A Project-y Weekend

I had a great weekend in the project department this weekend!  I dabbled around with a variety of projects, just enjoying that I didn't have anywhere that I needed to be. Even the cold didn't deter me this weekend!  Not sure what that is all about.

Saturday Red and I went and bought plywood for our Habitat for Humanity sign that we build every year for the Dallas Bar Association's build.  I found a piece of 1/4" plywood at Home Depot that was damaged, and negotiated a half price deal on that.  Score!  We also picked up a fence post for support, and some rope for ... dreadlocks.  I know - sounds weird.  The house street name is "Jamaica" so I'll leave it at that for now.  More details as construction progresses.  We have to have it ready by Saturday, March 3rd so it won't dangle too long.

Then I puttered around with a Valentine project.... I'll write that post next...

And THEN I picked up on the infamous door frame project.  I worked on it briefly last week but didn't make enough progress to merit a post.  After this weekend I have the first three pieces of wood up that form the doorway itself (I always struggle with terminology -- is that the door frame?  The door jamb?) installed.  I was short one stained piece, so I stained that Saturday and installed it on Sunday.  Then yesterday I was holding up the pieces of door trim to see where they would fall width-wise. and realized that I needed to sand off the bead of old glue (?) where the edge of the fabric for the vapor barrier had been affixed.  The trim wouldn't cover it up, but it would be difficult to sand it off once the trim was in -- too close to have room to work.  Here is a work-in-progress photo on that:

(I'm sanding off the white vertical line.)  Once finished, the sanded area didn't look much different than the surrounding areas, so I think when I oil the wood it will disappear all together.  At least I hope...  The sanding didn't take as long as I expected it to, and I was doing it manually with a 100 grade sandpaper.  I have an electric rotary sander, but I knew that would kick up a ton of dust and I wasn't willing to drape everything for that small project.  When I was done sanding I wiped the area down with a damp rag. 

Also in that photo you can see the edge of the door frame installed.  I neglected to get a full-on photo of that.

I also had one remaining area of sheet rock to remove -- it was behind my shoe shelving, and I got that removed:

Here is a photo of the sheet rock pulled down, revealing a layer of paper, and then the vapor barrier fabric peeking out behind that.  I don't know if the paper is just some other layer of materials that served some obscure purpose (let me know in the comments if you have a guess) or if it is just the world's most boring wallpaper...

Then I was ready to install the trim on the bedroom side of the wall.  And that's where my day came to an end.  I didn't get install the 2x6" properly, and now my trim will not lay flush.  I was a little frustrated, but holding the trim up just to see what it will look like (fabulous!) was so exciting that the frustration took second place.  Getting the first planks installed, and getting that hideous line of glue sanded off made such a huge difference visually that I was pumped up once again about the project.

I haven't decided how I will resolve my problem -- will I have to rip out what I've done, rip the planks narrower and reinstall?  Can I use a planer and just shave off that 1/8 - 1/4" that is protruding?  I don't know.

Also, I still need to make the plinths to go at the base of the trim... and I need to figure out what I want the finished top of the door trim to look like.  I keep changing my mind about that.  I think I need to go to the library and flip through some books of 1929 Tudor styles.  I've read that the trim in that period is narrow and lighter, but I need more guidance than that!

Then since I had my compressor and nail gun in the house, I decided to throw some dividers into my silverware drawer.  I loathe those plastic silverware trays -- plastic is gross -- and every time I open and close the drawer the tray slides around in the drawer.  It just bugs me.  So, this goes into the category of a quick and dirty fix, knowing that it is temporary (because really, how long can I resist ripping out those cabinets?)  Here's how it turned out...

Not glamorous, but very functional -- but look at the drawer I started with -- even it has two or three different colors of paint on it!  So this is an improvement for me; it just gives me a little mental space... Ohhhh, it's the little things, isn't it?  : )  And the happiest part of all of that is that the plastic tray is in the "take to Goodwill" bag by the back door.

And, also in the kitchen -- I've discovered that a yoga mat* tucked under the fronts of my washer/dryer inside the laundry area doors is a stellar draft stopper.  I also rolled up a little rubber-backed rug and tucked it down in front of the dishwasher... and I'm just going to say:  My kitchen was a LOT warmer.   Score one for the home team. 

* http://life.gaiam.com/article/50-ways-reuse-your-yoga-or-fitness-mat

The Header!

Yesterday afternoon I got to work on my master bedroom door frame and trim project.  I puttered around for hours working at my own putzy pace... and had fun.  My personal victory for the day?  I got the header in!

I know -- it doesn't look like much, does it?  But it's in, it's solid and hey-hey, its level.  Three lovely characteristics we like to see in a header.  You may recall that when I took the door frame off it was revealed that there wasn't a header there at all.  The space was open for a few feet, right up to the attic!  Yeah, um...

My challenges with installing it?

1)  On one end, there wasn't anything to affix it to.  There was one vertical 2"x4" at one end of the door opening, so I installed one at the opposite end.  The vertical ends of those are what the horizontal ends of the header could but affixed to -- the header being under the vertical ends.  (Those red bars represent the vertical 2"x4"s.)

2)  I installed the second support the same length as the existing one so they would match.  Problem with that was, they weren't long enough to have the header extend past the jagged edge of the door opening above the door.  Yes, theoretically I could have cut that off evenly... but I'm not that comfortable with the saw that I have for that type of cutting, and I was worried that the stress of the saw blade on the wood might do more damage than good.  Maybe I should have tried it.  Maybe I'll try it on the next door... if I get comfortable with it I could also use it on the sides of the door...

2)  To remedy that I added some wood pieces to the ends of the 2"x4"s to drop the header a couple of inches lower. 

3)  Then I realized the wall opening (the thickness of the wall) wasn't wide enough to accept a full 2"x4" so I had to rip the 2"x4" to be  a 2"x3". 

4)  Even with that it still wouldn't fit up into the wall because obstructing the opening were old nails sticking inside the wall from the sheetrock!  Ugh!  To remedy that I had to cut away some of the sheetrock above the door inside the room, and then backed the nails out.  Finally the header would slide into place!

5)  I really needed another set of hands at this point -- I needed just a hair of a shim on the header ends, and I was drilling in the screws over my head -- never fun -- but I managed to get it in. 

Through all of this my dog was in a corner of the house as far away from me as she could get... she doesn't like the noise.  And since it was oh, 110 here yesterday it's not as though she could hang around outdoors for very long...

So -- header?  Check.  Next I needed to build out the door frame so that I would have enough width on the outside of the bedroom door (the hallway side of the door) to install trim.  The way it currently is, the space along side the door frame is wide enough for trim that is about 1/2 wide.  The reasons that the old frame was built out in such a crazy fashion is becoming clear to me...

See how there is no room for trim?

Here's what it used to look like:

My plan is to put in some spacer blocks to which I'll attach a 2"x6" and then that is what I'll attach my final door trim lumber to.  Here I have the blocks in place:

I could have used a solid piece of lumber floor to ceiling there, instead of blocks, but it isn't going to show so I figured I'd save myself some lumber.  (I have to do both sides.) 

Complicating matters (if you are even still reading I give you major snaps --) is the right hand side shown in this photo -- is immediately adjacent to the hall closet door/door frame.  To build that side out far enough to have room for a full piece of trim would make my previously much oversized door opening smaller than a standard 32" door.  Here's a view of that corner with the bedroom door trim removed:

Cozy, isn't it?  Before I build out this side of the door opening, I will need to decide if I would rather have a smaller opening (smaller than the opening for a standard 32" door) with full width trim, or a larger opening with narrower trim. 

I'm not sure that accomodating a standard door size is a priority.  My current plan of a sliding barn door gives me a lot of flexibility, as does my Plan B of building my own doors -- in which case I can make them any size I want.  Now if I am considering another owner down the road who may want to replace the door, then I probably want the door frame to accomodate a standard sized door....

Do you see now how this has been a slow project? Each little piece of it is met with an issue to resolve, it seems.  Thankfully I don't have a deadline -- no big parties at my house on the horizon, no house guests scheduled until late October... so I am free to mess around with it and problem solve at my own pace.  As long as I can tolerate living in a construction zone, that is...  And won't it be grand when it's done and I have that great sence of accomplishment?  I'll know exactly what is inside the walls (there's a novel concept) and be pleased to know that it was done right.

Next up? 

I need to go buy a couple 2"x6"s... and frame out the door opening. 

Then I'll patch the sheetrock around the door opening, and texture/paint. 

While that is drying I'll stain my lumber for the door frame and trim, and then install.

Meanwhile I need to choose barn door hardware and make sure there isn't anything crazy involved in that installation!

Wanna place a bet on how many additional steps will be added into that list before it's all done?  Stay tuned.

Interior Door Trim and Door Frames

SATURDAY

This weekend the interior door trim and door frame project got underway in earnest.  I was so excited to begin that I could hardly relax and have morning coffee with Red. I traded vehicles with him for the day, and headed out to Home Depot.  To those of you who gave me Home Depot gift cards for my birthday -- thank you!  This is what they purchased....

As an aside, Home Depot only had half of their overhead lights on -- I presume to conserve energy since it's so hot and the electric grid is continually threatened -- but it lent itself to a very different shopping atmosphere... sort of nice...

I finished removing the door trim off the outside of the bedroom door, and was left with the door frame -- entirely freestanding.  All that had been holding it in place and plumb was the trim!  I cannot conceive how it was still plumb, but it was. I guess that is a testament to the sturdiness of my house despite many boards appearing to have been cut with a hatchet...

I carefully removed the door frame intact and stabilized the corners and legs for transport.  At this point I hoped to use it as a pattern for my new frame; size, height, door hardware placement, etc.

Here is the "before" photo of the outside of the bedroom door.  I know -- and I agree -- it doesn't look bad enough here that replacement is required.  But what the photo doesn't show is the just ghastly amount of crusty old paint and painted caulk that is making the whole structure a lumpy, formless goo. 

And here is what it looks like now:

The doorway is positively huge!  It's larger than the door I took down by a good 6 inches in width.  Red and I spent quite a bit of time Saturday afternoon discussing building the opening up to fit the smaller door.  Eventually the obvious occured to him (it never did to me...) and he asked,

"When are you going to build the new door?" 

Me:  Um, sometime when it isn't 110 degrees outside when I'm teaching myself a new project?

Red:  Why don't you just build a larger door, to fit this opening, rather than make the opening smaller?

Me:  Silent stare.  Oh.  Yes, why don't I?

We had both remarked earlier how nice the larger door frame looks -- how spacious it feels.  So why would I enclose that again?  Hmmm.  I'll have to think about that.  And with that, we were off to dinner.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning over coffee I thought about what Red said about making a custom door to fit. I also thought about how spacious the room feels without a door. And then the lightbulb came on: a pocket door! My walls are certainly thick enough (hollow enough) accomodate the hardware and door.  I turned this idea over in my mind during most of the day while I worked...

Immediately adjacent to the door (but not visible in the photograph above) is a little* closet that I use for my vacuum and cleaning supplies.  The trim from both of the doors was compromised in the corner...

It became readily apparent that in working on the bedroom door, I'd need to remove the trim (and about 3 tubes of caulk) from the adjoining cleaning closet door.

Closet door trim removed

That helped me see things more clearly, but I continued and took the door off in anticipation of removing the frame.  This door frame, like the first one, also was not secured by anything other than the door trim.  It did however have a couple of "shims" wedged in.  Not actually attached, mind you, but in place.

Again, utter amazement that the door frame is still plumb.

Where I removed the frame from the bedroom door, there was some goopy white paint on the flooring as well as quite a build up of floor wax and polyeurathane, forming a pretty high ridge. I got my sander and gave it an initial clean up -- it will need more...

"Before"

Right side "after"

Left side "after"

 

Sunday evening I did some online research on pocket doors -- pros and cons and what quality issues to watch for, and watched a couple of installation videos.  I'm fairly certain it's the route I want to go.  Installation would require me to remove a few feet of sheetrock, but I am okay with that.  I looked at pocket doors at Home Depot, but am going to look elsewhere; I wasn't pleased with what they offered.  I was going to do some online searches today (Monday) but since I neglected to take measurements this morning it will have to wait.

The bummer is, until I think this part through, I'm sort of at a standstill on this project unless I want to demo more door frames before this one is resolved... and I do not.  I am already sleeping with a compressor in my bedroom (who else do you know who does that?), and lots of construction tools etc. are in my guest room.  Probably best not to not go completely crazy before I finish the first one...

More updates to come!

*Mostly it's "little" because there is an old furnace chimney coming up from the crawlspace that hogs most of the closet space.  Word on the street is that every house in the area has one, and it has asbestos in it.  Consequently they have been left alone for the most part.  Mine is wallpapered!  Makes me laugh.  It also makes me want to rip it out. 

Stepping Up to the Edge

Two days after proclaiming that I am taking the door frame plunge, I've still just put my big toe in the water.  My suit is dry.  But I've done more research, more questions have been asked and answered, more decisions made, and now I'm firmly committed to a plan.  I am not sheetrocking the entire wall and I am building my own door frames. 

Yesterday I got out my big Do It Yourself hardcover book my very handy sister (she even does her own plumbing!) gave me for my housewarming and read about hanging doors.  Picked up a few good tips.

Then I went to Home Depot to look at pre-hung doors.  A part of me admitted that if they suited my needs and were reasonably priced (they were -- about $60) I may relent and buy one instead of building one, but there were many reasons they were wrong: 

1)  The jamb wasn't wide enough so I'd still have the same issue;

2)  The wood that the jamb was made of was pieced and not matching -- clearly meant to be painted not stained;

3)  The door was hollow (which seems to equate poor quality) and just a plain flat box -- not the style of the house;

4)  The hinges were brass, not brushed nickel.  Granted, those could be changed out, but it's additional hassle and expense.

It was a worthwhile trip, though because I could examine the whole gizmo closely with an eye on re-creating it at home.  Again, I'll say, gosh, it doesn't look like there is that much to it -- but I am positive that I must be missing the finer details and underestimating the required engineering...

I had a guy in the door section of Home Depot answering my questions and trying to troubleshoot with me, and eventually he said, "Are you doing all this work yourself?"  I replied that I was.*  His reply"  "Wow.  That's cool."  (Which from my perspective sounded like, "Wow.  You're crazy.") 

Red asked me if I plan to re-hang the doors that are currently hung.  You know, re-hang the white ones with 81 years of paint on them into my new beautifully stained door frames?  Unfortunately, yes, that's my plan for now.  I do plan to learn how to make interior doors, but it just too freakin' hot outside to spent that much time outdoors right now.  I thought about just not putting all the doors back up -- but that's probably not realistic.  I need the bedroom door for the dog/alarm system, I need the bathroom door for obvious reasons, the swinging kitchen door (I know, I know:  swinging.  Won't THAT one be a fun one to tackle?  I'm in total denial about that one) I need for the dog -- so ultimately that wouldn't be a workable plan.  I'm also toying with the idea of pocket doors or sliding barn doors... but I haven't devoted enough thought to them yet to have an intelligent conversation about them. 

I'll admit that the project is a tiny bit daunting. But I'll just as readily say that I am positive that I can figure it out. (Thanks mom, thanks dad -- somehow you raised me to have such confidence!)  And this guy assures me that it's all in a day's work on the job site -- and just look how happy he is!

* Unless I can make it appear so intriguing that Red can't resist jumping in.

Taking the Plunge

I've stood around and stared at my door frame and associated door jamb several times in the last few days.  Sounds exciting doesn't it?  Well, it IS sort of hot here... and staring at a door jamb and thinking is about the peak level of activity you can do without sweating.

The upshot is that I've decided to take the plunge and take on the whole door jamb replacement.  My famous last words -- it just doesn't look like it would be that difficult.

My next steps?

1)  Dig around in my memory bank and in my shop and determine what stain I used on the baseboards to ensure that the trim matches.  There's a chance I wrote it down in my "home book" that I keep.  If not, I know I have some leftover stain cans in the shop, and some leftover pieces of lumber, so I'll do a few test pieces and see what matches.

2)  Now that I have a new plan of attack, I need to re-evaluate the need for sheetrock filler.  I think I will still need it. 

A tiny part of me is tempted to go ahead and re-sheetrock the whole wall, and put in insulation at the same time. With just filling in the gap I'm still going to have the unfortunate sheetrock seam right along side the new trim.  And while I'm told that interior walls rarely have insulation, I'd like some just for noise insulation.  Of course that brings up the whole wall texturing issue... Oy.  But my walls have minimal texture anyway, and...?  Uff da.  I don't know about that part.  (And don't they sell something you mix into your paint for minimal texture?  Couldn't I just do that?)

3)  Buy the estimated project supplies -- just a starter supply -- a few pieces of lumber, the minimum purchase of sheetrock, tape, etc.  My hope is to not have the door frame disassembled for days and days.  If I can have supplies ready, I hope to minimize the chaos.  (Yeah, you can start laughing now.)

4)  Put up about a hundred drop cloths to protect my bedroom chandeliers and bedding from dust. Complete demolition...remove door in a fashion where I have some hope of being able to re-hang it.  Pay special attention to where and how door hanging hardware is installed...  Take photos!  Save all the pieces!

5)  Figure out what the re-assembly process will be.  Measure.  Measure again.

6)  Rip, sand, and stain lumber. Build.  Re-hang door.... Clean up.  Admire.  Possibly brag.

I'll really have the process down to a science by the time I complete all my doors.  I could probably hire myself out on my street doing trim/jamp replacement for the next several months...

Door Trim: Master Bedroom

This afternoon I removed the door trim from around the inside of the master bedroom door.  It took me 30 minutes, including clean up.  Not bad.  But what's the old saying?  Demolition is the easy part?

It went astonishingly fast.  First I used a razor knife to break the seal of the caulk.  One thing I've learned living here is that some owner before me really loved caulk as the fix-all.  My goodness it's everywhere.

Then I used a hammer and a cat's paw and moved up and down the side trim, and with very little effort I was able to pop it off all in one piece.  I took off the strip above the door next.

In this close up photo you can see the end of the horizontal tongue and groove boards, (well, really it's tongue and tongue... lol, there's not really a groove...) and the infamous linen vapor barrier that is nailed in place.  It all feels really solid and it's bone dry with no evidence of water leaks.  Excellent.

I was worried that when the trim was off, I'd being saying "hello" to my crawl space -- along with any living creatures that may call it home --but thankfully that isn't the case.  The space doesn't have my hardwood floors in it, but it's some type of wood:

The important thing here is that something is there other than a dark and breezy hole that goes under my house.  In this photo you can also see a horizontal piece of trim sticking out from behind my baseboards.  Who knows what version of baseboards that is from...

Here's a view of the top left corner:

Again, wisps of the vapor barrier and some dust.  Considering this space hasn't seen the light of day since 1929, a bit of dust is just fine with me.  We found.... other things when baseboards were pulled off.  I'll just leave it at that... (although two of the "other things" were two old black and white photographs -- THAT was super cool.  I should scan and post those so you can see them...)

Would you agree that we are all grateful for different things at different times?  The thing I am grateful for this afternoon is that nothing skittered out from anywhere.  In my book (on my blog?) that makes a successful project kick off!  Here's the last photo, with the trim off all three sides:

(My closet door is a mirror, that's why you see what looks like a second door on the left)

The quandry now is, do I continue and take off the door frame?  (Door jamb?)  My current thinking is no.  I think it makes more sense to wait until I have a new door to put in.  That way I don't have to mess around with hanging each door twice.  I've never hung a door, but I've heard that it can be tricky, and since nothing in my house is square or level to begin with, I think I'll just delay that fun for the next phase of the project...

I'm excited to have this project underway.  We'll see how excited I remain when I start cutting sheetrock to fit... but it already feels better to have some of the old paint gone.  Recall my friend up the street who also owns a very old house, and who, when she replaced her baseboards said, "Now any dirt I find behind the baseboards is OUR dirt"?   When I told her I was pulling off door trim covered in 81 years of paint, she said"Liberating."  Yes, yes it is.  Nevermind that I have 12 16 door sides to do... that's a lot of liberation.