Every Sunroom Needs a Porch

Welcome back to our home renovation!

We are getting started outside today, and I’m pretty excited because we finally have some absolutely beautiful weather. Today we are getting started on something that we’ve been trying to do for a long time: we’re doing the parge coat on the ICF. We had to wait on this because it needs a temperature above 40 degrees. We did the foundation in October into November, and then the temperature dropped off so there were no days warm enough to do this. This parge coat is going to give the expanded polystyrene a more finished look above grade. 

A couple of weeks ago we did some prep work for this. When we left the foundation over the winter, we had our dimple membrane which protected the ICF through the whole winter. So we trimmed the dimple member and the waterproofing membrane to below grade. Then we also went over the surface of the ICF with a wire brush so it has a more textured surface to grip the parge coat. 

Underneath the parge coat is the adhesive mesh, which is kind of like a heavier duty mesh tape for drywall. So we stuck that to the ICF before applying the parge coat, which is like a thin mud like a joint compound. 

This is the product that we’re using. It comes in a variety of different colors, and we’re going with a gray color. It has that loose, drywall mud consistency. 

This goes on in two coats. The first coat is on over here, and it’s looking pretty good. We have to wait a couple hours between coats, and then do the final skim coat on top of this. 

Today we are also hoping to set final grade through here because this is going to get covered up pretty soon. Once that’s done, we can start building our deck. So we might be able to do some deck framing today as well. 

That will allow us to start working on the trim. As we’ve said a lot, this is all trim. There’s no siding on the sunroom addition, so we have a lot of trim to do. 

Now that we have the parge coat on, next up is finishing up the retaining wall for the window well. Through some kind of miracle, we’re able to reuse a bunch of our off cuts to fill things out. 

We’re going to glue in the top course, and then later we’ll put an actual cap on. 

Now we’re ready to do some more backfill. 

We’re done with our rough grading, and we’re going to start some prep work on the deck while the parge coat continues to set.

That is where we’re going to leave things today. We have most of the grading set in the deck area, but it still needs some work. We spent a good part of the afternoon planning out the details. We have siding tying into panels, plus all of the trim boards with the windows; so we figured out the plan for all of that, as well as how it’s going to tie into the steps. 

We’re going to let the first coat of parge coat sit overnight. It’s hardening up really nicely, and it gives the foundation a really nice finished look. We’re still trying to decide on what the finish is going to be, it could be a smooth or a brushed finish. 

Next day, and it’s a rainy day. Good day to take care of some indoor things. Now we are pressing bearings for the skid steer. 

Next rainy day activity is making flashings. We are going to be making about 4 different kinds. We’re starting with the roof flashing for that dormer window.

Next we’re making the Z flashing which is going to go on top of this Boral here. 

Back to work on the deck. We’re going to set the perimeter of the deck first to get that all the same level.

So here is the perimeter, and it’s starting to look like a deck. 

Back in episode two, I removed all these deck boards from the original deck that was back here. We’re going to reuse them temporarily during the construction phase because these are going to get dirty and beat up as we walk all over them. Some time in the future when things are a lot more finished, these will be replaced with some kind of hardwood decking.

Deck is done, so now we can get started on the exterior trim. These are the panels which will go up onto the wall, which we can apply all of our trim boards to. 

So deck is all in place, as well as the panels, and we got our pump jack system back in place for tomorrow when we start working on the trim. This is going to transform pretty quickly, which is exciting. 

So that’s going to do it for this one! Thank you, as always, for joining us. We greatly appreciate it. If you have any questions or comments on the home renovation, please feel free to leave us a comment. As always, we’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have. And until next time, happy woodworking!

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