Layers on the Cake

One of the things you realize when you deconstruct a house to replace something is how crudely they are built. This is not fine wood working! Notice the gap in trim piece as it rests up against the header. You lose lots of heat through these cracks. The old aluminum sliding patio doors are poor insulators! The other weird things about these stucco clad tract houses is there is no exterior sheathing! This house is in earthquake country. Sheathing (plywood) on a house helps resist racking during the side to side shaking of an earthquake. I am no building code expert but I think sheathing is required on new construction. You often see chipboard used on the new McMansion-style houses going up around here. So this house has no sheathing meaning that the layers starting from the outside are stucco, stucco wire, tarp paper, 2x4's and insulation, then drywall. It is amazing that the house doesn't just fall down all by itself!

Sunday Times

I decided to do a little more work on the door, but first my wife and I made a trip to the door and window store to have a look. Nothing like going out on Super Bowl Sunday to shop! Here is a nice Milgard vinyl door on display. You don't see this brand much back east in New England where I grew up, but lots of homes in the west have Milgard installed. It is considered one of the better quality vinyl door and window manufacturers. Vinyl doors are not as rigid as wood or wood clad doors like Andersen or Marvin, but for a door that is 6 feet wide like ours it should work. They are usually less expensive too, which helps the budget!





When breaking out the stucco, use a medium sized hammer and use short quick hammer blows. The Estwing steel hammers work well because they damp less vibration which sends more energy into the stucco, breaking it up faster! Lots of hammer blows means increase risk of tendinitis, so stock up on Advil!

Stucco Removal

This picture shows that I have broken the stucco out on the right hand sided of the old door. Since the door is protected from the weather, it is probably safe to do this stucco removal in stages. The rain can't get to this part of the door anyway. Also, it is so dry in northern California this year that it might not rain at all!

I will try not to disturb the old flashing. If the old flashing has to be replaced, you have to break out more stucco than the 5 inches that I have removed. Eventually the door will be trimmed with rough sawn 2x4 stock, painted white. After removing all the old windows in this house several years ago, I found that the stucco can easily be removed with lots of short quick hammer blows. Try striking the stucco with the edge of the hammer head. Don't hit too hard as you can crack the drywall on the inside of the house.

Home Archeology

Have you ever undertaken a home improvement project with a few power tools and an overblown sense of your own skill? Of course you have! I have made lots of sawdust over the years, built fences, laid floors, constructed a fireplace mantel, made cabinets and installed windows just to name a few things, and I am NOT a carpenter.

This time around, I decided to replace the old sliding glass door in our early 60's era tract house. Can I do it? Of course I can! I may have irrational exuberence, but most of all, I have bright lights and cold steel.

I hope to document the whole dusty mess, from busting out the old stucco to final trim and paint. Like most projects undertaken by home owners, I have never installed a sliding glass door before, but I am cheap (or frugal) and hate to pay someone for something i can do myself. After all, there are books that explain this stuff! But as you may have experienced yourself, the situation that you are faced with in your own house is often just a little different than what is in the book, so you have to improvise. That is where the fun (and anxiety) comes in.