December 19, 2005
Murphy's Law: I had finally built the rough-in for the entry to the master bedroom. It was almost perfect, and more perfect than a rough-in needed to be. I was concerned, though that the header was too high. The genius at Home Despot told me that I should just make the rough-in one inch larger than the door. Well, ok. Using these dimensions, I was afraid that the gap above the door jam would be too high, and not allow me to mount the casing. So, I went on line and found the door manufacturer, and after weeding through tons of useless information, found the dimensions for the rough in. The height should be two inches taller than the door. Excellent, I had that. Unfortunately, the width should be two inches wider as well. And what's this note? If the door has an astrigal, which mine will/do, the opening should be two and a half inches wider. Crap.
Silver Lining: At least I found out now, and could fix it before I picked up the doors.
Murphy's Law: I ripped the 2x4 out on the right, and it came out without too much destruction. While pulling the nails left in the sill plate, which happened to both be into a large knot, my good crow's foot snapped. The nails didn't budge, but my almost 1/4" thick steel claw snapped in two.
Silver Lining: I have another crow's foot, and the wound on my hand from flying metal will heal and blend in with the rest of my scars.
Murphy's Law: While ripping out the 2x4 on the left, the sill plate completely disintegrated. I knew that there was some rot from 20 years of water damage at the corner of the room, but didn't think it had extended this far. Five feet of the wall's base needed to be removed.
Silver Lining: This wall doesn't support much weight, and I was able to remove all the rotted wood, build up the damaged floor, and put a new sill in. I finished rebuilding the rough in without further problems. I even felt good enough about it that I put in the rough in for the bathroom door, and put a sill and a stud in where the old door was. The door has been moved so many times in that wall that most of the top of the wall is header...
Murphy's Law: My back was killing me so I decided to make use of those wonderful jets in the bathtub. I climbed in to a steaming hot bath, and turned the jets on. I had some soap in the water, and only had about five minutes of jet activity before the suds had climbed so high I thought I was going to fill the whole bathroom.
Silver Lining: I yelled for Annie to come and see, and we spent the rest of my bath time making funny hair and beards on Daddy. Not a bad end to the day.
Bite my derriere, Murphy...
Silver Lining: At least I found out now, and could fix it before I picked up the doors.
Murphy's Law: I ripped the 2x4 out on the right, and it came out without too much destruction. While pulling the nails left in the sill plate, which happened to both be into a large knot, my good crow's foot snapped. The nails didn't budge, but my almost 1/4" thick steel claw snapped in two.
Silver Lining: I have another crow's foot, and the wound on my hand from flying metal will heal and blend in with the rest of my scars.
Murphy's Law: While ripping out the 2x4 on the left, the sill plate completely disintegrated. I knew that there was some rot from 20 years of water damage at the corner of the room, but didn't think it had extended this far. Five feet of the wall's base needed to be removed.
Silver Lining: This wall doesn't support much weight, and I was able to remove all the rotted wood, build up the damaged floor, and put a new sill in. I finished rebuilding the rough in without further problems. I even felt good enough about it that I put in the rough in for the bathroom door, and put a sill and a stud in where the old door was. The door has been moved so many times in that wall that most of the top of the wall is header...
Murphy's Law: My back was killing me so I decided to make use of those wonderful jets in the bathtub. I climbed in to a steaming hot bath, and turned the jets on. I had some soap in the water, and only had about five minutes of jet activity before the suds had climbed so high I thought I was going to fill the whole bathroom.
Silver Lining: I yelled for Annie to come and see, and we spent the rest of my bath time making funny hair and beards on Daddy. Not a bad end to the day.
Bite my derriere, Murphy...