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Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable > Episode 13: Installing Pre-Hung Doors, Hardwood Floors, and Gutters

Installing a Therma-Tru Pre-Hung Door

Project: Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable, Episode 13, Part 1

These affordable homes are built using time and labor-saving products like the Therma-Tru pre-hung exterior door that has fiberglass skins on the interior and exterior faces, with a high-density polyurethane core for an R-value that is five times higher than wood. Bob walks through the basics of pre-hung door installation with Michael McDevitt of Therma-Tru Doors and general contractor Wes Lohr of Lohr Construction. Inside, Bob meets with Tom Sullivan of Bellawood for the installation of their natural Maple hardwood flooring. The planks are laid out to create an aesthetically pleasing non-squeak floor with rosin paper installed underneath. LeafGuard gutters are fabricated on site by GutterPro and installed to divert debris and capture water as it travels over the cover and into the gutter underneath. Inside the rooms are being trimmed out with affordable doors and trim stock. Jeld-Wen pre-hung, pre-trimmed, molded wood-fiber doors are installed throughout the house. These affordable doors come ready-to-install and are priced to include the lockset. The primed, finger-jointed wood trim from Stock Supply is cut and installed around the windows.

Part 1: Installing a Therma-Tru Pre-Hung Door: Bob is joined by Michael McDevitt of Therma-Tru Doors as Wes Lohr and his crew prepare for the installation of the pre-hung exterior door. Lohr has created a lead pan at the entry that laps up the sides and down the front of the opening and is then covered in silicon to make a weatherproof seal with the door assembly. The door itself has pressure-molded fiberglass skins with raised panels on the interior and exterior faces. These skins sit over a high-density polyurethane core with wood blocks at the lock set, sides, top, and bottom of the door for custom fitting and improved strength. The door is pre-hung and secured to keep it square until installed. To properly install a pre-hung door, the door assembly must be screwed into the jamb, not the casing, since only the jamb is structural and can prevent the door from sagging. Lohr and his crew tack the door into the opening, check it for square, then open it and screw it into place, through the jambs. Therma-Tru leaves two pre-drilled screw holes at the top of the door to screw it into the top jamb and prevent the door from sagging in. Once in place, the door only needs one coat of latex paint.
Part 2: Discussing the Bellawood Maple Hardwood Floor
Part 3: LeafGuard Gutters Installed
Part 4: Pre-Hung Affordable Doors and Installing Pre-Primed Wood Molding

This project deals with two very different notions of home. Bob begins on New York City's Upper West Side, where an 1890s Brownstone is revitalized through high-quality craftsmanship and sensitive design. New York's past meets its present, as the entire floor is recaptured and refurbished to create a spacious urban apartment on the doorstep of Central Park.

At the same time, Bob works with a Cape Cod developer to apply Massachusetts land use statute 40B to create affordable housing, and a neighborhood of homes in Mashpee, MA. These Energy Star certified homes show how quality building practices and reasonable asking prices can work together to provide livable, affordable homes and neighborhoods to those who work in our communities.

Also from Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable

Episode 1 - A New Lift for a Manhattan Brownstone
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Description:
Bob is on Manhattan's Upper West Side to renew a 2,000-square-foot Brownstone apartment. First, he looks at what made Brownstones significant, including their details and façades.<br> <br> Inside the building, Bob shows how the space was cut up in the 1940s to make a warren of rooms. These walls and finishes will be removed as the space is gutted to prepare for new studs, walls, plumbing, and finishes.<br> <br> Pieces will be salvaged for architectural resale, including the pink sink from the bathroom and the retro cabinets in the kitchen, but everything else will go. Bob also visits Central Park, its caretakers, trees, and monuments.
Episode 2 - Demolition in the Manhattan Brownstone
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Description:
The big story is the cornice molding found in tact when the drop ceiling came down. The molding will set a tone for the main living space, where the bricks have been removed to install a flue liner and drafting fireplace. All of the 40s wall, surface, and ceiling treatments are gone, along with the lath and plaster, leaving the bare brick and exposed joists from the original construction. Remodels have cut into the joist work or damaged it, so some reworking will be necessary to build up for the floors and ceilings. The floor joists are sistered to make a level, solid footing for the Georgia-Pacific Plytanium subflooring that goes under the wood floor. Laser levels allow the carpenters to set level lines throughout the apartment horizontally for the floor and vertically for the new steel studs they are installing. Finally, a flexible flue liner is run through the wall, and up the chimney for the new fireplace.
Episode 3 - Building Affordable Homes on Cape Cod
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Description:
Affordable housing is the story in this project as Bob heads to Mashpee, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, where a state law is helping put higher density, affordable housing in place for four families who live and work in the community. Bob meets Pat Fiero of the Housing Assistance Corporation who explains the hurdles faced by families needing to live near their workplaces in a town where the average home price is $450,000. Bob visits Mashpee Commons and looks at mixed-use development that is providing a town center, housing, commercial property, recreational space, and a new church as a start to this new town development. Bob also meets the developer, Joe Valle, who explains the challenges in developing affordable housing and how this project was made possible by invoking Massachusetts? 40B land use and development law. On site, Bob Bevilaqua moves the earth to prepare the sites, shows the tie-offs for electrical and phone lines, and explains the drainage plan.
Episode 4 - Falmouth's Model for Quality Affordable Housing
Episode 8 - Installing Drop Ceilings, Custom Windows, and Mechanicals
Episode 9 - Paneling the Kitchen, Installing Hot Water, and Hanging Doors
Episode 10 - Cladding, Insulating, and Zoning for an Affordable Home
Episode 14 - Affordable HVAC, Painting, Kitchen Cabinets and Counters
Episode 15 - Installing Glazed Wall Tile and a Pedestal Sink
Episode 16 - Refurbishing Wrought Iron, Custom Kitchen Cabinets, Profile Molding
Episode 17 - Kitchens, Feng Shui, and Energy Star Homes
Episode 18 - Finishing Details in the Manhattan Brownstone

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