Ron Citerone
12-09-2021, 10:19 PM
Things I learned Renovating My Cottage
I have posted quite a few questions on Sawmill Creek during the past several years of renovating my cottage on the Delaware Bay. I have been meaning to share some things I learned during the adventure, some are general thoughts and some are more specific. I hope it is well received.
Murphy was right about time. He may have actually been under played the “Longer than you think” part!
I tried to demo and complete one room at a time since we needed to live there as we did the job. Big mistake, next time I would get the big dumpster and totally demo it first. I basically ripped the walls down to the stubs.
I had relatively new floors so I bought 4 x 8 sheets of thin MDF and covered the floors. Good idea.
My friend who is a builder installed New Construction windows for me instead of replacement windows. I love them, but it meant some creative building out of the window openings for the trim.
Some of the building out around the windows required tapered pieces. I cut strips to the thickness of the widest part. Then cut 2 thirds on the table saw of the middle measurement and then the last third slightly heavy and blended the taper all together with a block plane. Took time, but got great results.
Every short cut I took came back to bight me in the arse. Go the extra mile from the beginning and it will save time in the long run.
You can’t paint ceiling tile with latex paint, it bleeds through bad. Either replace it or paint with Kilz original followed by 2 coats oil based finish coat.
The porch/bedroom was redone with tongue and groove pine. I shellacked it two coats before installing. Good idea.
When working tongue and groove pine around a room. Sort through the pile and get pieces that match exactly in width for each row so the “line” is maintained.
3 walls horizontal tongue and groove and one wall vertical solves all sort of problems. No match problems in the last corner.
I built two sliding barn doors during the project. I put blocking in for the rail part and hung it before building the door. I then made a mock up out of 1/8’ MDF and made sure the size was right for the floor spacing. This avoids any guess work for the floor guide. Figuring everything from the directions is for better men then me.
I put dry wall in 2 rooms. I would suggest buying and learning how to use a rotary tool for the outlets and such. I haven’t done much of it and overestimated my ability. Nuff said!
I replaced 2 small deck landings. I came to learn to tear out the old framing and google the span charts to make it rock solid. I used Stainless Steel joist hangers and nails since it is a stone’s throw from salt water and everything else rusts in no time. Manasquan Hardware is a great supplier of Stainless hardware. I have no connection to them but they have the right stuff.
I used Ipe decking. I was surprised how well it cut and drilled. Predrill and countersink everything, and no problems.
I built the kitchen and bath cabinets with Hickory fronts and doors and drawer fronts. I have pics posted a while back in the project forum. I made the cabinets so they had to be mounted on a 2X4 floor frame. Very easy to level and install.
I hung blocking for everything. Cabinets, baseboard, chair rail, cove molding. This took time, but made the final install fool proof. This was at the advice of my builder buddy and he could not have been more right. HD discount bin has tons of cheap 2X material for cheap blocking.
I learned later that pressure treated wood should not be used for blocking as it rusts hardware. Good thing to know.
I primed and painted all trim and wainscoting before installing. Filled holes and put final paint on after installation. Good idea IMO.
Thanks for reading, I hope this might be of help to any members who are doing a renovation. Pics will come at some point, there is one more bedroom to finish this spring………
I have posted quite a few questions on Sawmill Creek during the past several years of renovating my cottage on the Delaware Bay. I have been meaning to share some things I learned during the adventure, some are general thoughts and some are more specific. I hope it is well received.
Murphy was right about time. He may have actually been under played the “Longer than you think” part!
I tried to demo and complete one room at a time since we needed to live there as we did the job. Big mistake, next time I would get the big dumpster and totally demo it first. I basically ripped the walls down to the stubs.
I had relatively new floors so I bought 4 x 8 sheets of thin MDF and covered the floors. Good idea.
My friend who is a builder installed New Construction windows for me instead of replacement windows. I love them, but it meant some creative building out of the window openings for the trim.
Some of the building out around the windows required tapered pieces. I cut strips to the thickness of the widest part. Then cut 2 thirds on the table saw of the middle measurement and then the last third slightly heavy and blended the taper all together with a block plane. Took time, but got great results.
Every short cut I took came back to bight me in the arse. Go the extra mile from the beginning and it will save time in the long run.
You can’t paint ceiling tile with latex paint, it bleeds through bad. Either replace it or paint with Kilz original followed by 2 coats oil based finish coat.
The porch/bedroom was redone with tongue and groove pine. I shellacked it two coats before installing. Good idea.
When working tongue and groove pine around a room. Sort through the pile and get pieces that match exactly in width for each row so the “line” is maintained.
3 walls horizontal tongue and groove and one wall vertical solves all sort of problems. No match problems in the last corner.
I built two sliding barn doors during the project. I put blocking in for the rail part and hung it before building the door. I then made a mock up out of 1/8’ MDF and made sure the size was right for the floor spacing. This avoids any guess work for the floor guide. Figuring everything from the directions is for better men then me.
I put dry wall in 2 rooms. I would suggest buying and learning how to use a rotary tool for the outlets and such. I haven’t done much of it and overestimated my ability. Nuff said!
I replaced 2 small deck landings. I came to learn to tear out the old framing and google the span charts to make it rock solid. I used Stainless Steel joist hangers and nails since it is a stone’s throw from salt water and everything else rusts in no time. Manasquan Hardware is a great supplier of Stainless hardware. I have no connection to them but they have the right stuff.
I used Ipe decking. I was surprised how well it cut and drilled. Predrill and countersink everything, and no problems.
I built the kitchen and bath cabinets with Hickory fronts and doors and drawer fronts. I have pics posted a while back in the project forum. I made the cabinets so they had to be mounted on a 2X4 floor frame. Very easy to level and install.
I hung blocking for everything. Cabinets, baseboard, chair rail, cove molding. This took time, but made the final install fool proof. This was at the advice of my builder buddy and he could not have been more right. HD discount bin has tons of cheap 2X material for cheap blocking.
I learned later that pressure treated wood should not be used for blocking as it rusts hardware. Good thing to know.
I primed and painted all trim and wainscoting before installing. Filled holes and put final paint on after installation. Good idea IMO.
Thanks for reading, I hope this might be of help to any members who are doing a renovation. Pics will come at some point, there is one more bedroom to finish this spring………