Forum Discussion
Dave_Pete
Jan 08, 2018Explorer II
Today: Metal edge trim around bathroom door and window.
My next move was to try out the 1" by 1" aluminum angle I spent too much for at the home center - because we were there, and I wasn't sure what the metal store might have in stock. So I paid the premium and went on with life.
That was chosen for the door frame. And you know that whole measure twice cut once thing? It doesn't always work. So one of my short sections (top or bottom of the door opening) got cut 1" too short. Doh!
I slept on it. That's one thing about finish work - you get in a lot of sleep.
But - then in my metal scrap. I found a bull-nose carpet stair-tread cap. Originally it came out of Lil' Queeny and was across this upper wood corner for the bunk step.

Here are the ends I cut off, which shows the profile.

And how it looks installed. It gave a nice tread coming and going. Hurts a bare foot just enough to train you to step over it.

The interior surface overlaps and pulls that front edge of the shower pan in tight.

The sawdust is from pilot hole drilling; at least through the plastic surfacing material, and a touch of wood behind. The drilling is meant to prevent the screws from cracking the plastic, so I started with a drilled hole in the plastic to try and prevent that.
And note the mitering, angles, and varied dimensions of pieces. For example, the gold anodized stair-tread bull-nose was ripped on the table saw to 1/2" on that interior angle section, while the screw in part was retained at its original approximately 1" width.
The 1" by 1" angle aluminum is about 7/8" on the inside corner, due to material thickness. And the bottom points (near the pan) were trimmed back to meet the tread trim's 1/2" height.

And here's how the upper framing turned out.

Now the overkill aluminum treatment (as opposed to a smaller plastic trim or something) feels strong in the hand! Using both hands, coming and going through the door, in much the same way you start up or down a ladder, feels secure, strong, grab-able! Like a sturdy handle. Oh yeah!
Also that day in the home center, I bought a 1/2" by 1/2" stick of aluminum angle - for the window opening. But upon sizing it up, I didn't like the narrow width for the screw attachment and overall look, or edge weakening of the underlying 1x2 it screws to.
So I looked around the shop some more. And I remembered that pile of aluminum in the field from the Harbor Freight greenhouse we took down with the wind's help.
From there I found a suitable piece.
Here's a "by this time" pile of what I was pulling from.

For what I wanted on the window frame (about a 3/4" by 7/8" if my memory recollects correctly), I set the saw and started cutting off everything that didn't look like my head image.

Which gave us this.

That's without the screen frame that goes inside of it.
Here you can see the exterior butyl tape hanging into the wall opening.

This will all get sealed or not, depending on what I decide in finality for the water splashing need. For now, and likely as a final design, both the window and the entry door, will have a custom sized thin cloth style shower curtain pulled. Kind of like an L-shape in the corner made up by the door and window walls. An inside corner to spray toward with a hand-held shower head.


Next? Let's look at the sink.
My next move was to try out the 1" by 1" aluminum angle I spent too much for at the home center - because we were there, and I wasn't sure what the metal store might have in stock. So I paid the premium and went on with life.
That was chosen for the door frame. And you know that whole measure twice cut once thing? It doesn't always work. So one of my short sections (top or bottom of the door opening) got cut 1" too short. Doh!
I slept on it. That's one thing about finish work - you get in a lot of sleep.
But - then in my metal scrap. I found a bull-nose carpet stair-tread cap. Originally it came out of Lil' Queeny and was across this upper wood corner for the bunk step.

Here are the ends I cut off, which shows the profile.

And how it looks installed. It gave a nice tread coming and going. Hurts a bare foot just enough to train you to step over it.

The interior surface overlaps and pulls that front edge of the shower pan in tight.

The sawdust is from pilot hole drilling; at least through the plastic surfacing material, and a touch of wood behind. The drilling is meant to prevent the screws from cracking the plastic, so I started with a drilled hole in the plastic to try and prevent that.
And note the mitering, angles, and varied dimensions of pieces. For example, the gold anodized stair-tread bull-nose was ripped on the table saw to 1/2" on that interior angle section, while the screw in part was retained at its original approximately 1" width.
The 1" by 1" angle aluminum is about 7/8" on the inside corner, due to material thickness. And the bottom points (near the pan) were trimmed back to meet the tread trim's 1/2" height.

And here's how the upper framing turned out.

Now the overkill aluminum treatment (as opposed to a smaller plastic trim or something) feels strong in the hand! Using both hands, coming and going through the door, in much the same way you start up or down a ladder, feels secure, strong, grab-able! Like a sturdy handle. Oh yeah!
Also that day in the home center, I bought a 1/2" by 1/2" stick of aluminum angle - for the window opening. But upon sizing it up, I didn't like the narrow width for the screw attachment and overall look, or edge weakening of the underlying 1x2 it screws to.
So I looked around the shop some more. And I remembered that pile of aluminum in the field from the Harbor Freight greenhouse we took down with the wind's help.
From there I found a suitable piece.
Here's a "by this time" pile of what I was pulling from.

For what I wanted on the window frame (about a 3/4" by 7/8" if my memory recollects correctly), I set the saw and started cutting off everything that didn't look like my head image.

Which gave us this.

That's without the screen frame that goes inside of it.
Here you can see the exterior butyl tape hanging into the wall opening.

This will all get sealed or not, depending on what I decide in finality for the water splashing need. For now, and likely as a final design, both the window and the entry door, will have a custom sized thin cloth style shower curtain pulled. Kind of like an L-shape in the corner made up by the door and window walls. An inside corner to spray toward with a hand-held shower head.


Next? Let's look at the sink.
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