Last month I shared my parent's boathouse makeover, and as promised, here is little tutorial on how to update plain exterior windows and doors with trim boards, to give your house (or boathouse) an upgraded look.
The windows on the main house had relatively ornate moulding. We wanted to give the boathouse a similar finished look, but for next to no money.
The cinderblock boathouse had extremely plain aluminum windows and the doorjamb/lintel was painted to match the interior of the house.
We also had to deal with the large brick sill underneath the window.
First we painted the areas around the windows and door the same color as the yet-to-be-installed trim.
We also painted the sill, and utilized the fact it was so wide to nullify the need to add a board to the bottom of the window.
While the paint was drying we cut down our boards to the height of the window, and ending at the end of the sill. The corners were butt joints, not mitered, which made measuring, cutting and installing a breeze. The boards were painted before they were hung.
We actually didn't use "real" wood, but instead used MiraTec, a composite material, which is rot, moisture and termite resistant (perfect for a boathouse.) Miratech is specifically designed to be trim, and so the dimensions are just right. We used the 3/4 x 4 inch width and had the 16 foot lengths cut down in the store to make it easier to work with. The boards have a fake wood texture on one side. We used the backside of the boards (the plain side) because the boathouse was cinderblock and we didn't need any additional textures.
To install the boards we used masonry screws . The screws require a pilot hole in the concrete. When you buy them they will either indicate the pilot hole size on the package (you can see I bought mine in bulk and had to buy masonry drill bits seperately) or they will provide you with the drill bit along with the screws ((Tapcon brand does it that way.)
I did a quick trial run on an extra cinder block to make sure I had the right drill bit.
When we were sure we had it right, we held the boards up to the windows, drilled through both the board and the cinder block and then went back with a driver and screwed the boards to the wall. A little caulk to hide any gaps and we were done!
The finished look:
We ended up doing, the door and side window, two end windows and large picture window facing the water (not shown) for about $200 in supplies.
The project took about 10 hours. (2 days at 5 hours/each.) It was time well spent!
Definitely time well spent. The trim work makes a world of a difference!
ReplyDeleteI would love to know where you found that corner cabinet. I have looked everywhere for one. I have thekitchen wall corner cabinet and want to add something to it to make it taller. Your bathroom is great inspiration. Mine was similar.
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ReplyDeleteNice Blog with Beautiful Capture..
ReplyDeleteI am loving this...Highly Appreciable Work!!
Thanks for sharing:)
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