Garage Door before we removed plastic
In the end I have three new doors in my house only hours before my company began arriving. I had an installer working until 9 PM the night before and the painter working frantically on the last door just hours before company began to arrive. The painter will return next week to put the finishing coats on the last door.
A side effect to the door installation is that we have been invaded by the tiniest little mice. I guess leaving the door open while installing or painting was too much of a temptation for the little guys. They are so small that they can eat the goodies off the mouse trap without triggering it.
The good part is that the doors look great, open easily, and don’t let air and light into my house except through windows. They also look great.
The garage door also has the benefit of a kick plate. When I saw the scarring left behind on the old door by lawn mowers and other guy stuff I decided a kick plate was worth the extra trouble.
I had a few more angry words with Lowe’s, but they are being very nice and I’m the one who is angry. I think we’ll work it out.
Besides which, I’m going to kick back and enjoy my company and my party.
Marilynne
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Just a door I found intriguing
My house is determined to just grow old and ugly. At least it would seem to be that way. Replacing the doors is a lot more than just pointing to the one you want and saying “I want this one.” And I did expect to lay out some money for them. I did expect that. But we ran into problems:
—-Because I didn’t want them to disturb the unique door jams I couldn’t go with pre-hung doors. I was fooling myself. One door frame must be re-worked to accommodate an exterior door. The garage door probably should have been. They damaged the molding trying to fit it in.
—-Today I selected a new exterior door to replace the French door that couldn’t be installed because it was an interior door. I could have special-ordered an exterior French door, but, you know, I’m tired of working on this. I ordered another 9-light door (top half) just like the one that’s new on the garage door. It costs less and I can have it sooner.
—-Today, and no later, I must seal the edges of the new doors. Yes I hired a painter. No, I have to do it myself because the 48-hours allotted for the task are almost over and the painter can’t come until Saturday – maybe. I bought some sealer (1st step in the chain) to paint the edges with. I hope that’s satisfactory because I really don’t want to paint these doors myself.
—-My painter (more money) not only can’t start until Saturday/Monday, but he’s indecisive and unsure of his abilities. I know this to be a personal problem because he did an excellent – maybe even a super job of painting other parts of my house. I’ve decided to go with a MinWax stain. Now I have to call him and tell him so. No problem. He’ll do it my way – he just waits for me to tell him what to do.
—-Another painter problem – I ordered a very nice lock set for my very nice front door. The installers put it on the door (thank heavens), but now my painter is uncertain that he can paint around it without damaging either the lock or the door. He also won’t remove it while he paints. I’m going to try to bully him into it because I believe he can do it. We’ll see.
—-I have to pay extra because the door installers have to rebuild the door frame. This is not a big job, but apparently it’s an expensive one.
—-The new door frame will have to be painted. This is OK because they have to come back and fix the frame on the garage door and it will need to be repainted to. I can paint door frames, I just didn’t expect to have to do it.
I was unhappy about all of this. A supervisor at Lowe’s got involved and he very kindly gave me my bag of other items for nothing. I didn’t ask him for it, but when he offered, I took him up on it. I think there was a good $50 of things in my free bag. He’s good at customer service.
I would rather be thinking of nice things to do for my house full of company that’s coming. However, my company gave me the incentive to do what I wanted to do for a long time – replace those three doors.
I’m pretty satisfied with the way Lowe’s is dealing with this (free goodies helps). They do seem to be focused on helping me solve the problems. The installers too have done a good job, but they haven’t got the customer satisfaction thing down yet. When it’s all done I’m going to be a happy lady. If there’s any money left in the budget I’m going to . . . silly me . . . when is there ever any money left in a remodeling budget?
Marilynne
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Unpainted, but very classy front door
Two of my new doors are in and I’m waiting for my friendly painter to give me an estimate for staining the doors. I decided against doing them myself. I’m afraid of drips and uneven stains.
If you compare this picture with the one on the previous post, you’ll see I have a lot more glass in this door. That’s because I want to see who’s at the door. During the day, I need more light in the little entry hallway. Today, whenever I look toward that area I think “the door’s open” and just as quickly remember it’s the new door. It’s actually quite pleasant in that area now, not just a dark hole.
I was concerned about having such a large window in my door, but the installer assure me that you can hit it hard and it won’t break. No hitting it with a crowbar and hearing glass tinkle.
I like the light color of the bare wood and have decided to stain the wood a maple color. The installers had to shave bits of wood from the door so it fits right. I asked them for the pieces so I can try out the stain on a bit of wood before committing to the color.
No need now to feel ashamed of my front door. (Big smile) The installers also put in a 9-light door between the garage and the verandah. (When I buy doors, I buy DOORS.) I needed the window in the door so no one gets bashed going in and out. That’s a really popular door.
However, the installers said they couldn’t install the French Door in the laundry room. Apparently in my excitement to have a French Door in that spot, and the Lowe’s guy being happy to find a door of the right width that made me happy, we failed to note that it was an interior door. I need an exterior door. So, we’re going to select another one with that criteria in mind. Since I have two doors out of three, I’m willing to wait a little while to get what I want.
I can’t wait to see what the doors look like stained.
Marilynne
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The old door. The signs say the doorbell doesn't work.
Our house is a good 50 years old or more and the doors look like they were there before the house was built. They are really showing their age. The front door has some decorative glass in it that’s gone wavy. Another is a cheap door that was cheap when they bought it and hasn’t improved. The third door has a broken pane.
I tried to fix them a year or so ago. I stripped the front door down to the wood, applied wood putty to the cracks, sanded it, painted it, didn’t like the color and painted it again. You know what? In one year it just barely looks any better than before I started. We need new doors.
So, I went to Lowe’s and bought three doors at the same time. It cost a bit of money. Even though I could buy a less expensive door for the back, I wanted the front, or entry door, to look nice. My house is an older stucco so buying a pre-hung door wasn’t a good solution. I’d also have to repair the stucco when they were done. In the end I went for wood slab doors. UNFINISHED! I get in the weirdest predicaments sometimes.
But not only slab doors, I had to buy sills and hinges, door knobs and locks, weather stripping and a shoe (a shield for the bottom of the door). This project is not for the faint of heart.
A slab door is cut to fit your door on site. Because it’s not the right size yet, you have to paint it AFTER the door’s installed. What a pain!
After putting out a good sum for the doors I have to hire a painter to paint them – or do it myself. Looking at the old doors I had repaired and painted, and remembering the work it took to get them to that state of charm (giggle) I decided to have a painter paint them.
Problem solved? Not entirely. I also want everything ready by time we hold a big family party. I thought I started in plenty of time, but now it looks like the doors will get their second coat of varnish after the party. Well, at least they should look pretty nice for the party.
Some of you might think I should ask hubbie to do it. No way. I don’t think he would agree to do it and I’m pretty sure I don’t want it done on his schedule. He’s not the painter – I am and I think this project is beyond me.
Wish me luck.
Marilynne
Updated with picture 8/6/09
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