A door in transition
Aug. 16th, 2020 19:56![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillAfter yesterday's strenuous activities, today I decided to take it easy. So, after airing the house this morning to keep it cool in the afternoon, I only took a door apart.
The door from the mudroom to the back porch didn't close properly; I could see where bracing staples had been driven in along the major joints, and even those were rusting and starting to fail. Cracks had opened up along the joints as the door sagged, and finally it was no longer square enough to clear the floor or fit into the jamb. Time to take it apart and re-glue everything. I'd done it once before for the back door of the shop, with good results.
First I took it off the hinges... and damn, it was *heavy*. As I scooted it along the garage I started to wonder whether it had been filled with lead. I got it into the workshop without incident, and proceeded to remove the pane of glass at the top, which was held in with strips of trim. The nails were too rusted to cooperate, so I ripped the trim (carefully) off over them, then pulled a few and nipped off the others with wire cutters. Then I discovered that the door was no longer square enough to allow the glass to clear all the corners...
A few whacks with the mallet on the bottom corner of the door fixed that, so the glass is safely stowed to one side of the shop. Once I removed the various braces, the knob side of the door literally fell off. The panels slid out with some coaxing, and the cross pieces needed little encouragement. The only difficulty I had was with the joint at the top hinge-side, which had gotten the least weathering of the whole door... some patient prying and whacking at it finally got the last dowel to loosen up.
I need to replace about six dowels, almost all of them on the knob-side. I think the wood on the bottom outside corner is still sound enough, just very weatherbeaten... my woodworking tools here are quite primitive, so I'll work with it as much as I can. It's amazing what good glue and some paint, soaked into dry wood, can do for a door.
I spent the afternoon scraping old paint off of about half of the pieces, using a sharp chisel. It peeled off very easily in most places, so I'll just touch it up with a little sandpaper before I hit it with primer. Oh yes, it will get primer. A south-facing outdoor piece like this will get Zinsser 1-2-3 on it before I even open the can of exterior latex. I will say, paint has come a long way in 40-odd years...
I might have to go to an actual paint store to get the right shade of cherry red; all of the exterior doors here are red on the outside, which has always struck me as cheerful.
Yes, I will use a respirator when sweeping up the paint flakes.
When my hand started to protest, I wandered over to the bridge by the Shippen -- actually just two 2x12s laid across the stream -- and soaked my feet in the water. It felt like a cold pack, and it was wonderful after standing for hours two days straight. Then I went out to check on the blueberries, finding that enough have ripened that I should take a cup out and pick some more. The pond was pretty active: no algae bloom, and though the water was murky, I could see things moving in it. I spotted several rough-skinned newts floating around, and something swimming that I finally identified as water boatmen. A dragonfly was occupied with catching a bunch of the mayflies mating over the water.
On my way back, I spotted the rooster pacing along the fence as the buff hen calmly took a drink of water. He's getting his just desserts.
All in all, a very pleasant day. I've felt very peaceful and cheerful.
The door from the mudroom to the back porch didn't close properly; I could see where bracing staples had been driven in along the major joints, and even those were rusting and starting to fail. Cracks had opened up along the joints as the door sagged, and finally it was no longer square enough to clear the floor or fit into the jamb. Time to take it apart and re-glue everything. I'd done it once before for the back door of the shop, with good results.
First I took it off the hinges... and damn, it was *heavy*. As I scooted it along the garage I started to wonder whether it had been filled with lead. I got it into the workshop without incident, and proceeded to remove the pane of glass at the top, which was held in with strips of trim. The nails were too rusted to cooperate, so I ripped the trim (carefully) off over them, then pulled a few and nipped off the others with wire cutters. Then I discovered that the door was no longer square enough to allow the glass to clear all the corners...
A few whacks with the mallet on the bottom corner of the door fixed that, so the glass is safely stowed to one side of the shop. Once I removed the various braces, the knob side of the door literally fell off. The panels slid out with some coaxing, and the cross pieces needed little encouragement. The only difficulty I had was with the joint at the top hinge-side, which had gotten the least weathering of the whole door... some patient prying and whacking at it finally got the last dowel to loosen up.
I need to replace about six dowels, almost all of them on the knob-side. I think the wood on the bottom outside corner is still sound enough, just very weatherbeaten... my woodworking tools here are quite primitive, so I'll work with it as much as I can. It's amazing what good glue and some paint, soaked into dry wood, can do for a door.
I spent the afternoon scraping old paint off of about half of the pieces, using a sharp chisel. It peeled off very easily in most places, so I'll just touch it up with a little sandpaper before I hit it with primer. Oh yes, it will get primer. A south-facing outdoor piece like this will get Zinsser 1-2-3 on it before I even open the can of exterior latex. I will say, paint has come a long way in 40-odd years...
I might have to go to an actual paint store to get the right shade of cherry red; all of the exterior doors here are red on the outside, which has always struck me as cheerful.
Yes, I will use a respirator when sweeping up the paint flakes.
When my hand started to protest, I wandered over to the bridge by the Shippen -- actually just two 2x12s laid across the stream -- and soaked my feet in the water. It felt like a cold pack, and it was wonderful after standing for hours two days straight. Then I went out to check on the blueberries, finding that enough have ripened that I should take a cup out and pick some more. The pond was pretty active: no algae bloom, and though the water was murky, I could see things moving in it. I spotted several rough-skinned newts floating around, and something swimming that I finally identified as water boatmen. A dragonfly was occupied with catching a bunch of the mayflies mating over the water.
On my way back, I spotted the rooster pacing along the fence as the buff hen calmly took a drink of water. He's getting his just desserts.
All in all, a very pleasant day. I've felt very peaceful and cheerful.
