and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

...turning the pantry door around. Seeing as how the pantry under the stairs here just got smaller I thought I'd make the door open outwards so there's more usable space. It's always struck me as a little mad that the door to such a small storage space opens inwards so this is a good excuse to apply some logic to the situation.

Now, I've not had much to do with hanging doors, I presume the frame is put in place and screwed or nailed in. Er no, not here.


There were 12 wires holding the frame in. On the LHS it looks like the wall was rendered and then holes smashed into it, then nails driven in, the wires wrapped around the nails and the wall repaired (badly).

On the RHS it looks like the frame was in place before the wall was even built as the wire disappears off into the masonry:


The wires themselves are wrapped around 2 2" nail whacked half-way into the frame and then mangled over:


The frame also appears to have been in place before the lintel over it was poured (in place) as I had to angle grind the inside lip off of it:

So what I've had to do is cut as many of the wires as I could find and then knock the frame into the pantry (so I don't destroy the good plaster on the outside) and cut the wires as I've spotted them.


It's out:




It's now back in around the other way, so I just need to find a way of holding it there (I'll also have to cut about an inch off the bottom of the door as the floor's lower in the pantry). I was thinking

but, as usual, that'll depend if they actually sell them here. We had Miloš on the phone earlier (he wanted to come tomorrow to pull the forms off but I'm at the garage servicing the yoyo) and I got t'wife to ask him what he'd do. Urethane foam apparently

[highlander]

Jeez. Why don't they just duct-tape the damned doors on?

[Welly]

Those frame-fixings look about right, drill through the door frame and into the masonary then hammer the screw+plug straight through and tighten. You need to use packers behind each screw to stop the frame distorting and the screws only need nipping up, not too tight.

[steve_earwig]

that'll depend if they actually sell them here.

https://youtu.be/hI1nPd7hezM?t=23s
You could've put money on it They do something similar but it's actually a nail in a rawplug - no idea what that's for. So I bought a load of 5" masonry screws. Yes, screws. They're what the upvc double gazing frames are glued in with up at my gaff so I guess they must work. I probably need 6 so I got 12 for future reference. They cost a massive 1.50.

You need to use packers behind each screw to stop the frame distorting and the screws only need nipping up, not too tight.

I think it'll be ok on the RHS as the mortar was actually touching the frame, and I already marked where that is. On the other side I have some laminate scraps to bung in there. I'll be checking it all with a straight edge and a spirit level but I won't crank it all down until I've tried the door. There's no point in making it all dead straight and level if the door's diamond-shaped

[Welly]

I hate hanging doors, I've probably only done half a dozen but they always seem to wind you up by doing the opposite of what you expected.

[steve_earwig]

This'll be my third If it all lines up it should be a piece of piss. If it all lines up...

[steve_earwig]

Ha ha ha, he he he, little brown door won't fit for me...

So I got my spirit level out and the frame was tipped into the hallway by 2cm at the top. Great, half the bloody doors in this house either self open or close, like the bathroom door which, if I don't shut it properly, slowly and silently swings open again taking just long enough to only be fully open when I've dropped my kecks, turned around and sat down, and the view from there is the front door (unless it's open...) So it's now vertical (the frame itself is a parallelogram but not by much and the design of these silly doors hides that anyway.) 6 masonry screws hold it in, none of them is what I would call solid but meh. Stuff the gaps, there's a 2cm trim that'll cover that.

So then I measured carefully (i.e. 6 times) from the bottom hinge to the floor and then subtracted 10mm to clear the mat. I transferred my measurements to the door and used the panel in the door to make sure it was straight. Then I got the saw out, complete with new blade I'd bought since the last time I used it (who put that nail there?).

Tip: If your cramps are cheap* rubbish ( ) put a line of masking tape along your guide so you'll see instantly if anything starts to shift.

I also found the new blade cuts almost as well backwards as forwards, it just smokes a lot (oh ffs )

I then took my freshly cut door to the hall, lined it up on the pins, dropped it on and... it stuck on the mat. No, I cut it straight, what's going on? reaches for spirit level ah, guess where the lowest part of the hall is By about 15mm as well, so I'll have to cut the bottom of the door off again, this time drunk (or there'll be a huge gap one end). Urgh, the trials and tribulations

I also have a stinking cold - thanks Max!

[lozz]

Doors are a ball ache.

At least you've got solid doors there..over here there all that cardboard rubbish.
We had a joiner in to fit some and ithink he must of been partially sighted
Or hes cut them with a carving knife.

[steve_earwig]

I don't think these are heavy enough to be solid wood but they seem quite robust. This bungalow was built in 1988 and I've not seen anything like these for sale so I was actually wondering if they were the doors from the original house that stood on this spot. It might explain why they're so badly fitted. No idea why it was knocked down, all the old buildings here are oak but it must have been brick because the yard's full of it. One possibility that occurs is most of the older houses here were built by their owners, so maybe it just fell down.

Anyway, I've not got any further as I've been working on it out on the terrace and it got dark, plus Miloš is meant to be coming in the morning so he can help me with it once we've dismantled the forms.

[Welly]

The trouble with doors is that the path they take to swing open can be affected by the floor level meaning you have to cater for this back at the hinges, sometimes you have to hang them skew-whiff so they open over the floor properly. Also any 'out of true' vertical measures get exaggerated when the door swings open and they wedge against the floor finish.

Have fun

[steve_earwig]

Pfff, 'tis done. I measured the lift of the hinges at the highest point (9mm) added a bit, drew a line from zero at the hinge end to 12mm at the other edge, chopped that off and it fits, just rubbing slightly on the mat which I think I can live with.

Also:

Miloš came to take off the forms





Now you can see where the old steps were, it's not a huge amount but it's the difference from clouting my head on the rafters to just lightly skimming them. He also wanted to do something about the lower steps as they're mostly about 20cm, apart from the bottom one which is 14 (owing to parquet floor). He wanted to put a skim across each step to take them down to 17 so I pointed out that he'd need to pour another step at the bottom (oops!) or he could've knocked out the whole lot and moved the steps even further into the loft or, which would be best, buy a time machine, go back to 1988 and punch the guy building the house in the face. To be honest, apart from the occasional concussion, I never really had a problem with the steps. Ok, they're all wrong according to the standards for stairs, but it's not like you can belt up and down them anyway, owing to the bend. And there will be hand rails.

Tomorrow he's coming back to fix the plastering in the pantry, He did want to plaster under the stairs but you can see all the grains from the wood and I kind of like it like that so, providing the wife's ok with it, I think I want him to leave it and I'll just paint it with me spray gun.

[steve_earwig]

Miloš looks kind of goofy in that picture, he'd just turned round to say something to me and I think he was surprised by the flash. I think he was quite impressed I managed to get the door frame out with so little damage, minimal on the inside, nothing at all on the outside. I bet I won't be so lucky next time...

I forgot to mention I asked Miloš what these doors were made out of, the core is chipboard apparently, outside frame is pine and the veneer* is actually hardboard. Quality stuff indeed.

[OllieNZ]

Refitting a couple of props painted in a new high viz scheme.

Just prior to taking the aircraft for a run yesterday morning.

[trufflehunt]

Nice looking piece of kit. Is that an executive transport, or the top end of private piloting..?

Which reminds me... must do something about my HDI engine cover constantly coming adrift from its fixings.

[OllieNZ]

Nice looking piece of kit. Is that an executive transport, or the top end of private piloting..?

Which reminds me... must do something about my HDI engine cover constantly coming adrift from its fixings.

Ours (we have 7) are used for pilot training but they are designed for being used as you suggested. We've had them just over a year and most are over 1000 flying hours already.