Where'd 2024 Go?

I had high hopes for 2024. The to-do list was lengthy and I got around to...almost none of it. 

It was the windows. What started as a sash-building project turned into an exhaustive reworking of 3 foundation walls, and I'm still not done. 2 window openings have windows, albeit without brick mould or storms, 1 window open has a jamb and some plywood covering the opening. I don't wanna talk about it.

At the end of November, needing a break from the window carpentry, I decided to try and beat the winter weather and rebuild another section of parapet. I knew I'd prob run out of days that were warm enough to sling mortar (spoiler alert: I did), but I gave it a shot.

The parapet is 20-ish feet up, so I had to get the scaffold out and set 'er up. I've done it enough times, it doesn't take too long for me to get it all pieced together. Getting that 2nd walk board up to the top of the 3rd rack is a little tricky, but I make it happen. Once the scaffold was complete, I got right to work tearing out the wall.

The parapet was in terrible shape, and looked like it needed to be rebuilt many years ago. It also looked like somebody had tried at one point but didn't do a very good job. I rebuilt the 2 sections to the right last year, and knew from experience that the only way to properly address the parapet was to dismantle the entire thing and start over.  

I repointed the wall beneath the parapet a couple summers ago, which was my first time doing a full tear out and rebuild of a brick arch. It was a pretty nerve wracking experience given how much the wall had delaminated, but the end result is passable. 

I wish I hadn't had put that sloped mortar bed on top of the lower cornice, but I was matching the previous work. I didn't yet have the confidence in what I was doing to freelance, so it is what it is. If the cornice brick is done correctly, with a little slope away from the house, that extra mortar on top isn't necessary. Somebody did that to the upper cornice as well, which you'll see in a pic or two. I'm not replicating those sloped mortar bed details, none of which can be seen from the ground (so I don't really care that I did some work I wish I hadn't done).  

So...yeah, rough shape. It didn't take too many hours, or any power tools, to get the wall disassembled. 

If you look closely, in the upper middle part of the previous pic, you can see how I'm flashing the roof. The existing roof membrane goes up and sort of wraps over the top of the parapet, which means 2 bends over a relatively short distance (not ideal for long term sustainability), and then some kind of liquid flashing goop was smeared all over the top of the parapet, I guess to seal up where the membrane ended on the top of the parapet. It's sloppy, sloppy workmanship, and the correct way to flash the roof, despite not having a lot of parapet to work with, is to throw some metal flashing into the brick and wrapping over the top of the roof membrane. This is also the most time consuming part of the work; there's a silly number of layers of roof membrane/covering, which means there isn't a lot of 'give' to any of it, and I have to do some custom metal work to get around the corners. 

Long story short, I came close. I only have the flashing and 1 more course of brick to do, as well as a little mortar top coat in some places, but I ran out of good weather so while the scaffold still stands, the walk boards are in the basement and the parapet is covered in plastic. I need a weekend with weather above 40° to get everything buttoned up, but I probably won't get that weekend any time soon.

Which means...back to the window slog.