V and J just bought a condo and hired me to replace the baseboards. I estimated 2 days plus materials, sight unseen. However, once they got possession they decided to keep the ones they had (fancy type!) and change the door casings instead. They went with a pillar style casing and an ornamental top rail (I really don’t know what it’s called, all I know is the product code is 5000UL at Blackwood). 🙂 We also added casings to the closets and one window. 13 units and 2 tubes of caulking later, I was ready for the next project.
They had also purchased 3 sheets of brick facing, and asked me to help them put it up as a feature wall. I have worked with this stuff before, and know a few of its idiosyncrasies, but had not installed it in a house before. Because the sheets can expand/contract with weather changes (and therefore buckle), there are particular installation instructions; however they are not really practical either, so the challenge is to find a medium that looks good and hopefully won’t bulge next summer. We screwed them to the wall to avoid future removal damage and butted them tight to each other. I left a small gap at the top and bottom for expansion and caulked it later. I cut out holes for plugs etc. Despite levelling pretty carefully, there was a larger gap near the ceiling as we moved to the left…which I was able to fill, but it wasn’t great. I did the best I could and don’t think anyone could do much better…and learned it’s tough to perfectly place 96 square feet of bricks on a wall!
handyandrew.ca 