door it yourself

Our screen door has been a constant problem since I moved in. The top two hinges were broken so we've had to lift the door up slightly when we close it. I've been trying to fix it for a while now, putting more screws in here and there but it's never lasted. On Friday, Dean ran up to bark at the mailman when the screen door was closed. I wasn't too worried about it but then Dean threw his shoulder into the door and it opened. Fortunately, he came right back. Yesterday, I came home to find the door off of the hinges and leaning against the front porch railing. Now the problem was undeniable and needed to be fixed.

Sophia and I took my first tour of the Rebuilding Center after I measured the door frame. We found several doors that we liked but only one that would fit and had the hinges on the right side of the door. We managed to fit more than half of it in my trunk and Sophia tied it down. When we got it home, I took the old hinges/frame off, took the spacers out of the doorway, and screwed in new holes. The latch wasn't at the right height and wasn't the right width so I had to mess around with that for a little bit but I managed to get it installed. I then bought some white spray paint to take care of the rust color on the mesh pictured above and a few more screws to set the door in properly.

Overall, the door cost $10, the can of paint was $3 and the screws were $1 but the satisfaction of having put a new/old door onto the house (that I like a lot better than the previous door) is priceless.

What else?
To celebrate, I checked out a new comic DMZ from the library and read it on the front porch. I also have a set of solar-powered Christmas lights on the porch so I had a little more light and was able to read past sunset. I'm sooooo ready for summer.