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Carpentry at home
#1
People ask me why I don't do more carpentry at home. And today was a prime example of why I don't.

I finally decided to replace the back door. The back was twisted and broken and leaked hot air like a sieve. Basically, because it was a sieve. I also spent the last week at work on the "Social Network" hanging doors and doing hardware. What could be easier than doing what I had done all week at home?
If I were to hang a door at work and put in all the hardware, it would probably take me an hour. Today's little remodel on the back porch took five. I'm the same guy. I'm doing the same job and yet, five hours later I'm still hanging the door. If I did that at work, I'd be fired.
What's the difference? First off, there are 100k worth of tools lying around for my benefit. I'd get the door boring jig for the hardware and I get the Bosch kit to do dap in the hinges. There would be drill motors and routers to hand for all my little tasks. Someone else would buy the door and bring it to me. They'd find me the hardware. And when I was done somebody else would come in and clean up the mess I had made. Don't get me started on the union problems I would face if I were to even attempt to paint the door.
At home those conveniences are sadly missing. I didn't have the expensive door boring jig, so I bought the $12 happy homemaker one at the Home Depot, home of the door and the hardware, too. And at twelve big dollars, you get what you pay for. I had to make my own template to rout out the hinges. I did have the routers, but I had to do a lot of digging to find the proper router bit to do the cutting. I dug through the scattered tools for drill bits. My chisels desperately needed sharpening. Granted, the tool collection is a lot better than it was, but it's still not close to what it needs to be. As a by product of the job, I'll probably buy the two door kits to cut holes in doors and never use them in this house.
It comes to being a pain in the ass. But it needed to be done, so the ass pain I will take.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit
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#2
And it's a BEAUTIFUL door. I love it! Big Grin
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
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#3
That's almost a back door quotable...
:butthead:
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#4
Our front door started sticking recently.  I carefully sanded the tight areas of the doorway, but that didn't really help.

For the past three weeks we haven't been able to open the front door.

A fire hazard?  Only if there's a fire.

I've been giving myself pep-talks to go outside with a wood block and sledgehammer and force it inward and open, then try to redo the hinges and door latch.

The problem is, the doorway may not be big enough for the door anymore.  The wiggle room escaped into the notorious adobe clay we sit on (the garage side door now has an extreme wedge gap at the top, and the latch no longer catches).

When we asked our handyman brother-in-law what to do, he had one word of advice:  "Sell."

Greg mentioned the importance of having the right tools when tackling home projects.  Let's see.  Belt sander, circular saw (worm-drive).  Router.  Axe (please no).  Sawzaw (please double no).

Is today the day?  Or do I play the Manana song one more time...
I'm nobody's pony.
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#5
Can you unhinge the door or is it that tight?  If so, maybe a plane for some more serious shaving?  Depends on the type of door.  Is it hollow?  I would hope not for a front door.

Heck, what do I know.  I defer to the wood butcher Greg.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#6
Is the door hollow?  No.  I think it may be metal (knock on wood -- no, wait, that saying doesn't work here).  I think I checked the last time it was open, and the edge seemed metal.

But I do have a wood plane, and that might work for the doorway.  That gives me a glimmer of hope.

Unhinge the door?  I planned to make that my first line of attack, but our brother-in-law handyman suspects the hinges may be too tight even if we work out the pins.  The hinges themselves can't be unscrewed unless the door is open.

What I think I need is a double-tipped sword.  And a slew of Spanish cusswords.

But the plane idea is good input.
I'm nobody's pony.
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#7
So I'm outside the front door with a big wood block and a sledge.  I made certain the door is unlatched, just sticking.  I place the wood block against the top of the door on the opening side, then awkwardly heft the sledge overhead and give the wood a good thonk.  Nothing.

"Maybe you should try a hair toss," says Lady Cranefly.

Well, I don't have much hair these days, but I give it my best Ilya go, and then I thonk the wood again--

--and the door flies inward and I stumble in after it, totally unrooted and off-balance from having the sledge and wood lifted high.  But I manage not to kill myself.

The belt sander works best.  I just sand the top and opening side of the door up high.  The door is wood, but has a metal flange on its side that meshes with a metal flange in the doorway for weatherproofing.  But I manage to take off enough wood next to it that the door finally closes and opens okay.  It even locks.

But the deadbolt no longer latches.  So I unscrew it, shove trimmed chopsticks into the screw holes with lots of glue, and then when that's dry I chisel out an adjustment for the metal plate and rescrew it in.

But I get the depth wrong.

Now making a second glue and chopsticks attempt.  Just what you want with a deadbolt.  Then again, if someone wants to break into our place, it's more porous than a White House press briefing.

So bloody close to an easy fix.  But of course that's a figment of my imagination.
I'm nobody's pony.
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