New Door to the Garage

December 2008

We've had an on-going problem with the door between the garage and the house. This particular wall has settled, and the frame around the door is no longer square. As near as I could tell, it was no longer possible to seal the door -- there was a visible gap between the door and the frame near the door handle. In addition, the heavy wooden door was having problems with its surface -- parts of the veneer have chipped away.

So I decided to replace the door completely. Both the door and its frame. I checked on the web about how to replace doors, and figured it was probably something I could do, but we use this door several times a day, and it would really be better to make sure it was done right. I first checked with Lowe's and Home Depot to see what sorts of doors were available. Home Depot had a nice one -- a steel exterior with a small window. Doors and frames come in several sizes, so I needed the right sizes to get the right door.

I had been real pleased with the work that Dillo Construction did on rebuilding the gable on the back of the house, so I contacted them. They agreed to do the work to install the door. $600.00

I ordered the door from Home Depot, on 7 Dec 2008, for $284.21. It was delivered on 18 Dec 2008. It's a white steel door with a "fan" shaped window at the top, with hinges and frame. 

The replacement process mainly consists of taking off the old trim around the door, removing the door and frame, putting in the new door and frame and putting on trim.

So one problem was the trim. The old trim may not fit or may be damaged in removal, so I needed to have new trim available. The trim in the house is not standard, so I had to have some more trim made. BMC West Millwork can do that, so I had them run 100 linear feet of trim. That should give me enough for any future projects. This was $526.10. I took in a piece of the existing trim, and they made more in a red oak.

The next problem was the hardware. It would have been possible to take the door knob off the old door and put it on the new door, but instead, we got a new door knob, switching to a nickel finish with a lever door knob. I put that on myself. $48.40 from Home Depot, 23 Dec 2008.  We selected a Kwikset Tustin Satin Nickel handle.

The result is very nice. I've been meaning to paint the door, but haven't gotten around to it.

(Update.  The latching mechanism for this door broke, November 2018, effectively 10 years later.  But I was then able to replace it with a Kwikset Interior Door Latch for $6.47 from Home Depot.)

(Update.  Again the latching mechanism broke, July 2023, less than 5 years from the previous problem.  Again replaced by Kwikset Interior Door Latch for $6.47 plus tax, bringing it to $7.00.  Home Depot.  In taking the broken piece apart, there were two little springs inside that broke, so the latch could be pulled back to open the door, but was unwilling to spring back out as the door closed.)

Sidewalk replacement

December 2008

We have a sidewalk from the front of the house to the street out front. This was put in at the same time as the concrete porch and the driveway. Over time, however, the tree by the curb apparently put roots out under the sidewalk and lifted it up. It was an inch or two higher than the curb. This seemed to me to be a safety issue and for several years now I've been meaning to take out the old sidewalk and put in a new one.



The sidewalk is actually 3 or 4 sections -- broken up by 1x2 pieces of wood. The wood lets the concrete expand in the summer without breaking. So I only have to replace the one section that goes to the curb.

The first problem is to remove the old sidewalk. I used my jackhammer to break it up into 8 pieces, roughly square, each about 2 feet by 2 feet. These are just small enough to be manageable by me so I could move them out of the way. I eventually posted them on Craig's list and offered them as concrete pads, suitable for making a walkway. I got several responses, and a guy came and took them away, saying he was going to put a path in his backyard with them.




Next I dug down to bedrock and took everything out. Mostly it was the sand and gravel that they had put under the sidewalk, but once I was under that, there was native dirt and then rock. I dug out everything where the old sidewalk was, plus a little more to leave room for the new framing, going all the way to bedrock. In this area, that's only about a foot.

Next, I put in framing to pour a concrete wall under the edge of where the sidewalk will be, next to the tree. The idea is to create a barrier to prevent it from sending roots under the sidewalk again. I used masonite boards to frame the wall and then a couple of bags of Quikcrete cement to fill it in and make the wall. I only did this on the one side -- next to the tree.

I filled the excavation back in with rock and cement pieces and sand and gravel that I had been accumulating for this sort of project. I used a pile of decomposed granite on top, and watered it all down to try to get it to fill the area. The idea here is to (a) get rid of debris that I've dug up, and (b) make the contents of this area unlikely to support anything growing (like tree roots).

To do a good job on the actual pouring, I asked Dillo Construction to send out a couple of guys to do the final pour. The rest of the sidewalk is a "pebble finish", and they matched it very well. $520.00

To customize it a bit, after it was all poured, I threw a handful of some blue rocks we had on the top. Just sort of randomly tossed and then pushed down into the top of the concrete. Once it set, the top layer of concrete is washed off to create the pebble finish, and these blue rocks are then part of the pebble finish. It adds a nice touch, in my opinion. A minor distinguishing feature.