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Saturday, July 30, 2005
Patio door
Ah, the weekend, where my neighbors dial 9, 1, and wait for a crash. We had a lull after finishing the deck and patio, but the outside of the house still looks like crap. The old patio door was leaked like a White House in damage control mode, while the new patio door insulates us from the outside the way Bush's toadies insulate him from reality.
I wish I could say it all went smoothly, but it didn't. In fact, everything that could've gone wrong, did. The door was not factory-standard. It was supposed to slide to the right, but it was set to slide to the left. So I had to reverse it, which wasn't so very hard once I got going. The bigger problem was that the old patio door was not a standard size. I had to close the opening by 1.5 inches at the top and 2.5 inches on one side. That wasn't such a big deal, but my 2x6 was warped just enough that I couldn't squeeze the door in. Got that fixed, then nearly dropped the new door over the edge of the deck. Thank goodness for quick hands. Not quick enough to keep the screen door from falling on Bully, but little dog Hammer survived more or less intact.
I had the damnedest time adjusting the rollers. I still don't think I have it quite right. But the real problem was that I kept turning one of the rollers the wrong way -- I about stripped the screw by thinking up was down. Before I figured that out, Ms. Hammer pointed out that the door seemed to be warped on one side. This was impossible, or course, because it was plumb before I nailed it to the house. I was about to lose my temper, when I realized that the jamb was still plumb, but the door itself was off balanced. That's when I started turning the screws the right way and got the door to ease shut with a whisper touch.
Well, not quite, but it's good enough for today. Tomorrow will be some insulation and trim. Then a few days off before I patch in the siding. Then I'm done with projects for the summer, except for recracking the patio, sealing the deck, patching the driveway, and tilling a new flower bed.
2 Comments:
Wow, sounds like fun. It reminds me of the "Great Sponge Parent's Retaining Wall Dig of 05". My parents live right on the Minnesota river valley in Bloomington and the back of their yard is slowly sliding down the hill. My dad (who is a physicist...not a construction worker) decided that he would build a retianing wall all by himself. He didn't ask me for help...he went all John Wayne on the thing. One day, I went over to their house to visit and my mom looked pretty worried. She said that dad was out back with a 6 foot power auger and he was trying to drill holes for concrete polls. I walked out back and the first thing I saw was him holding the big ol' drill with two hands while the bit hit a giant tree root. It is really amazing how much torque those augers have. It is also amazing that dad's arms didn't fly off as he was twirriled around the drill. Even more amazing is the fact that the very dangerous drill bit (which was still spinning as it left the hole) did not land on any part of Sponge dad's body. I still feel guilty for laughing.
Good luck with the rest of the project.
cp
By 
, at
8:38 PM
My dad was a big help yesterday, except for the one job I thought he could do unsupervised. I asked him to run some caulk along the sill. He didn't open the silicone nozzle far enough, squeezed the gun too hard, and ended up caulking the gun far more than the door.
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