July 15, 2005
"Towards a 2BR" Part VIII: The Doors
filed under: Demolishments and RenewvationsPreviously: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII
Day 19 on Wednesday was, again, not worth an update. Lisa got a rare chance to go out for drinks with a friend like a real grownup human being, so work was limited to the hour and change between Max's bedtime and the baby's upstairs. Got the wall beside the foyer repaired and some more door drywalling. Whatevs.
Day 20, Thursday: Finally, finally, finally done with the drywalling of the new construction. The doorway rough openings on each side, the foyer, and the doorway where the old door was removed. Hallelujah. There are still lots of spots to patch, and the whole ghastly wound where the old closet was needs to be insulated and then drywalled, but it feels like a benchmark.
Best of all, I got Max's door in. And despite the fact that I mis-sized the rough opening - leaving it 1/2" too narrow - it fits. (Just). And opens and closes. (After some adjustments).
There are supposed to be shims on *both* sides of the door. As you can see, I had to screw the strike plate jamb (looka me with the LINGO!) right to the frame, because once I got the hinge jamb plumb (too many silent b's in that last phrase...) there was NO ROOM AT THE INN.
In fact, the door wouldn't close at all, with the top corner hitting the frame, until I resorted to the old cheat of slipping a little shim of cardboard under the top hinge, to rock the whole door back slightly in the frame. Shhh don't tell.
And technically, if you look real close when the door is closed, you'll see I didn't per se get the top of the jamb totally level, so there's a millimeter gap at the corner. Shh don't tell.
And I cheated and used power tools after 9:30pm, to install the door hardware, trying to be real quiet about it so Gerber upstairs could sleep. Shh don't tell.
Little by little, though, the whole thing is starting to look like it was done on purpose.
