The doors

Still raining. This is like Bangor UK, not Bangor Maine. Still working indoors, on the mudroom. Things are going pretty well, though.

We had a couple of door-related projects to share. First, the back door - which is the main door, since this is New England. It was, of course, painted white like everything else. We stripped a teeny patch to see if it was cool -- and it was. Same nice varnished fir like everything else.


So this week was the week to fix and refinish the door. We removed the glass window (broke 2 of the little glass holder-wood-strip thingys -- now we have to mill some in fir), stripped the paint, pulled all the caulk out of the joints, reglued the mortise joints, and finally stained it.

While all this was going on, we couldn't be doorless. Even though there's a screen door, we recently learned that Eddy can open it, and we worried that the cats would figure it out, too. So we had to add this lovely contraption, made from a crappy door from the basement, a bungee cord, Mr. Scrap 2x4, and several obstacles meant to trip a potential burglar (who wouldn't make off with much anyways, since the house is the nicest thing we have and it's all screwed down).

Unfortunately it might be a bit till we get those little wood pieces done and re-glaze the window, so we needed a temporary window. Enter old scrap of OSB. Very post-modern deconstructionist, eh?

Ken greased up the knob and it looks fab.

Facing the other way, there's a door jamb that had a door in it at one time. Noticing that this was just too many doors in a teeny room, some previous owners removed it (don't worry, the door stayed with the house, it's in storage above the garage).

There were mortises cut for the hinges and a slot for the catch, so we had to fill them. Luckily we had a tiny bit of fir about 3/16" thick and several inches wide (and 10 feet long!) left from the hallway moulding re-sawing project.

Due to the placement of the trim & jamb, we couldn't get any clamps to hold the patches, so Ken devised this lovely "whatcha got" clamp. It worked great, and nobody clotheslined themselves on it in the middle of the night.

It made perfect patches, and I think it's some of my best invisible patching work. Go color-matched putty! Activate!

See the patch? On the middle board across, about 2/3 of the way down? It will look even better once it's got its final coat of finish.