"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Easy Install...Yeah, Right!

Being a child of the northern states, I grew up with storm doors and windows.  Everyone had them and it wasn't until I moved South that I realized not everyone knew what these things were.

Fifteen years ago, I remember asking a fellow at Lowes where the storm doors were.  He chuckled and said "Ya'll are from up north aren't ya?" and went on to ask "why" we felt we needed a storm door. 

I personally feel a house is naked without one but went on to explain to the fellow how nice it is to have the front door open and have that "window" to the world.  It's also nice to have the screen in for air circulation.  Some of us actually like fresh air, you know.

We poked around and ended up buying a door that had a roll down half window/screen on the upper half.  Loved it.  One of the best things we ever bought.

The door served us well until early this February when I tried to walk out and discovered the door latch was froze up solid.  SM was gone so I went out another way and reported the malfunction to him later.

He took off the handle, sprayed lubricant, tried everything he could think of.  We even thought we could take the door off but couldn't get to the screws with the door in the closed position.  Finally SM took a hammer and screw driver and just pounded it out.

We then considered replacing just the door latch system for around $50.  The door trim was scratched up but we could spray paint that.  But I'd noticed that the lower panel of the door had been loose for the last few years so I made the command decision to just replace the door entirely.

Most stock doors are white and nothing on our house is white so we special ordered a Larsen door in a "sandstone" color that, in the daylight, is actually a lot more gray than I thought it would be.  SM picked the door up yesterday between rain showers and got home with it about noon.




"Do you wanna go ahead and do it now?"  I asked.  "The box says Easy Install so maybe it won't take too long."

"Sure."  SM was agreeable and it actually turned out to be a good day to do it.  The heavier rain held off and the 60 degree day kept things comfortable.

SM and I work pretty well as a team.  We bicker at first trying to get the other person to understand what the other one wants but then we usually settle down and emerge from these sorts of tasks with our pride intact and minimal blood having been shed.

Things went along pretty well with me reading off the instructions and SM being the muscle.  Then the drill battery crapped out and needed a recharge.  Then we couldn't find the 1/8" drill bit to drill pilot holes.  Then the special gizmo that was supposed to ensure that the interior and exterior latch holes matched didn't work as well as advertised. 

Yep...Pretty typical for us.  We always make it work but it ain't pretty. 

We finally got the door latch installed and started to work on the strike plate.  Then SM gave the door latch a pretty good yank and the freaken thing fell apart.

SM stood there looking at the door latch in his hand and said "Well, I guess I didn't tighten that down good enough."

I looked up at him and said "OK, that's it.  We're done for the day.  Let's finish up tomorrow." 

I was tired and frustrated and found out that it was already 4:30.

Really? 

We'd been working on this thing for over 4 hours?  What happened to "Easy Install"?

We used the deadbolt to hold the door closed for the night.  We'll finish it up today for sure.

But it makes me wonder if it just us? 
Do you all find projects like this take on a life of their own?

8 comments:

  1. Yes, they do take on a life on their own and my H and I have a tendency to hire the handy person now. When we were younger we would give it a try and still do with certain projects. I give you credit to try a door install. They can be challenging.

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  2. Yep...take on a life of their own and take FOREVER! I make a list on Wednesday of things to get done on the weekend...what a waste of time! I'm lucky to get one small project 1/2 done!

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  3. I worked at a company that built acoustical enclosures for people or equipment. Of course, in order to access the interior of that enclosure, there were doors. And even our professional installers, who did this for years & years, gave themselves a minimum of FOUR hours to install a door. A single door. Doors are, by far, the most difficult and most time consuming thing to install. When Paul was working on our front door, I just left. For half the day.

    And as for the storm door thing? I can't imagine living without one. Most people have them down here, but I believe it's only because they moved her from up "North". I get enough bugs in the house WITH storm doors and window screens, don't think I could take it without them.

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  4. No it's not just you. It seems just abut everything we tackle like this gives us nothing but fits. It seems nothing is ever an easy install and if it is you sit there wonder if you missed something or did something wrong.

    @3Beeze Homestead

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  5. Not only are the instructions harder to follow, the stuff just doesn't last like it used to. UGH... Hope you are still speaking to each other. ;0)

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  6. All projects take on a life of their own. Also the quality of nearly everything is way below what I consider acceptable. Then there are the instructions/directions that were written by someone who obviously never attempted to assemble and/or use the product.

    We started on a project in our basement last week that we thought would take about half a day. Tomorrow we hope to finish up. It will be the third full day if it takes us that long. Sigh.

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  7. Aha, finally a husband/wife team just us!!! What ever project we start always take way longer than thought and sometimes many trips to the store! Welcome aboard to the "we can do it, it's easy" gang, yeah right!

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  8. It always happens to me! And it's not just hubby/wifey that act like that in the beginning. My boys and I do that, go back and forth, and 98% of the time, we are trying to say the same thing in the end lol.

    http://caffeinatedhomestead.weebly.com/blog.html

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