I borrowed an idea from Mike Smith and used Trex to replace a water table that was sitting a bit too close to grade for my tastes. A while back Mike shared with us his use of Trex for applied window sills, an idea that I really liked. For this particular job PVC didn’t seem to be a great option due to the final paint job being chocolate brown with a lot of sun exposure. So, being as the color of the Trex was rather close to the final paint color, I gave it a go.
I can now attest that Trex mills beautifully. I chose to make one 1/16″ pass through the planer on each side and a quick run through the table saw to remove the remains of the radius edge. That gave me a true 1″ x 5 1 1/8″ water table capped with a drip cap that I milled separately. Glued with PL Premium and screwed with SS #8 trim screws.
Anyways, it’s now time to paint. Latex-acrylic or oil based, whaddya think? I checked on Trex’s website and they seemed to lean towards latex, however that seems to be the norm today. I greatly prefer oil based paint and would rather use that, but I’d love to hear some feedback if anyone has any.
Thanks in advance,
Nick
Oh yeah Mike, if you read this, hats off to you for suggesting Trex for exterior trim in the first place. I don’t think one could/should/would use it exclusively but it certainly has its place. I am again in debt to you.
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Not to sound stupid, just dum. But what's a water table? I know it as the level of ground water, but you're obviously refering to something else.
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When referring to exterior trim the water table is the lowermost horizontal member which wraps around the building in a band so to speak. Architecturally speaking it acts to define the bottom of the building and to separate the building from its foundation. Mechanically speaking it really doesn't do much at all, it just looks pretty. I've run into a few cases in restoration work - actually this job that I'm doing is a prime example - where using a water table milled from a composite material has allowed me to separate wood siding either from grade or masonry and prevent future/early decay. By the way, it's latex all the way. Hadn't considered the overall hardening of oil-based paint over time and its brittleness. Trex would move just a tad bit too much and my paint guy felt that it would probably wind up flaking off over time. So, latex it is.Here's a robbed picture of a water table by the way:
trex..... you can sometimes pick up discontinued patterns at the yard
we're using mostly 100% acrylic for our exterior paints now
looks nice !Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Interesing that your painter advised latex and actually it kinda makes sence considering how much trex expands/contracts. However, a few years back I spent all summer doing trex decks and at one job the painter(who was sloppy) got latex on the deck and in the morning I could darn near wipe it off..Same painter different job and it was an oil based, it came off with the board I had to replace..All I ever wanted in life was an unfair advantage...
Thanks for the enlightenment. I've repaired plenty of them but always just called it a drip edge. I really gotta work on my terminology. :)--------------------------------------------------------
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Around here, we call 'em the "grade board". Historically speaking, I think it's supposed to resemble the plinth on a column. Hence forth, could we refer to it as the house plinth?
Belt? Grade board? House plinth. What the he** are you guys trying to do to me?? Does anyone call it a drip edge?
Maybe it shoud be called a waterboard, because this is torment!
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Sorry, drip edge goes on the roof, or at least it's supposed to (unless one is using PT plywood for decking, then it doesn't matter).
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Good one :D
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Edited 6/20/2008 9:50 pm by Ted W.
Edited 6/20/2008 9:54 pm by Ted W.
I appreciate your suggesting Trex for trim. It might be just the ticket for a job I have coming up.
I would, however, like to extend your explanation of a water table. You clearly describe its use at the base of a house. Here in California we also often install a water table midway up the cladding of a house. In a recent project, for example I plastered the lower half of a two story house and clad the upper half with a combination of plank siding (HardiPlank) and board and batten. The water table, or in actuality several of them, serves as a transition from one cladding side to another. And it has a very important functional as well as a decorative intent, along with flashings serving to prevent water penetration at the intersection of the stucco and planking. Again, thanks for your Trex tip. -- David GerstelP.S. -- as this is my first post, I hope I got the mechanics right and sent it to the right person. If not, apologies.
Edited 6/20/2008 4:21 pm ET by david1gerstel
when it's higher up on the house , i've commonly seen it termed a "belt"Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore