Sharp Edges :: Installing Window & Door Cap

One of the biggest challenges with saving the original siding on an 1889 farmhouse (well, other than dealing with 13 decades of paint) is ensuring against water entry at the windows and doors.

Our clapboard, where it was protected, has held up nicely to the elements through the years. I would suggest that in some places the old-growth, heartwood fir looks as good as the day it was installed.

When it was installed, however, I must assume easily workable sheet metal was not widely in use. Building today, we "flash" above and/or around all window and door openings, usually with aluminum sheet goods.

Aluminum, in coil stock or other form, is highly workable, completely resistant to water, and more often than not comes from recycled material. You can feel comfortable that it is a great choice for flashing applications.

Back in the day

Back in the day, and on my house, the builder, a “self-builder” as they might call it in England, topped all window trim with a cap. This cap, similar to what you would see in an Arts and Crafts-style interior trim build-up, was purposefully sloped away from the house as to shed water. (Hopefully, the picture shows this.)

Today, windows installed with new construction (aptly called new construction windows) receive a z-flashing (named for its shape) prior to the application of the structure's finished cladding (or siding). On my house, at some point in its life, coil stock had been bent (or broke) on-site and was applied to this window cap. (Again, hopefully, the pictures will show.)

While this type of application was certainly practical, aesthetically I had issues with it.

Especially given what you know about me (and my distaste for poorly painted metal), it had to go. As I have been working my way around the house, addressing paint issues, I have also been working to implement a more modern flashing solution.

Retro-fitting flashing

While I have been around houses, and am sometimes known to do “restoration” work, I do not own a brake (see the Moxie Mouth at right for a definition). This device, and you have likely seen one, is used to brake or bend sheet metal for flashing, and other exterior, installations. While I would love to one day own one, for this project – I wanted to avoid having to purchase, rent, or borrow one. So I looked elsewhere.

Most home centers and lumber yards stock a select set of aluminum edging profiles. I will admit again, I don’t always have time to do as much legwork as I would like. For example, when I did work around the windows in the back ell of the house last summer – I had difficulty finding a profile that would work with my trim set-up. In that case, and at the time I thought rather ingeniously, I grabbed a roofing eave edge (for the raking ends of a shingling installation), flipped it over, and made it work.

I wish I would have spotted Amerimax’s Window and Door cap back then. As the pics will hopefully show, it seems that this stuff was designed with my house in mind, and it worked excellently for the windows on the front of house.

Installing

Again, I never claim to be a craftsman or a home improvement expert, but I would like to provide the procedure I used for installing . . . .

One of my biggest priorities was trying to get lap (that is, coverage) at the ends of the window cap – and this proves to be the most difficult part of this installation. (I did take pics at each step of the work, but . . . truthfully they did not turn out great. I will not post them here, but I will email them to anyone who asks.)

Oh yeah -- when working with sheet metal, watch out for sharp edges!

The procedure –

1. I measured the length of the first window cap. Warning: I learned long ago, and especially with old houses, not to gang cut any elements intended for the windows. Usually, there are a few factions of an inch of difference one to the next. I added one inch to the measurement here, to allow for a ½ inch fold at each end.

2. I cut the cap to length using my miter saw. I almost always do this. Loaded with a good carbide blade, cuts on sheet metal work out well (though a slight rough edge is sometimes left).

3. Work on the flashing itself started by marking for the set- back. To do this, I used the combination of a speed and a small carpenter’s square. (For marking the opposite end, I held it in place on the cap later -- marking it there.)

4. I then made two short cuts, using aviator snips, first at the rear where the flashing begins its slope upwards, and at the front where the cascade begins its fold over. I then made another short cut at the “lip” in line with my marking. I finished this with a notch cut where the slope intersects the flashing's “deck."

5. I worked my “flap” upwards slightly with my fingers, I trimmed the “ear”, and then took the lip that was now free and folded it almost a full 180 degrees back on itself. This allowed me to then fit my hand brake in.

6. Enter the hand seamer – a great tool made by Wiss/Cooper Tools! I started shifted forward – and on the working line, I bent my flap upwards to 90 degrees. Then I “broke” the flap downwards. I had to reset the tool by shifting it to the back of the profile midway through the bend. (This was a simple matter of physics – the hand seamer I was working with was a little too large for the profile, but it worked nonetheless.)

7. Now with a fully shaped flashing in hand – I placed it into a bead of caulk at the top of the window cap. Using stainless steel trim nails from Maze Nails, I fastened the flashing at five points from above. (Obviously – I don’t love creating the additional penetrations on a horizontal surface, and it is debatable if I could have just “glued” the piece into place – for me, though, I later dabbed all nail heads with a glob of silicone caulk. And I was happy.)

8. While I used an "elastamastic" on the rear, here, I chose instead a 100% clear window/door silicone to seal the flashing at the point where it meets the house. In these applications, I choose not to finish, or swipe, the bead as I feel it allows the bead to hold up longer under the stresses of expansion and contraction.

Anyway – this is how I did it. I would love to hear what you might have done differently.

Lessons Learned – Rusty tools are the devil & never snap your pictures on the first item you do in a set. Work only gets better as you get into a rhythm.

Thanks for reading and BMoxie BMore!

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More Moxie:

Amerimax aluminum products (I believe): http://www.amerimax.com/default.asp

Wiss metal working hand tools: http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/wiss/index.cfm

Stainless steel aluminum trim nails: http://www.mazenails.com/

if there is such a thing as a personal hell - mine would be filled with poorly painted hardware

click here for the last

Copper & Aluminum (Elemental Building Products)
(aka -- part 3 and that's it for me)

When I left off, I was amped because I had found a way to incorporate a common household product into a home improvement task. Yes, the Reynold’s Wrap I had grabbed slyly from the kitchen counter worked very nicely as a light abrasive on my now rust-free shutter hinges.

Later that same day -- I employed more aluminum foil (freshly ripped from the box) as surface protection for my field-stoned front stoop. It worked very nicely as I fitted it around my column feet. By keeping it slightly long and folding it over the ends of the "deck" – its fit to the contour of the stone actually gave it its bite/hold. Then, I re-used it.

Now, as I think of the alternatives, it was actually a time saver. No plastic, or tape to deal with. No awkwardly folded drop cloth to fight. It just worked -- in this situation.

But, you know, this got me thinking – What else could I possibly use Reynold’s Wrap for, and is aluminum foil actually a “toolbox essential?”

Cu . . . rses!

As I have been detailing, I am working on “fixing” the paint on the front of my house. And probably from reading the title on these posts, you might guess that I have a distaste for the ill-advised painting of hardware/metal.

And here lies yet another point in this case: The pseudo-step flashing found at the intersection of my portico’s roof & the house proper. As I found it -- that is, when we bought the house, it had a nice glazing of pale yellow paint on it. . . . Expertly done, and this paint was performing nicely.

At the time, I guess, no one knew that there was actually copper under there. That said, I don't blame our house painter who had no problem just running a brush right over it . . . again.

Curses!

Copper in context

I mean – OK I understand the aesthetic reasons, and yes if anyone heralds the "sealing" value of paint, it’s me – but come on. It is copper flashing! You don't need to paint it.

Sure, copper cannot currently be found on any other part my house. I have removed the once present 3” copper downspouts (which were also painted). This flashing does still fit, though, with the beautifully patina-ed steeples found on the elementary school across the street from us.

OK, maybe a stretch, here, but the fact is -- there are few building products that are, well, so elemental. Copper, though a finite resource, lasts -- and it is effectively recyclable. It has been used from ancient times on exteriors. And it has even done a pretty excellent job of carrying, what, water around many, many a house.

Copper in its newly installed form is beautiful. Copper in its weathered and oxidized form is beautiful. (It's ironic really I have heard that copper's patina, or verdigris, actually adds protection, against corrosion, to the metal.)

Reynold's Wrap is a little bit like coil stock

I knew going in, and having had some experience working with the removal of paint from metal – my trusted heat gun would not work quite as effectively as it does on wood surfaces. (Is this because of metals' conductive properties?)

But I tried it; I "burned" for a bit. The slight wave of the installed sheet material was unfortunately making it difficult to remove the paint without digging into its surface.

A little time like that and I, ultimately, opted for some chemical paint stripper. But wait – there would be a problem here. How was I going to protect the surface of the asphalt shingles I want to save, at least, for now? Hmm . . . coil stock . . . ?

Yes, and that is kinda what it is. The Reynold’s Wrap – a light-gauge coil stock. OK, again maybe I am stretching here, but you see where I am going. An excessive application of paint stripper would certainly break down the shingles' granulated surface.

So I stretched it out along the edge of the roofline at the house. (You can see this in the picture above.) Again, it's workability allowed me to fold it up and under the roof's edge. The aluminum foil holding tight -- I brushed on the stripper . . . 30 minutes, and we will see what it does.

Getting a little cocky

As usual -- I was bouncing back and forth that day; cutting caulk at trim boards, a little light sanding, and then I thought, "Do you think that balled up RW that worked so well on my shutter hinges would work now . . . for removing softened paint?" Hmmm . . .

I would try. And on this, I will not hold you in suspense . . . It didn't quite work. Ultimately, to remove the paint -- rags and two grades of steel wool. First, a #2, and then, a #00 (spoken as double aught).

This still left me slivers of paint on the surface -- but this day, I could live with that.

Curses!

Cleaning the brushes (aka righting the wrongs)

What is his point with all of this? -- you might be asking. My point is . . . there was a time when home improvements, especially when performed by under-informed home owners, often involved applying paint where it simply doesn't belong.

Today, we, as defenders of the earth and the keepers of the architectural past, are left to clean up these mistakes -- to right the wrongs, if you will.

And to do that, sometimes we must think "outside the box".

So . . . to answer that question -- Is Reynold's Wrap a toolbox essential? Maybe or maybe not. But it certainly does help every now and then when you need to improvise in a pinch, and when you want to use something readily re-usable.

Thank you for Reading & BMoxie BMore!

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More Moxie:

A cool resource focusing on copper I was recently turned onto -- Copper.org: http://www.copper.org/

Outstanding information about flashing from Twitter friend's Old House Web: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/roof-flashing-details.shtml

& Of Course -- Reynold's Wrap: http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldskitchens/en/home.asp