Front Door - Part 1

We're back from Mexico and back at our home projects (yup, I was sitting on the beach making a mental lists - gift and a curse of a born list-maker)! Our front door is one of the first things Mike and I knew we would have to replace. It's almost completely glass (so no privacy) and it doesn't seal properly on the bottom so the first couple of cool nights we really felt it.

Now that the cool nights are going to become common we knew we had to jump on this project. Thankfully (another perk of Mike's job), we were able to get our hands on an extra front door and storm door (which we don't even have at this point!). So, bye bye old door and hello new door!

The first thing Mike did (which I don't have pictures of because he started when I wasn't home) is route out the hinges. We had to move them from their original position so fit the new door - the process was essentially like the process for installing our interior doors. My job is to slide the pins into the hinges. Mike keeps the hinges on both the door frame and door screwed loosely on so that there's some give when lining up the two hinges. Then he drills them in more securely after.

 

Here Mike had to adjust the hinges multiple times so the door would close properly. Then we (he) had to sand off the interior edge of the door so it closed easier. Once all that hoop-la was done, Mike started installing the dead-bolt and handle.

 

 

 

After fitting in the dead-bolt, Mike installed the face. For lack of a better description, it's like a puzzle. He had to fit the pin into the lock along with the screws.

 

 

And then, wah-la! We now have a deadbolt! So safe I can't even stand it!

 

Then came the handle portion of the door. My favorite part considering our old front door had a dinky handle that was more fit for an interior door. Again, Mike fit in the latch (oh, and by the way, we were lucky that this door already had been cut out so Mike didn't have to do that work this time).

 

Then Mike put on the front handle, and then the indoor handle.

 

Now that the handles are here, we're only one step away! The last step is drilling out a hole in the frame for the deadbolt and then, using the template that we used on our indoor doors, for the handle latch on the frame.

 

Once Mike put the latch where the template said the door was installed! WOO-HOO! Here's the final product - now all we have to do is paint it. Not a find of the evergreen going on, but that's for another day. We're tired. (And I should probably start decorating that wall....)