Tag: wood

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Cottage Life

Use this DIY trick to reduce drafts in the cottage

Illustration by Paul Lewis

Cottagers are all too familiar with drafts that freeze toes on cold weekends. Windows, even double-glazed, are to blame for a lot of heat loss in cottages. Closing the curtains helps keep warmth in, but a curtain alone is less than ideal. That’s because heat transfers from the pocket of air behind the curtain out through the glass. Once cooled, the air drops to the floor and spreads out into the room. Warm air near the ceiling is pulled down into that just-vacated space, so more warmth is lost and the draft continues.

7 easy ways to stop drafts in your cottage

 Luckily, there’s a DIY solution that reduces drafts and your energy costs. Pelmets are boxes that cover the tops of your window coverings. Often thought of as purely decorative ways to hide drapery hardware, pelmets can also reduce heat loss by closing in the tops of your (ideally floor-length) curtains or blinds and cutting off that drafty airflow. In the summer, they also help prevent the warm air that heats up inside curtains from moving into your cooler room.

8 tips to save energy (and money!) in the winter

 It’s easy to build custom pelmets for your windows: just measure across each of your window openings and build a box (with a front, top, and two ends) to size. Remember to add length and depth so your curtains can move freely and open fully. Attach the pelmet to the wall using brackets and cover it with fabric, wallpaper, or paint—or leave the wood bare. You can even use the top surface as a handy shelf. Comfort for the eyes, pocketbook, and toes.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2022 issue of Cottage Life.

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Cottage Life

Cottage Q&A: When should I stain my new deck?

By Radoslav Cajkovic/Shutterstock

We replaced our old deck boards with new pressure-treated boards. It’s nice that they are a pleasant shade of light brown. How do I keep them close to the same colour? The contractor who built the deck said I should wait one year before doing anything. One year is up this fall. I don’t want the deck to turn grey. Should I put some type of sealer on it this summer? Will that keep the deck the same colour? Or, should I wait longer, and use a sienna brown stain? I recognize that I may have to do the sealer or stain every few years.—Gerry Bleau, via email

May have to? You probably will have to. Deciding to stain a deck is like deciding to adopt an African grey parrot: “Once you start, it is a lifelong commitment,” says Wayne Lennox, Cottage Life’s project builder. “I’m not a big fan of treating a deck with anything.” But it’s your deck. If brown is what you want, brown is what you shall have.

Lennox suggests avoiding a sealer. “They potentially seal moisture in as well as keep it out, possibly leading to mould. I would go with the stain.”

While you can slow weathering by using a semi-transparent stain, or a water repellent with added toner, “in general, you need colour in the product to protect the wood surface against UV damage and fading,” says Jana Proctor of Timber Specialties, a company that makes wood preservation and protection products. “If you like the original colour of the brown pressure-treated wood, choose a colour similar to it.” Try the product in a hard-to-notice test area first to make sure you like the look.

Great, you’re all set. But why did the contractor tell you to wait 12 months? 

“More than 20 years ago, pressure-treated wood in Canada had a water repellent added to it at the factory level,” says Proctor. “You had to wait for that to wear off, usually for about a year, before you could apply something else,” she says. “But that hasn’t been done in so long, you’d think that information would have gone away by now.”

How to treat a slippery deck

All our experts agreed that you’ve held off long enough. “You don’t need to wait a full calendar year,” says Marshall Black, a cottage, deck, and dock builder in McKellar, Ont. You do, however, need to make sure that the wood is completely dry. “You wouldn’t want to apply anything, say, after a night of rain.”

Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.

The article was originally published in the August 2022 issue of Cottage Life.

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Cottage Life

This cottager carved a wildlife tribute on his ATV shed

Photo by Bob Hayward

“It’s not uncommon to see wildlife such as foxes, bears, and even moose near the cottage,” says Bob Hayward, who has cottaged on Salerno Lake, Ont., since 2012. So when he set out to build a shed for his ATVs last winter, he looked to his surroundings for inspiration. “This was my tribute to the natural environment,” he says.

Needing a large, level surface to work from, and to protect his project while it was in progress, Bob built the doors out of 5⁄4-inch pressure-treated pine at home on his basement pool table. After sketching the deer onto graph paper, he transposed it onto the shed doors using chalk and string. He then used a Dremel tool to carve the image and a chipping tool to deepen the grooves. He finished it off with an Epifanes marine varnish to protect it from the elements and then transported the shed doors outside—which was no easy feat. Negotiating his basement’s curved landing, Bob carefully manoeuvred the doors up and down until he could squeeze them out through the tight space. “We only had one inch to spare,” he says. The weight of the doors also added to the challenge—Bob used three sets of iron hinges to securely attach the door to the 12-by-7 foot shed. “Next time, I would probably use a fence board, which is thinner,” he says.

While the project took longer than Bob had originally anticipated—60 hours spread out over three weeks—he’s happy with the outcome. “I got a lot of enjoyment from carving the design and playing around with the depth and shadows of the image,” he says. As for his next project? He plans to carve bears and moose into a pair of deer antlers that he picked up at a garage sale.

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Cottage Life

Lumber is still expensive—can you mill your own trees?

Photo by Chad Higgins

Since lumber prices remain quite high, cottage builders and DIYers are turning to felling and custom-milling lumber from their own properties. “It’s quite beneficial for a lot of property owners who have trees to turn into lumber that they can then use for a project,” says Chad Higgins, the owner of Westcoast Custom Timber in Victoria, B.C. Prices for custom felling and milling timber vary widely depending on the project, but Higgins says it usually costs a third to half of the price that you’d pay to buy the lumber from a retailer.

For Westcoast Custom Timber, for example, a tree that has already fallen might cost as little as $150 to remove and mill; prices could shoot upward to $1,500 if Higgins has to bring in extra equipment and take additional safety precautions to take the tree down. But in general, his clients usually pay between 75 cents a board foot up to $1.05—still considerably cheaper than big box store prices, which were upwards of $1.50 even before the pandemic.

lumber in the process of being milled into planks
Photo by Chad Higgins

Higgins also notes that in order to use the lumber for home construction, a lumber grader or engineer must certify the wood to ensure it’s safe to build with. Ungraded lumber can be used for any building project not intended for habitation, such as a shed, dock, or deck. Getting the grading could cost between $250 and $1,000 for common projects, but it depends on the size. Custom milling services can also be found on sites such as Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace.

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Potins

Evan Rachel Wood slams Vanity Fair experience

Evan Rachel Wood was left feeling ”like meat” after her first Vanity Fair photoshoot.

The 27-year-old actress posed for the cover of the publication’s Young Hollywood issue alongside stars including Mandy Moore and Amanda Bynes in 2003 when she was just 15 and says the experience left her close to tears after having her identity ”erased” when they ignored her ”begging” to wear pants and flat shoes in favor of heels and a mini dress.

After a fan posted a picture of the starlets together from the shoot, Evan replied: ”I was almost in tears after this shoot. They tried that dress on me, I wasnt comfortable but they told me there was no time cause everyone else took up too much time with their fittings.

”Then I was given a choice on whether I wanted to wear flats or heels. I chose flats and was immediately handed heels and told they looked better.

”Then we were all lined up, stared at and approved. I was 15 and felt for the first time my identity being erased and the pressure to shut up and do what you are told. I felt like meat. Since then, I have found my voice. Never again. #neverforget (sic)”

Evan put her ”bullying” experience down to being ”inexperienced and shy” but has learned from how uncomfortable she felt that day.

She added: ”I think when you are young and inexperienced and shy you can be bullied more. I learned to say no.”

And the ‘Mildred Pierce’ star – who is believed to be dating actress Katherine Moennig and has a 14-month-old son with estranged husband Jamie Bell – hoped sharing her experience would encourage her fans to ”stay true” to themselves, insisting she wasn’t complaining about any of the ”privileges” of her job.

She added: ”To all the haters. I am not complaining about being on the cover of vanity fair.

”I understand I am very privileged and there are far worse thing to go through.

”My point was that things arent always what they seem. Especially in this industry. What may seem glamorous sometimes comes at a price.

”I only want to encourage other young girls to stay true to who they are. No matter what. Hold on to your self.(sic)”

Evan also insisted she bared no hard feelings towards the publication.

She wrote: ”Side note , I have shot the cover of ”vanity fair” since and had a much different experience. It was quite lovely.(sic)”

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Potins

No Tights for Russell Crowe

Crowe will be starring in the new film called Nottingham.

The actor will star in the next adaptation of the story, being directed by Ridley Scott and also starring Sienna Miller.  However, Crowe will not be dressed in the traditional Robin Hood attire with which the character is generally associated.

"I will not wear tights because according to our research they weren’t invented for another 300 years. I apologise to you all – and to Sienna," said Crowe.

The star also revealed that he never would have agreed to star in the film if he didn’t believe that it is the truest version of the story ever made.