DAY 34 Homestead

Over slept by a bunch this morning. I arose at 10:37 and found Summer relaxing and drinking coffee in front of the wood stove. I drank mine and began the ‘Door Adventure’.
“Door Adventure’ Part One–Took 8 million sheetrock screws out of the door frame. Then Summer and I tried to remove the door frame after I removed the door. Found another half dozen screws hiding in the closet. Removed those little buggers and the door, finally, allowed itself to be removed.

Door Adventure Part Two–Got the old door and frame out then tried to install the other door assembly to check for fit. IT DIDN’T.

Door Adventure Part Three–Decided that the only way to get the standard 3’0″ x 6’8″ to fit was trim the door header. Located my RYOBI circular saw and cut the first layer of rough cut lumber. 2″ x 8″ is the actual size of the lumber. After finishing the cut through the first layer, I was left with two layers and no tool to cut them. Tried starting both of my chainsaws to no avail. If someone gives you a POULAN chainsaw just throw it into the recycle bin. They aren’t worth a damn for anything except for boat anchors or recycled metal. And they probably aren’t really good boat anchors.
Ended up cutting across the two additional 2x8s and using a chisel to remove the 2-3 inch pieces. Tedious waste of time but I had no choice. We had no door in 32 degree weather.

Door Adventure Part Four–I, finally, got the door opening to my specs and set the door in for checking the fit. It fit perfectly and I had about and inch above the door open. I planned it that way so that as we added 1/2 of underlayment and 1/2′ of laminate flooring the door would open properly. ‘All is well that ends well” or so I’ve been told.

Door Adventure Part Five–Got the door and put down a piece of 3/4 plywood to raise it above the floor as previously stated for underlayment and flooring. Both sides of the door were squared still the door wouldn’t close. This is when I find our that the transom is out of level by just over a 1/4″. That part of the house is dead level so somebody just screwed up the transom substructure. I sat down with a cup of coffee and tried to figure out why the door wouldn’t close and why the other door assembly was shorter that the new door assembly. It dawned on me that the original owner/builder of the house mis-measured and the result was a transom not connected to the door frame and a door cut off and this left the sheet metal bottom flapping in the breeze. Apparently, this person was endowed with a special kind of stupid.

Door Adventure Part Six– Took the door out and ground away some of the plywood in order to get enough room to square up the door. Tried several tools but the just went with a circular saw to cut away the excess wood. Not neat or safe but the door closes with some minor encouragement and that’s where I left it. Not perfect but good enough. Screwed the aggravating thing to the walls and called it a day. Too much aggravation makes Jack an angry boy