Square or Level?

This is an old house.

It's had 115 years to settle and go out of square and level.

Before we had the carpet installed in the master and sitting room, I noticed that the sitting room door wasn't level with the floor when it was open. The latch end of the door appeared to be closer to the floor than the hinge end.

When the carpet was installed, it was confirmed. The latch end of the door dragged pretty badly on the carpet. So badly that you could get the door only a third of the way open. As a result, the carpet installers removed the door and set it aside for me to fix later.

I assumed it was the floor that was uneven. While the floor is uneven, the bottom edge of the door wasn't square with the hinge edge. At the latch end, the bottom was half an inch longer.

Seriously.

Using the edges of the raised panels on the front of the door as a guide, it was obvious to the naked eye.

Because this door has a large mirror on the back, it weighs a ton. It's too heavy to easily carry down the stairs and outside to square-off the bottom edge of the door. So I had to do it in the room. A tarp and tenting the work area with some plastic sheeting kept the sawdust to a minimum.

So tonight I was the boy in the bubble for a few minutes.