We got the next phase of the stairwell poured. It took a wopping 17 bags of concrete to pour 2 steps ( the stairs sit on one of them). Of course I grossly underestimated the amount of concrete I needed. I had to go back to the store after 10 bags, and get more, even after shoving a few good sized boulders in.
On Saturday, I went to Jack's Building supplies to get the new back door for the kitchen. The new door seems to weigh twice what the old one weighs, it's made in Brazil, so I don't know what kind of wood it is. It's paint grade, so we're not too concerned. I got a late start, and I'm not that good at hanging doors. I just got a sharpening kit from Lee Valley, so that helped a lot. We put the door in the existing frame, so we had to transfer all the hinges, locks et cetera. Then company came, so I had to put it all away until they left. We got the door hung (but not fitting) with the help of Deb and my brother, around 9pm. The top didn't quite fit, so I sharpened the plane, and went at it. Then I realized the door was too wide! After going through all the possible alternatives in my head, I realized the door had to come out, and we were going to have to cut it on the table saw. The problems being that the door weighs a tonne, and it's hard to shave off an 1/8" on the table saw. With deb's help, and throwing the breaker at least 3 times, we got the door shaved down by about 1/4", which was as small as I wanted to go, without making a sacrificial fence for the saw. There's a little extra space now, I should have probably only cut off 1/8", I can live with it. I think I might be able to adjust the frame a little, since it seems a little bowed. I put cardboard behind the hinges to bring them out a little. I think we finished up around midnight, and we both had a well deserved beer.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Stairwell to Hell pt. 2
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2 comments:
The door looks great. We tend to under-estimate things as well. Has the concrete for the stairs cured yet? And did you have the kids put their handprints in or did you leave it smooth and clean?
The concrete is partially cured, it's still brittle, I usually don't take the forms off for at least 2 days, some people do it next day. We were going to put hand prints in, we thought it might be too personal if we ever want to sell the house. We could make some cool paving stones, then you can take them with you when you leave. It's not as nice as the doors you guys got, the door was old $175, so I'm not complaining, it was nicer than anything they had at home depot.
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