Renovation - replacing exterior fascias and screen with WRC

[waynew]

A little home project that has saved me over 10k by doing it myself with the aid of Festool and some other equipment.

The home is customs built, approx 20 yo and some of the exterior wood work is beginning to deteriorate. Starting at the top I removed all the fascia from around the entire house which form the outer edge of the customs wooden gutters, and replaced everying with 2" x 12" western red cedar. The structure you see protruding out from the roofline is a shade which (after finishing with Sikkins 1 23) will be lined with 1.5" x 1.5" lengths of cedar spaced 1.5" apart, this sun shade prevents most of the high southern sun from entering the home through the large windows.

The Festools I used on this project are the Rotex, ES 125 EQ, CT33 and the C12 cordless drill. The drill is a little workhorse that goes on forever, used it for all the 3" stainless steel screws used on the project and the 8" lag bolts holding the outriggers on the shade, its nice not to have to change the battery every 1/2 hour.
The Rotex was by far the most impressive tool for sanding all the mill marks from the cedar ready for the Sikkens products. I found that 100 grit was the best for this job. Surprisingly I was able to use it with one hand by gripping it at the head instead of the handle and my hands aren't that big, this was helpful when leaning out the side of the scaffold to get to the far out edges. I tried the ES 125 EQ but found it really wasn't up to this job due to the size of the timbers, once you get going with the Rotex there is no going back for these large jobs.

I was banking on using the Kapex but it was not delivered in time, Hafele Canada didn't have it ready by July 1, however it was promised to be shipped on Thursday for delivery Friday but it didn't turn up so I was forced to cut everything on the shop table saw and haul it all back and forth around the house. This is the only problem we Canadians have with Festool, the Canadian distributor is pathetic, I had the fortunate experience of dealing with a dealer from the US for the Rotex  and CT33 and have only good experience to report. Its a real shame we can't get the same quality support here.

Next I'll sand back all the dark brown painted wood with the Rotex and repaint.

Thanks for looking,
Wayne

 

[b_m_hart]

Looks good so far.  How long did all of that take?

 

[monte]

Wayne,

Very nice job, very good process shots.

hmm, my neck is already hurting just thinking about your activities up there.

Roger

 

[Eli]

Nice work Wayne 

That reminds me I need more hose for when I buy the scaff tower.

 

[waynew]

Looks good so far.  How long did all of that take?

This is not my day job but I did a full week whilst on vacation and another week of afternoons and 2 weekends. All the stainless screws are plugged and I've filled all the knots and any small voids with wood filler. Yesterday afternoon after sanding everything I was able a get 1 full coat of Cetol 1 (Mahogany) before the rental scaffold had to go back. I'll be buyng some scaffold in the next week or so to finish the painting. I figured it will come in handy for maintenance in the years to come.

Roger,

The neck was fine because the 3 tiers of scaffold ended up in the perfect position in relation to the roof so there was not too much crouching. The arms and legs are another story after climbing the scaffold 50 times a day , oh heck I forgot to plug in the vac... etc..

Thanks for the kind comments, I'll post a few more progress shots and shots of the other sides of the house. I still have to make up and install all the small trim pieces to cover the joints as well as a cap that will sit on the edge of the large 2 x 12's.

BTW, Phoned Hafele (Canadian Festool dealer) today. They said the stock just arrived, it will be picked today and I should have the Kapex tomorrow.

Wayne

 

[greg mann]

Wayne,

I am interested to know why you chose Sikkens. Not saying that is a bad thing at all. I have some outdoor work coming up and am trying to zero-in on wood selection and finish/preservative. Do you have past experience with Sikkens or any of the other usual suspects? Did you get any unsolicited testimonials? Nice project, BTW.

 

[waynew]

Wayne,

I am interested to know why you chose Sikkens. Not saying that is a bad thing at all. I have some outdoor work coming up and am trying to zero-in on wood selection and finish/preservative. Do you have past experience with Sikkens or any of the other usual suspects? Did you get any unsolicited testimonials? Nice project, BTW.

Hi Greg,

I've had no previous experience with the Sikkens product but have used a product called Cabots on a previous home. Cabots Clearcoat was very good on rough sawn cedar, its water based and milky in appearence in the can but resembles dried honey after 3 coats. Whilst Cabots Clearcoat performed well on rough sawn lumber, from my experience it didn't do so well on smooth lumber so I searched for something else. The Sikkens product Cetol 1/23 seems to have a good reputation among the pros for durability and appearence. With the question of durability out of the way the appearence of the finished product was of concern to me as it had to blend with other colors and types of finish already a part of the home, so I purchased 3 of their sample cans in various colors (around $6 each) and applied them to large pieces of cedar, large enough to get some idea of how the color and texture of the final product will look in relation to the existing colors.
My wife liked the mahogany so that was that, but it is nice. The Cetol 1 component contains the color and this is where I think it excels in relations to other brands. The particles that make up the color are so fine that its translucent (like golden syrup) so the wood grain and character are left unhindered after application unlike most other brands where the stain blocks alot of the character of the wood.
The Cetol 23 component is the clear satin topcoat with UV protection, I was a little hesitant at first going with the Sikkens because it does have some shine to it and for this applicaiton to much shine wouldn't work. I was told that it would dull down pretty quickly and after looking at a sample it was not too shiney after all.

Actually I feel this product is alot like the Festool of natural external finishes, great quality and value but not inexpensive. So far I'm impressed with the color portion and it goes really well with the other dark ebony brown trim. One coat on the section in the above photo took only just over a 1/3 of a 1 gallon can.

If I can help with anything else just ask.

best,
wayne

 

[waynew]

Theres been rain up here like you wouldn't believe, the other day we got a small break in the weather and I got a chance to get the Sikkens 1 and the first coat of Sikkens 23 on (then it rained a little that evening  :.  Next comes the cedar slats which will lay on top of this structure in a lengthwise direction forming the grill that will provide the filtered light into the house, then the cap which will sit ontop of the big 2 x 12 and the small tapered trim pieces that will cover the corners and hide the joints. I'll paint all that material with Cetol 1 and one coat of 23 before it goes up and then give the whole thing a final 2nd coat of Cetol 23.

In one of the previous comments I said the Cetol 1 contains the color and the 23 is a clear finish coat, thats the impression I had from the guy from the store at the time of writing that but it turns out the the 23 also has some color in it, just not as much.
From this pic you don't really get a good sense of how nice this product turns out and how translucent it is but it has surpassed  our expectation in the appearance category.

BTW all that chocolate brown timber below will be replainted in a significantly darker brown tint (I think its called ebony brown) which works really well with the new Sikkens Mahogany color.

Thanks for looking,
Wayne

 

[Bill Wyko]

That turned out beautiful. fantastic job. Nice color as well.

 

[b_m_hart]

Wow, that turned out very nice, quite an improvement!