Foam (was Re: [Coco] Back to School)

[Gene Heskett]

On Sunday 27 August 2006 21:27, James Hrubik wrote:
>On Aug 27, 2006, at 12:26 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:
>> Now, totally offtopic, I'm looking for a 2 stick supply of 1.25"
>> tan or
>> pewter colored "J channel" to complete the exterior transformation
>> of a
>> sliding patio door assembly into an equal width pella thermopane
>> window in
>> the front of my house.  When, several years ago, we finished
>> ripping off a
>> couple of tons of brick veneer whose attachment nailer tabs had
>> rusted in
>> two so the veneer was falling off, we put an inch of that blue foam
>> insulation in its place, and some plastic sideing that had the brick
>> pattern molded in, and used some of the 1.25" J channel for the
>> edgeing.
>>
>> Now, in filling up the bottom 46" of the door opening, I've put 4"
>> of the
>> blue foam stuff between the studs, (I also blew a foot of cellulous
>> under
>> the floor while it was opened up before I built it up level with
>> the rest
>> of the floor, I'm tired of cold feet in that room which was, 35
>> years ago,
>> an attached garage) and firred out the faces of the studs to bring
>> that
>> level with the foam, then covered that with a 1/2" foam sheet, the
>> stuff
>> with aluminum foil faces, on top of that, followed by a sheet of 1/2"
>> plywood for a nailer/stapler to hold the faux brick sideing.  The
>> wider J
>> channel (normal is 5/8" wide) would allow me to encapsulate the nailer
>> sheet and the brick siding, and give a good back surface to caulk the
>> houses now elderly 8" wide alu sideing back in place.  Otherwise the
>> sideing is going to be caulked to a much less sturdy foam and plywood
>> edge.  Or I'm going to have to figure out how to bend up a flashing
>> edge
>> and make it look "purty".
>>
>> So the question then is, does anyone know of a supplier for this
>> wider J
>> channel?  Lowes, Home Depot, 84 Lumber, Heartland Lumber, Butcher-
>> Layfield
>> and O.C.Cluss have all come up empty so far, either in plastic or
>> metallic.
>
>That would be a really odd size, Gene.  Where did you get the 1.25"
>stock you used before?  That's a new one for me.

Its a stock item from Dow Corning, but nobody carries the stuff locally.

It came from the same people who built our front deck, they put the faux 
brick panels on at the same time, about 5 years ago now.  The wifes cousin 
Jan's man Rudy &their adopted kid Mark, who is now running a specialty 
home improvement store up in Clarksburg.  It's where the new brick 
paneling is also comeing from tuesday and I forgot about having him get 
the j channel to match.  I've got some roll flashing that I'll probably 
use over the top of the window, but I don't have a brake & will probably 
wind up forming it over the edge of a clean cut 2x4 or something similar.

>If you are really good with a brake (and careful!!!) you might be
>able to create your own custom J-channel from a piece of vinyl fascia
>ripped to about 2-1/2" to 3".  Bending vinyl is tricky, though --
>easy to create stress fractures; you have to keep it warm.  Also, it
>could be less frustrating to just brake a piece of aluminum fascia.
>Vinyl in that color may be hard to come by, and its fairly simple to
>spray paint the aluminum.

I've looked at the alu stocks without managing to envision something that 
will work really well without looking like a row of tire patches 
vulcanized on.  But I'll keep on looking, gotta do something even if its 
wrong seems to be the theory right now.

Unforch, I made the mistake of using some sort of a caulking thats full of 
naptha or benzine, and the wife's emphasema I guess is makeing her 
allergic to the stink, so she's on the grouchy list, like a bear with 5 
sore paws the last couple of days.  Nothing I can do but let it cure and 
air out.  I used it to stick some of the blue stuff in and it of course 
ate the blue stuff for lunch as I found today when I ripped out enough at 
one side of the window frame to make room for another 2x4 nailer I needed.

I think she thought this was going to be a 3 day job for a bunch of 
amateurs(sp) like me, and its into the 2nd week now with all the screwing 
around finding materials.  Little does she know just how big a project can 
get to be when nothing fits AND I do all the other stuff in the area that 
I've been threatening to do for about 15 years.  Like blow a foot of 
cellulous under that cold floor.  Like whyinhell don't they furnish this 
blue stuff in 3.5" sheets instead of 1's and 2's.  Piddly stuff thats a 
pita.  Like when the upper beams they had the garage door hung from, where 
you commonly pad a pair of 2x12's with a piece of 3/8 osb to get exact 
frame thickness, the jerks used a scrap of 5/8 flooring, so its an eighth 
proud on both sides, but they only centered one end of it in the wall, the 
other end is flush on one side and 1/4" proud on the other.  Its a Garton 
House, what more can I say...

I'll go away and have a beer I need badly now.  Back to your regularly 
scheduled coco related content. :)

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
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Copyright 2006 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.