Because it was freezing out, we stuck a brick in front of it and called it a day figuring we would fix it in the spring.
My Dad came at Easter and we had him look at the door, he recommended hammering the frame back into the wall and mentioned that we may not need a new door, just a frame mending.
OK great. We’ll get right to that.
Then we went to Hawaii, and then we were dying of campylobacter, and then it just got added to the list of things we’ll get to eventually. Like painting around where our old ceiling fans were and cleaning the clogged gutter.
As the days were getting warmer and we started spending more time out on the deck, we became lax in the brick placement because we had to climb in and out of the window every time we needed to use the door and put a flower pot there instead as this would allow us to push the door open without a big ordeal. But, it had a downfall. It was light and would sometimes fall over.
A few weeks ago, around 10 or so PM, Mr. was on the computer and I was snoozing on the couch per usual when I heard a loud crash. Mr. had his headphones in and didn’t hear anything but I insisted something was awry so we got up and inspected the premises. Everything looked fine until we got to our roof deck door and:
Me: "Something looks weird."
Mr.: "Our door is missing."
We opened the heavy door to discover the screen door and frame hanging off the side of the house.
Lovely.
It was just about to storm so the winds were furious (obviously, I mean they blew our door and frame off ) and we were in our jammies. So, I decided to take charge because Mr. is a thinker and we would be there all night while he assessed what needed to be done. Bed was calling so I sent Mr. into the house for a hammer and hammered the top part of the frame back into the house and told him to pull the remaining frame, door still attached, off the wall.
He did.
Then we had this exposed under side of the frame:
and for a close up:
I told Mr. that we couldn’t leave the under wood exposed like that so I went and got some painters tape, duct tape, and Press and Seal. I Pressed and Sealed that opening like my life depended on it. Mr. questioned this highly but eh, we were in a bind. Not like we were prepared for this. Eventually we replaced this with a plastic bag and some duct tape to make it classier.
When the rains stopped and it was not 10:00 at night and we were in normal clothes, we performed a thorough examination. My conclusion was that it wouldn’t take much to repair, we just needed a new frame (the old one was rotted and moldy and pretty gross) that we could probably build if we had some wood, nails, a hammer, and an electric saw.
A saw? Hmmmm…..
We are not handy people but Mr.’s Dad is a handy person and happens to own not only tools but an electric saw. He generously agreed to help us out.
Mr. Sr. assessed the situation and helped us put up a new frame. By help, I mean, he put up a new frame while I watched and Mr. “helped”. It was a sad scene when Mr. Sr. had to show Mr. how to use a hammer because apparently Mr. forgot my seminar on how a hammer works that I gave him back in 2003.
We eventually found out Mr. needed a training hammer because his wielding of the big hammer left a big dent in our heavy door.
It was some nice father and son bonding time and our frame came out quite well.
Our new door came this weekend and we spent about 4 hours yesterday installing it.
We did have to make a side trip to get a hacksaw but that was the only major stumbling point. It came our decently. I mean it opens and closes with no issue that we have found yet. And we did it with little to no fighting (only some agitated remarks between us over my hatred of following the directions and Mr.’s need to follow each step exactly as written) Only two random holes were drilled in the wrong place. Big big win!
The reveal:
Voila!
PS This project has made me realize how much I hate our outside light. Maybe that will be next on our list. After the ceiling and gutters...
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