3. Tuck it in

Align the top end of the flashing with the end of the tool. Then gently jiggle and work them both together up to just past the top of the slot and underneath the lower edge of the shingle above. The tool helps carry the flashing into position. If you tried it without the tool the flashing would just jam up and not go into place.

 

 

 

Step 4. Slide out Tool

Ha! Slick and Quick. I like it when it works like that. You know it can be kind of fun up here on the porch roof. I think I’ll stay a while, catch a breeze, get a fresh perspective on the neighborhood.

Now, if you see my wife coming around the corner you tell her I’m up here working on that leak.

 

 

John Leeke helps folks understand and maintain their older homes.

 


John Leeke's Historic HomeWorks™

    207 773-2306      26 Higgins St. Portland, ME  04103
[Home][Library][Restoration Reports][Seminars][Forum][Internships][Office][Workshop][Front Porch][Search] info.© 1994-2009 JohnC.Leeke