How NOT to hang a door.

Well... it's official, I'm in my new home and it's been a "workout"! I've been working on fix-it projects since I moved in. While my Dad was here, I decided to go ahead and start replacing the doors in my house (seven total). Dad & I diligently measured all of the doors and then sawed just a bit of the edge off so they would all fit in the door. In the process of this ordeal, I bought not only a skilsaw, but also a Router. What is a woman going to do with a router?

Dad went on his merry way home this past Sunday with instructions on how to finish the door. This meant, making sure I got the hinges routered out in the exact location. So, that was my mission this evening. Get the powder room functioning for my guests tomorrow evening.

In the process of setting the router, test driving on a 2x4, etc., I met my new neighbor. I had a feeling something was up with this fellow as he seemed to be lingering in his front yard smoking an awful lot in the past two days. I could sense he was just waiting to talk to me. Well, this evening, he broke the silence. I'm working away on my door in the garage, Aspen's going bonkers trying to get closer to my neighbor. At some point, he ended up yelling across the street hello. It was a nice neighborly hello. Next thing I knew he came over about 15 minutes later to ask me to play pool. Now this was not expected at all. He kind of creeped me out, but my brother informed me, he's a neighbor that may have other single friends. Hmm.. true.. I'll have to play that one by ear. I respectfully declined the "date" as did the "date" for tomorrow evening.

So, I was back to the door. I thought, yes, I think this will work. But, man, what is that smell? Aspen must have really let one fly. Wait, the smell is still lingering, badly!! Go figure, as I was unwrapping her tangled mess in the yard, I stepped in her mess. Wonderful. Just as I figured this out and through my flip flops in the garage and started to clean up the step marks, my doorbell rang. A family from the church stopped by. Man, I hoped I didn't smell, because that would not be a great first impression. They didn't step away from me, so either they were really being nice and trying to hold their breath, or I was in the clear. So, once again, back to banging that door back into place. I was all excited because I got the hinges correct. The door hung nicely, swung nicely, and DIDN'T CLOSE! Go figure, my Dad's diligence of measuring was a bit off. I was beside myself and wasn't about to go to the hardware store to buy the necessary items to remove the small bit from the door frame. I called my brother to discuss options and what he & I originally thought was the problem, really wasn't. Therefore, I had to do the harder job of getting that door to close. I started with the sander, that would have taken a lifetime. This, my friends, is when the dreaded router came into play. I realize, this tool is not meant to be used vertically, nor, for "filing" down the door frame/stop. But it worked and all I have to do is buy a new bit so I can complete the remaining hinges on the door. I then sanded it down so you couldn't tell how crappy a routing job I did, nor see my first experience using a chisel. Need I say, dang, that's rough!

Morel of the story... when we're measuring doors and I'm thinking to myself, measure twice, cut once. Say something to Dad. The rest of the doors will, in my opinion, be perfect now that I had to go through 2-3 hours of making that door fit!

Man... being a true home owner has got it's work cut out for me. :)