Chuckies, and Door Tweaks

I posted last Saturday that I wouldn't be cooking, due to a severe need to repair the door to the back deck (where my cookers are). I spent all day repairing the door... didn't finish until 8:30 PM. I had to completely rebuild the bottom board, from the glass down to the threshold. I'm an electrician, not a carpenter, but I have done a fair amount of woodworking projects on the homes I have owned.

My plan was to paint the board white, to match the rest of the door. However, upon Googling "how to paint treated lumber", I discovered that it is not a simple process. So I decided to wrap the new section with aluminum instead. Before I got into the electrical trade, I worked for a siding installer. I learned how to wrap old windows and exposed exterior beams with aluminum. Problem was, I don't have a sheet metal brake, or a supply of aluminum coil stock. Enter family - I have one brother who is an HVAC contractor, and he has a couple of 4' sheet metal brakes for duct fabrication. Another brother is a carpenter, and he always has extra coil stock laying around. I got the brake from brother #1, and some metal from brother #2. Wrapped the board with aluminum Tuesday evening after work. All was well, until the humidity here skyrocketed. The patch board the previous homeowner had put on the interior threshold swelled, and the door is rubbing against it.

I will be removing that board today, and installing a narrower one. It's screwed down with exterior rated decking screws, and also has construction adhesive holding it down as a supplement. Tried to deal with it last Saturday, but the construction adhesive made it a hassle. Today, it will be cut out with a new oscillating cutting tool that I have to go buy at Lowe's (new tool for me, YAY!). It'll be my birthday present, as I turn 47 this Tuesday.

Waiting for my 3 chuckies to go on, as soon as the Humphrey's is up to temp. One of the chuckies will be given to brother #2, who doesn't smoke meat. Brother #1 does, so he can make his own.

Busy times, but happy times.

Update. Chuckies are on. Time to head to Lowe's. Hate to spend the money on the tool, but I'm sure I'll use it around the house from time to time. Things never stop breaking around here. Next project to tackle is the front porch. The railing is all rotted, and the steps have sunk, and pulled away from the porch. Not sure how I'm going to deal with that one yet. Had to do a similar repair on the steps at my previous house. Decided to bust the old ones up, and replace with a set of precast. Expensive and heavy, but much nicer. Had to pour a pad for them to sit on. Don't know if I'll need to do that this time, but I suspect I will.

Indeed. The adhesive I found under the patch in the threshold is some flexible, rubbery, smelly stuff. If I'm not mistaken, it's the compound that comes in tubes, to be applied to concrete joints with a caulking gun. Not sure why it was put between the threshold and the board, as it doesn't seem necessary with the screws that were also holding that board down.