Very skeptical of the poplar finger joint the trim contractor is using
Patricia Parrish
7 years ago
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Patricia Parrish
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Trim Nail Holes in Finished Millwork - Best Product?
Comments (9)Really appreciate all the help! Meldy - I haven't seen Quikwood yet (not sure I had seen it in our local stores, either). But good news...I bought the Elmer's wood filler yesterday - came in white (couple of others came in what they called "natural" which was a putty white greyish color - natural what??) and works wonderful!! It isn't solvent based, came in a tube that I snipped and can actually just squeeze into a bunch of nail holes and then go back and flatten down, plus is water washable around the holes for a little while - probably 5-10 minutes, where the Dap was drying almost instantly. So I'm making progress now! thull - my thoughts had been to buy 2 colors of filler for the cherry, because as you probably have also on the natural cherry, there are light/dark variations - sounds like I should go a shade darker on each also, eh? I think I will use the MinWax for the cherry - that was really easy to work with especially if it could be dug out and refilled in the future....See MoreWhite Trim?
Comments (25)There are alot of conflicting opinions here. From my experience a quality painted trim package is more expensive than a stained trim package. I don't think many of you realize the difference in labor between the two. Stained trim can be finished off site prior to being cut and installed. Once installed you fill the nail holes with a wax filler and you are done. A quality paint job is not so easy. First you need to prime all of the trim then sand the primer. Then you install the trim. Next you need to fill all of the nail holes and sand them smooth. Then you caulk all of the joints and where the top of the base meets the wall. Now two more coats of oil based semi gloss paint for a durable finish. Trust me, it's much more time consuming....See MoreFinding a contractor to fix 140 year old windows?
Comments (42)I am so glad that you love your Marvin windows--we have one small bay window from Marvin that we added in the kitchen , but the fact is, on a house with 46 windows, the cost-effectiveness of replacing that many windows is not justified. At least not here in upstate, NY. That one window alone was over $1000. When I priced out windows this summer (and I looked at about eight different companies), the only ones we could afford were about $300-400 per window. For "crappy" vinyl windows. Still, that was an $18,000 investment on a house that we paid $125,000 for. The numbers just didn't add up. If we went to Holbrook Designs (exclusive Marvin dealership here in Albany), the new wood windows were $800 and UP! Even if we got the $800 windows, we would be talking over $35,000!! In Holbrook's defense, they were absolutely lovely and professional on the phone and warned me of their costs before they came out to measure and give me the ubiquitous sales pitch. Storms were about $120 each. Is cleaning four surfaces a pain? Absolutely. But my two oldest kids can help me from the inside while I work from a ladder on the outside. Might be a pain when I get older, but we do actually have window-cleaning companies around here if necessary. And in a house with three kids and two dogs, we are not exactly "neat-freaks," so deep cleaning the windows in fall and spring is plenty for me. I thought this decision to keep my windows would be hard for me (check out earlier posts I have put on about the same thing...some as far back as 2006--that's how long I've been mulling this over!), but I am really fine with it now. These windows have lasted for 150+ years...I'll let someone else make the decision to rip them out somewhere down the line! Not gonna be me :) I do think it's to each his/her own, however. My sister-in-law has a charming little 1930's bungalow but likes everything new--so she had no problem replacing all of the original windows and doors with new ones--and covering up the old wood floors that needed some TLC with laminate. They love it and are happy with their choices. So that's fine! But for me, I like the solid, somewhat imperfect but historic feeling of our house. In it's 150 years, it has only been owned by three families (one of which was my husband's grandfather), so I can just imagine all of the life events taking place there. And with the windows, I just like imagining how many people have actually looked out those same windows over the years. I know--romantic and corny. But I can't help it--history teacher with a minor in urban renewal and you get a historic architecture sap!! ;) S...See Morewhich wood for interior trim?
Comments (7)One of my top three disasters is seeing painted oak! Right up there with cracked foundations and leaking roofs. Reason? Oak has such a strong grain difference, even several layers of paint will not make a smooth surface. Poplar is often referred to as 'The Painter's Wood' because it really looks good painted. Much better than pine, which is usually the second choice. As far as flooring, that is wide open. Depends on how high end you want to get. $4 a square foot installed to $20 a square foot(and maybe more). Manufactured or natural, expensive or economic, factory finish or site applied? I used hard maple in our house because we wanted light colored floors. And I got a deal on the material(that deal was so good, I bought the flooring before we had found a house!)...See MoreSombreuil
7 years agoPatricia Parrish
7 years agofortsumter
7 years agoPatricia Parrish
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7 years ago
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