Replacing Sill, Repelling Insects and Rot, and Installing Sliding Doors With Custom Trim Molding

Project: Basement Finishing and Family Space, Episode 6, Part 3



Bob is in Melrose, Massachusetts, where salvaged granite is cut, pieced, and set in trenches to create a granite curb that runs along the sidewalk. The old concrete walkway and stairs are replaced with granite steps and a fieldstone walk. Out back, stone walls are complemented with granite terracing and a fieldstone walk dry-set in a gravel base topped with stone dust and set with compacted pea stone. Ruth Foster joins Bob to recommend the removal of a “hazard tree” that is large, rotting, and threatening to the house. Cranes hoist tree cutters who cut the limbs and ready them for lifting over the ridge of the house to the chipper in the street. In back, a new triple-panel sliding door is installed after they remove the old windows and door, discover wood rot and insect damage, and rebuild the sill with pressure-treated lumber. In the basement, a borate solution is injected into the walls via plugs inserted every four feet to saturate the walls and sill and prevent damaging insects or fungus from attacking the home. Bob closes with custom trim that is replicated to match existing trim by copying the profile and creating a knife to custom mill the lumber.

Part 1: Building a Retaining Wall, Front Steps, and Backyard Patio With Stone
Part 2: Removing a Hazardous Tree
Part 3: Replacing Sill, Repelling Insects and Rot, and Installing Sliding Doors With Custom Trim Molding
A three-panel sliding door is being installed in the Melrose home, giving a great view of the back garden. Bob explains that before this slider was installed, the back of the home looked like a typical house built in 1921, with a kitchen door and a couple of little windows. First the windows and portions of the wall were removed to make way for the sliders. The old entry door was also removed. During the demolition, some very serious rot and insect damage was found near the bottom of the wall. The rotted wood was replaced with pressure-treated lumber so the house would remain structurally sound. Bob talks to George Allen of Inject Solutions about the insect damage. Allen explains how the panels were removed from the basement so the walls could be exposed. A plug was inserted into the wall at four-foot intervals around the perimeter of the foundation. Bora-Care was then inserted into the holes to seep into the walls and kill any rot spores, prevent mold and mildew, and kill termites and carpenter ants. Fred Powers from Ford's Hometown Services reviews how Bora-Care is made from borate, a naturally occurring product, and how it effectively kills bugs. The plugs were also installed in the columns on the porch. Allen explains that this product reaches the insects inside the walls, where they live.

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