Huh, well don't feel bad, I've done many stupid things such as that. I even once thought I could cut a piece of PVC pipe with an electric reciprocating saw. Needless to say the ability to drive a saw with one hand while holding a round pipe in the other can only end in disaster and that is exactly what happen. I ended up with the saw skating over the surface of the pipe and across my knuckles. Yeah and should I add that I'm such a genius that this was the same day I was installing two new sump pumps and after cutting out the pipe for the old one, I went to remove it, but neglected to unplug it first. So, for good measure I accidentally activated the pump and covered myself and the general area with dirty, nasty sump pit water. Yeah, I'm good aren't I? Give me time, I'm sure there are a number of really bright things I have done. So, hey, your doing just fine and keep up the good work. Oh and when your done, I got a few projects down here if you lack for something to do. grin. On Oct 9, 2009, at 2:48 PM, Dan Rossi wrote:
> Maybe you call it a screen door, or storm door, whatever, but I have > a new > one. Almost. > > Our house used to have one of those crappy sheet Aluminum storm doors > with zero insulation value, noisy when you open and close it, and a > stupid > heavy glass window that you had to take out each summer, store it > somewhere, and put it back in the winter. > > Well, I decided to upgrade. I got one of the doors where you just pull > the upper window down and it pulls a rolled up screen down in it's > place. > It's got double panes, insulated frame, rubber magnetic seals and dual > closers. > > Of course, I got the wrong size door, so what I hoped to be a quick > and > simple project turned out to take a little longer. I tried so hard to > understand exactly what with of door I had, and what I needed to ask > for. > i still got it wrong. My door is wider and taller than the standards > so > had to get a custom door. I measured from brick mould to brick > mould, but > my mistake was that my old door sat inside the brick mould attached > to a > secondary frame. The new door, well the flange instead of sitting > inside > the brick mould, wrapped around the front of the brick mould. > > At first I didn't think that was an issue, but since the moulding was > beveled, the screws were going through the edge and not holding. So, I > ripped the old brick mould off, and installed a square frame rather > than > the decorative beveled moulding. Getting the old stuff off was a lot > of > work. I don't know what kind of nails they used 80 years ago, but I > swear > they must have been barbed. I also don't know what they used for > calking, > it was hard as rock, and was not in any hurry to leave the bricks. > > The big adventures here were that I drew blood a couple of times. > You had > to drill pilot holes in the edge of the door for the hinges. The > edge is > metal clad. I had the door laying flat on a couple of saw horses and > was > drilling into the edge. My hand was above the drill on the door, > helping > to keep it straight. The 1/8 inch bit snapped, the drill rammed > forward > and up, and the broken spinning bit ran across the underside of my > fingers. No major damage, and I kept working, but Teresa eventually > came > out and was a bit annoyed at all the blood on the new door. > > I also nicked myself with a regular old hand saw. I was being stupid > and > trying to hurry, I just wanted to rough cut the end off one of the > framing > members. I was holding the stick of wood in one hand and the saw in > the > other. I got mostly through the wood when it snapped off. It left > just a > little spike of wood sticking out the corner and I tried to just rip > it > off with one stroke, but the saw snagged, the stick rolled, and I > caught > the edge of my finger on the saw. Again, no major damage but more > blood > to be cleaned up. > > The door is in, is pretty straight, opens and closes, but I still > need to > put the closers on. > > One more task down, 77 to go. > > -- > Blue skies. > Dan Rossi > Carnegie Mellon University. > E-Mail: [email protected] > Tel: (412) 268-9081 > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
