Change At The Pace of Continental Drift

You can be forgiven for thinking this a picture of my wife's Persian cat. The whole point of this picture is what you are not seeing: daylight shining in under the front door.


Our front door has been an unrelenting source of misery and discomfort.

By the time we bought the Devil Queen, the door didn't have much going for it besides being original to the house. The roof over the door had collapsed, the floor had rotted through, the joists and sill plate were disintegrating, and the door was slightly warped. As a nice finishing touch, all the original hardware had been stripped with the exception of the hinges. I think the 10 coats of paint over them may have saved them.

Over the last four years, the framing has been redone twice. The first time it was done by idiots (not us), and the second time by a first-rate contractor who finally fixed it. Even with the wonderful job the second crew did, the door has never been quite the same.

The weather stripping I installed, a vinyl "tube" mounted on a metal bracket screwed into the jamb and flush with the door's face, was a disaster. The weather stripping pealed the latex paint off the edges of the door and it had to be mount so close to the door's face to seal that it interfered with the getting the door locked or unlocked. And, it still didn't seal well.

Then, there is the threshold. It was too close to the door for any of the bottom mounted sweeps or weather seals. However, the gap was big enough for daylight to shine in under the door in the early morning and there was always a draft. I tried stuffing all sorts of things under or behind the door, but they didn't help much and they were usually a pain to deal with as you opened and closed the door.

Apparently, I am not the only one with this kind of problem. While forlornly dragging myself up and down the isle at Lowe's I discovered a sweep which mounts on the interior face of the door. Ideally, the sweep is supposed to be flush with the top of the threshold, but ours is a bit too far forward for this. Still, it seals for the most part, you can't see daylight under the door, and the draft is nearly gone (definitely 90% better). I haven't done a true, empirical study, but, based on some readings I took with a thermometer, the main hallway is now 4 degrees warmer on average. Even close to the floor, the temperature is only a few degrees cooler than the thermostats setting. It may not sound like much, but this is a huge improvement.

In addition to mounting the sweep, I've replaced the vinyl-shit weather stripping with spring-bronze on one side and the top. Even though I'm not finished yet (one side to go), this has made a huge difference. The door seals much tighter and it locks and unlocks without a problem.

Sure, it sounds great, but there is still one nagging question. Why didn't I do this earlier?

Paint Progress

First, many thanks to Fidge and Liz for painting the hell out of the foyer and hallway. Incredibly enough, they are actually planning to come back next week to do some more. Sure, it might not look like much of a difference in these photos, but they made a lot of progress. All the walls and wainscoting lack is for me to cut in the blue around the trim and crown molding in the foyer. Instead of doing that last night, I put a coat of paint on the ceiling. Tonight, I hope to follow up with some caulking, touch up painting, and light fixtures. Tomorrow, I hope to finish do the afore mentioned cutting-in of blue. Aside from the doors and that pesky floor, the foyer and hall should be finished.

For those of you who care and keep up with such things, I am officially sick of not only caulking but painting as well. Too bad I have three rooms, one hall, and a ceiling to finish. And some exterior touch up, trim, and detailing after that.

Did I mention I was sick of painting?

People, Better than Zombies

This weekend my mom, Jack & Fidge, and Laura spent Sunday afternoon helping us paint our nefarious mistress' main hall, foyer, and Gideon's bedroom. I spent most of the day trying to finish off the prep work with my lovely wife's assistance.

Here is a hall wall before we scrubbed it down.

Again, closer.

And after a good scrub and de-tacking.

The first bit of priming. In case you are wondering, rollers worked like a charm on the wall boards.

A shot of the hall with two coats of primer on the wainscotting & trim and one coat of paint on the wall.

Again, with me lurking in the background.

Fidge at work in Gideon's room.

Some people keep skeletons in their closets, Gideon has a grandpa in his.

Gideon's room.

The cold I spent all of last week fighting came back with a vengence Saturaday. I'm just now starting to feel better albeit exhausted. I'll try post some more when my brain isn't cased in cotton.