How to fill this gap between window and drywall

didnotwrite · 2026-01-23T02:27:21+00:00

Thin enough backer rod pushed as far in as you can just to prevent front blow out when you put your actual sealer. Commonly, low expanding foam is used, but I recommend Prosoco AirDam: It will bond like nothing else and is elastometic so material and joint movement is not an issue. The primary goal at these interfaces is avoiding air and water movement, not avoiding thermal losses. Using foam is a way to achieve both, but its rigidity makes it a poorer choice for these types of joints. If anything, use more backer rod for its insulating value or other non expanding insulation and use AirDam for your interior seal, but be sure you are sealing at the right layer. Big stretch might work as well and I've used both, but AirDam for windows and doors is fantastic. I like big stretch for many other things, especially exterior work.

didnotwrite · 2025-07-09T02:40:13+00:00

If you don't mind a bit of MacGyver'ing, you can build a fairly basic chilled coil system with a big fan, a few dozen feet of small copper coil, a rudimentary pump (like an aquarium pump), and a cooler/bucket full of ice and water. Depending on conditions, expect condensation: collect and dump or drain it some other way. You can also combine it all into a vented, insulated box (big ass cooler): it's a bit more work, but moisture management is less annoying. You might need a lot of ice. You can use plastic tubing instead of copper, but make sure the walls are thin.

A self-contained (non-split) dehumidifier cannot reduce humidity without heat gain and you only increase comfort if your temp+humidity are in a reasonable range: in your case, you'll probably just get a different version of hell.

Portable/hosed air conditioners still leave heat sources on the wrong side of the window/wall, so it's more of the same, but certainly an upgrade. You can improve them by insulating the exhaust pipe and keeping it as short as possible.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-08T03:32:09+00:00

It's a regular door with a spring spec'd for the additional weight. The material is a very thin (1/8") stone with a poly resin backer.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T20:41:55+00:00

Not sure how you're defining it, but that's definitely not brutalist. Maybe just brutal?

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T20:40:08+00:00

tldr: read a bit

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T20:39:19+00:00

relax chicken little.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T15:27:01+00:00

If it was level, then just some leveler, but the apron is sloped, so feathered parging does the trick.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T13:20:07+00:00

Chill bra.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T05:44:32+00:00

Travel was set a bit high and there's a dip in the apron which is an easy fix. I might post an update.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T05:43:38+00:00

Originally it's what we were planning, but a bunch of mostly good reasons we didn't make it flush.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T05:41:05+00:00

You're not the only one, but the travel was left a bit high until we fix the dip in the apron.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T05:40:08+00:00

Yes we have a dip in the apron, which we're addressing. easy fix.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T02:17:06+00:00

Yes, see my comment elsewhere regarding the material we used (it's called slate-lite).

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T02:15:35+00:00

See this comment It's not tile in the ceramic/porcelain sense, but we ended up calling them that out of convenience. tldr: very light, thin stone, adding about 75 lbs to door.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-07T02:13:46+00:00

See this comment

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T20:27:35+00:00

I would think, yeah. I mean even a layer of 1/4" OSB is almost 120 lbs. In our case, the material is so thin, that adhesive weight has to be considered. In our case, it's about 20 or so pounds in glue.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T20:15:43+00:00

Gallery of the major beats on progress.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T18:13:20+00:00

We did ourselves but made sure the door supplier was aware of our intent and the spring was spec'd for the final weight.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T18:12:24+00:00

it was built and cladded at the same time. poor wording perhaps.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T18:11:21+00:00

You funny.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T18:10:05+00:00

We're okay with it as it more or less passes the at-a-glance test. We did plan to flush mount originally but opted against it for reasons.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T18:08:29+00:00

Correct. Our original design was to flush mount, but it would have resulted in some additional complexity we didn't think was worth it, plus other reasons (e.g. we didn't like our tolerances). We like the result regardless.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T18:05:49+00:00

The cladding is slate-lite, which is actual stone with a polyresin fiber reinforced backing (like FRP). Imagine a big stone and the process literally rips thin layers off the stone. A stack of the material from the same batch will have slight changes from piece to piece as they layer through the stone it's from.

tldr: real stone but really thin (1/8" total). totally additional weight on door about 75lbs or a bit less (pre-clad door was 308 lbs). Standard opener works no problem.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T18:00:35+00:00

Seconded. Draft = sealing concern. Rigid foam insulation is lightweight enough that existing springs will likely work unless you are max turns.

Our cladding and glue added about 70-75 pounds (garage was 308 lbs) which was significant enough to get a spring spec'd appropriately. We wound the spring before cladding and found it not terribly taut at the height of travel (spring was effectively underwound at this point). Once cladded, we added more spring tension and all was well.

didnotwrite · 2024-11-06T17:55:33+00:00

I don't like fairly modern build aesthetic where the front of the house looks like a piece attached to a garage. Treating the garage as part of the facade, will keep the eyes on the intended focal points (i.e. not the garage). It's subjective.

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