Wednesday, June 15, 2011

How to: flashing doors, and vents in aluminum siding

This type of flashing is totally new to me. As I understand it the basic idea is the design the exterior siding and attach it in such a way that water would have to fight gravity to penetrate the wall/roof, and that the flashing channels water away from doors and windows, which are holes in your walls. So here are some pictures of my attempts to install flashing around the doors and vents for the solar batteries.
Battery compartment vents ready for flashing.
I cut on side of a piece of aluminum angle and folded it into the opening in the foam, between the foam and the siding.
Next I took a piece of Z-channel aluminum
and fitted it under the over-lapping sheet of siding. I cut notches in the siding so the z channel would extend beyond the edges of the vent opening.
Next I cut three more pieces of angle and fitted them into the openings, covering the layers of siding and interior angle.
And then I screwed it all into place! The rubber mallet has been a very important tool, and also the tin snips.
Here a piece of aluminum angle has been sandwiched between the insulation board and the siding, with the door frame on the back of the exposed angle. The notched the angle so that it bent over the top of the door frame, and a third piece runs across the top of the door which the siding covers.
The ISO board is attached using double sided fiberglass tape and either liquid nails or caulk (see previous post), and the aluminum siding and flashing it attached using stainless steel screws and rubber backed washers into the steel framing under neither. All of the holes for the screws are pre-drilled, and the screws hand tightened as stainless steel is rather soft and the power tools strip the heads. A dab of caulk has been applied to the backs of all the screws to prevent them from backing out.
Here is a shot of the batteries in situ under the floor on their supports. They are resting on steel covered by three layers of cork padding.

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