I get worried when my husband has to repair/replace something inside our home. He’s fine with rough carpentry and rustic places like the barn… but the house?
Where I have to live?
I prefer professionals.
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I was cringing the whole time he and a friend were removing the old front door…. and lost count of how many times I said be careful.
Note – he wasn’t careful. And it was the friend who put a drop cloth down on our brand new floor.
Thank you friend.
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The fact that they got it out in one piece without breaking the glass is a miracle.
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I think even the husband was surprised.
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Giant hole in the house?
Check.
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Door frame on a shrub?
Yup.
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There was even a door under the truck.
The reason for that placement was clearly above my pay grade.
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And now that we had a big hole, it was time to fill it.
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After checking to make sure there was no rotted wood underneath as was the case with the other two doors we replaced.
Remember our old… I’m estimating 50 years… front door?
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The one we have to replace before my husband can finish the stone siding on the front porch?
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The one that was impossible to replace in that particular configuration.
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The one for which we ordered a replacement but have been waiting forever for it to arrive?
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It arrived.
And Holy Macaroni Batman! The thing weighs a ton. It took three delivery men 20 minutes to manhandle it 10 feet.
I was afraid they’d damaged it but when my husband removed the packaging it looked fine.
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Yes, it came with handles.
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Though the ones on the right were put on the wrong way.
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I’m not looking forward to my husband installing this door. Careful and precise are not his favorite words and it may require a lot more finesse than he’s capable of delivering.
Along with all the other things that are being replaced on the porch? You can add the front door. It’s original to the house and has been leaking cold air in the winter ever since we moved in. It’s shifted, barely closes properly and requires me taping it shut every December so the wind doesn’t whistle its way in.
A new door is necessary but that doesn’t mean I want my husband in charge of its replacement. He’s the king of gerry rigging and that’s not going to fly here. I wanted to wait and have a contractor to do it… he says he needs to do it now before he installs the stone siding.
So this is where I get nervous.
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Storm door removal?
Fine.
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Protective glass covering the side panel removal?
Fine.
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But then we moved indoors where the new floor was recently installed.
In order to replace a door you need rough opening measurements… and this means removing the moulding.
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My husband’s track record with this task is not good.
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But thankfully he managed the job without splintering anything.
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I know he’s going to faint when we go door shopping because it will have to be a special order.
I have told our contractor numerous times what type of doors we want. He relays this information to the store rep he orders through.
And while the rep was on track with the living room door for some reason the bedroom door is still a problem.
I gave our contractor the door catalog and circled these three styles.
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I texted him this photo from the website.
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I specifically described the shape and style of the top window door we want. I gave him everything he needed to order said door which he passed along to the sales rep… so you can imagine my surprise when he emailed me this.
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Does that look like the door we wanted?
No, it does not. So a few days later he emailed me this.
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Does that look like the door we wanted?
Again, it does not… so a few days later he emailed me this.
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Okay, we’re getting closer… but this half fan model is a bit old fashioned and not the door that we want.
Help me out here. Am I being unclear… or is this a man thing?
Do all pretty windows look the same to the male eye?
I swear this door will be the death of me. Or at the very least the death of my sanity.
Since our contractor has to wait for the window company service reps to inspect that particular nightmare, he’s decided to replace the bedroom door now instead of later.
To recap… the door.
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Nothing special, just a regular door.
As I said earlier we wanted to replace it with something like this, though not in brown.
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Just a pretty little window at the top. How hard could that be?
After our multiple trips to Lowes with inadequate dimensions the other day, I had the contractor pull off the trim and take the rough opening measurements himself.
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I even had him fill out the form and check all the boxes so there would be no doubt.
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Height, width, depth and swing.
Those are the four things you need to know to purchase the correct size. I thought we were home free.
I was wrong.
Of all the doors they had in stock, and trust me… we checked all of them… not one could check all four of our boxes.
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We spent over an hour and a half driving the sales guys nuts looking for one with a window before we had to change gears and settle for the same type of plain 6 panel door we currently have.
Boo to that.
Of course it wasn’t easy finding one of those in the correct size either. After another half hour of searching the hundred doors they had in stock? We found two.
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The one on the bottom shelf had busted up trim, the one we made the salesman drag down from up top? Had a massive dent on the front.
At this point I was ready to call it quits, grab a piece of plywood and go home to seal up the bedroom wall.
But from the corner of my eye, way down the aisle, in a different section… away from every other GD door we’d looked at… was a row of fire safe doors. I asked if this door was suitable for an exterior entry and was assured it was.
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Yes. It was more expensive. (I didn’t care)
Yes, the trim would have to be purchased separately and more work would be required to install it. (I didn’t care)
It was the right height, width, depth and swing.
All four boxes checked.
Thank you Jesus. We grabbed it and ran out the door.
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Straight to our local pub where I consoled myself with a few positively scrumptious apple cider margaritas.
If something is wrong with this door when the contractor starts the replacement process?
I’ll pay him to go get a new one.
I’m done.
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