How to replace a door Home maintenance is an evil tasks which requires one to be in a certain frame of mind. I'm talking of things like painting, repair of fretting mortar and worst of all, repair of old doors which have succumbed to the weather.
We've had one of those doors on the outside of our house. It has been deteriorating since it was installed about eight years ago. It was purchased as an exterior door with some ornate workmanship carved by Indonesian artisans, I don't blame them, it's my fault that it wasn't better protected from the occasional rain from the northwest. Plus I never fitted it properly in the first place. It was a bit too tight in the frame and in the winter became even tighter when the wood swelled.
The door wasn't used much, it was on the rear of our garage, and so it eventually got to the point that something had to be done. That happened this week. We could see daylight through a hole.
We'd been looking about for replacements for a while. Doors can be pretty expensive at so-called door specialists - several hundred dollars for an exterior one like we'd had is not unusual. We eventually settled on a plain one from Bunnings for $98. My wife and I picked it off the rack a couple of days ago - they are so heavy they take two people like us oldies to lift.
Yesterday I resolved to get stuck into the job. First, the old one had to be removed. Almost immediately I realised I was going to have trouble. Two of the hinges were badly rusted and very stiff when I opened the door enough to get access to the screws. They partially broke away from where they had been welded into the steel door frame. Suddenly what was going to be a relatively simple task had become seriously complicated. The hinges had been factory welded into the door frame and were not designed to be replaced. The door frame was set into the brickwork and it's replacement was out of the question.
I decided I could use some different hinges and secure them to the frame with something like countersunk metal thread screws. This called for a trip back to Bunnings for a twenty five dollar spend. (Stainless steel screws.) My idea would have worked if the door had been a lightweight interior one, but the hinges and screws I'd selected were inadequate.
After criticising my pathetic attempts, son number two then revealed that he'd fixed hinges on steel door frames before. "Now he tells me!" The trick was to drill out all the old spot welds and weld in new hinges. This meant another trip back to Bunnings for different hinges - the identical type which had originally been in the frame - only $1.60 each.
We have a welder large enough to go into the ship building business. But my son produced a small portable inverter unit he'd recently bought for some plumbing work. Specially designed for welding lightweight metals like door frames.
Drilling out the old welds with a quarter inch drill bit wasn't very hard. The three old hinges were out within ten minutes. My son had to go and buy a new welding helmet, because his older brother had borrowed my two; and not returned them. That was another twenty five bucks - my son covered that.
There was a bit of fiddling with getting the correct amperage setting at the start, but he eventually got it right. The new hinges have now been welded in so securely they will never be able to be replaced in the same manner.
We hung the door temporarily last night, but it still needs about 5mm removed from the lock side to fit properly. Then there'll be the painting and fitting of the old lock. Hopefully this is all going to be straight forward - provided I can find the key for the lock - otherwise I can't remove it from the old door. But replacing the hinges has to have been the worst part of the job - I hope.
As for removing the 5mm strip off the door, I'm a bit nervous about that too. I have a small circular saw, but it won't forgive a mistake. Maybe I should go and buy a new hand saw? All my hand saws are blunt. Oh what the hell, I've got a new fine tooth blade for my circular saw, unless one of my sons has borrowed it - like my saw horses. Decisions, decisions!
As for the paint, first the door has to be done with a proper undercoat. And I've got to go back to Bunnings for some cold galvanising paint to protect the welds. I'll be lucky if the whole job is finished today. It'll more likely be half finished. I might still be working on this job at the end of the week.
© MMVII Paul R. Weaver.
About the writerCheck out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a couple of million words.
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