Our storm door to our mud room rotted around April. AJWP tried to fix it but it did not really work or look so great. We put off the project for a long time, thinking the door size would be irregular like many in our home. We thought it would cost a ton of money to special order the door, and our experience of special ordering doors is not so good.
Last time we special ordered a door, it was our big mamba jamba front door. Of course, we got the solid wood super heavy door (so burglars and such cannot break it down). We gave the people the measurements just as they had asked. However we got it home and it was too tall and the places carved out for the hinges were not in the right places. Being the one with the tool know how, I had to cut the door with the circular saw to the right length. I was so nervous, my stomach began to fail me and I became more distressed. Of course, the door was cut crooked. And then, having no chisel or router, I used a drill to carve out the site for the hinges. If that was not hard enough, have you ever tried to hang a door? A big mamba jamba door? No? Well, it sucks. It was a nightmare but I doubt the "This Old House" guy could have performed any better under those circumstances, diarrhea and all.
This time, it turned out to be a normal size door. I go to Home Depot and buy our new door. Once home, I started taking the old door off. However, the screws on the hinges were very rusty and one hinge was covered partially by the railing for the porch. This needed to come off so we could screw in the new hinge for the new door. I tried unscrewing the screws. Didn't work. I tried spraying WD-40, letting it soak in, and unscrewing the screws. Did not make it move a bit. I drove to Home Depot (2nd trip) and bought a metal drill bit to drill out the screws. The screws were so tough, it only got maybe a 1/8th of an inch deep. So then we go to Home Depot (3rd trip) and buy a hack saw to cut through the heads of the screws and remove the hinge. I hacked through 1/2 of one in 45 minutes. AJWP then starts hammering it to break it free. Did not work. Back to Home Depot (4th trip). The lady there recommends using a chisel to break the screw. Both of us hammered it repeatedly for 5-10 minutes and all that happened was the chisel lost it's edge. All in all, we spent 6 hours on one stupid hinge.
Then the door is too long so I take out the thresholds and find the wood under it is rotting. GREAT! I deal with that, replace the threshold and we then decide to cut 1-1/2 inch off the bottom of the door. We do that. It takes three or more hours to get the door hung. However, the door jam is all crooked because it is an old house. So I took today off to fix it up so the door latches and the weather will not pour through the giant gaping space between the door and the jam. AJWP is happy with the door. It will keep kitties in, weather out, and the dog in or out so that is good by me.
It is amazing how a simple project can become a huge nightmare.
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4 comments:
Dude, I have hung doors and IT FUCKING SUCKS. Big time. It's one of the worst repair type things to have to do. It's even a pain in a perfectly square building with a brand new door that's the right size, so you know it's a pain if anything not square or an unusual size. Good job, what a nightmare!
Y'all are right--hanging doors sucks ass. The front door was way worse than this storm door, despite all of the recent door jamb issues. And now they're both up, so who cares that they're a little worse for wear?
Hashbrown, you are a home repair superstar.
You are the Queen of Home Fixins! And on the bright side, was it good anger management to pound the shite out of those screws?
I am seriously impressed. Esp that you and AJWP did some of the work together, and are still happily married. Hubby and I DO NOT do assembly/home repair things together anymore - neither of us can afford the divorce lawyers that will be required!
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