Cellar Doors

In several previous posts I mentioned that the cellar doors needed to be rebuilt.

It's pretty obvious that though they served us well over the past 10 years or so, it's time for them to be replaced.

We looked at commercially available doors, but no one makes them this big. We also talked with our contractor who suggested fabricating wooden doors and then wrapping them with sheet metal so they'd last "forever". That option was more expensive than I thought prudent, so we went for the DIY option.

They are in shade a good portion of the day, so don't always dry out quickly.

We were also a little slow getting them painted, which I'm sure didn't help.

I've spent the past couple of weeks building the new ones a little at a time each night and using the old ones as a pattern.

The underlying framing structure was fine, so it didn't need to be replaced. Only the exposed facing needed help. Mostly it is 1x6 tongue & groove with the smooth side exposed. There's a 1x2 that caps the right edge and a 1x8 that wraps the right side.

This time I put at least one coat of solid stain on all six faces of each piece before assembly. I also followed up with a second coat over everything. That should help with their longevity.

In addition, I built them from cedar, which is a better wood for exposed conditions.

We also picked a different color this time. Rather than a color that contrasts with the brick, we picked one that coordinates with it. The stain was a recommendation from our friends at Abbott Paint. I have some left over, so will be able to re-coat when necessary.

These should last at least 10 years.

Plumbing Repairs

Sometimes there are coincidences.

A few weeks ago my parents called. They asked if I would come over to help install a new cartridge in their kitchen sink faucet. Theirs had been leaking and they had ordered the replacement part. We made plans for me to come over once the part arrived.

Coincidentally, our kitchen faucet had also started leaking. I went through the diagnosis and we had the same problem. The cartridge is a lifetime warranty item, so we had the manufacturer send a new one.

So, a few days apart, I got to play plumber and replace both.

My parents' is working fine, but ours is still dripping a little, so I'll need to play with it a bit more.

Other Party Preparation

Apologies for the long gap between updates. It has been a busy summer. Also apologies for the poor quality photos. They were taken from the second floor window and I didn't take time to remove the screen.

In the previous post I showed some of the party decorations. Here are some of the others.

With Little Man being a football player, the party had a football tailgating theme.

The party planner suggested turning the yard into a football field. That was enough to get me started.

A few minutes of thought, a little calculation to get the scale, and I had the plan. Having worked for the city as summer help as a teenager cutting grass and lining ball fields, I knew just what to do to execute the plan.

Spray paint, six stakes, some string, a tape measure, and a little simple math (remember the Pythagorean Theorem aka the 3-4-5 rule?). The tape measure and 3-4-5 rule makes it easy to get 90 degree corners.

I used the same spray paint that the utility companies use to mark their lines before you dig. It's available in many colors at your local big box store. I free-hand painted the yardage numbers and the high school mascot in the appropriate color in this end zone.

And the college mascot name in the other end zone.

If I hadn't miscalculated on paint, this would have taken only an hour or so. Alas, I needed to run to the orange box to get another can of white.