Monday, January 14, 2008

SNOW DAY!

Last night when the kids were going to bed, there were some long faces and grumblings: rumors of snow, but as of bedtime not a flake. When they awoke this AM, this is what they saw. I also got the call, so looks like a three-day weekend for us! Needless to say, the boys are outside playing, and I am in with the girls...enjoying a few brief minutes of (relative) calm.

...that snow really IS spectacular.

This weekend is all about doors. Way back when, I had seen images of a house that had used panels of finished plywood for sliding doors. They had used a nice grade of maple or birch plywood, some cool metal track; it looked great. This was the plan until I went to spec out the plywood. Long story short: plywood was expensive, heavy (I calculated I would need TWO sheets per door panel to get the thickness I wanted), and needed some kind of treatment of the edges. So, stolling down the door aisle at the Depot, I came across those hollow core doors (cheapo) and saw that they had doors without any raised panels or moulding or anything, just plain panels that are actually faced with a pretty attractive louan facing. Best of all, they were cheap (money cheap).

Anyway, I eventually elected to special order SOLID core door panels rather than the hollow ones for sound buffering as well as the nice, solid feel they would give. After a long wait they finally came in. I have been very impressed. They look great, feel solid, and really look the part. All that remained was to mount them using the tracks and hardware that I had ordered months ago. The tracks all come from the Johnson Hardware Co. (see the tracks here). They look really nice and are top-quality. Mounting them proved to be fairly easy, and they slide so well (see below).




Given the pressure we are under from the bank to get the house "done" (laughable concept, really) I elected to hand the doors before finishing them. I am kind of hoping that having operable doors trumps having finished doors that are not. We'll see...

...After getting them all hung, then I need to trim around the jambs, most of which were not finished properly. I haven't begun this part of the job yet, but I think it will be pretty straight forward. More pics to follow.

This is from a few days ago. For me, sunset has become something of an event. I try to be around for it whenever I can (weekends, typically). What a show.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wasn't the snow today gorgeous? I blogged about it, too.

I got to see one of your sunsets when I was over the other day. Winter sunsets are the best, I think. I love how the bare tree branches break up the brilliant pastels of the sky with a silouhetted severity.

~Jessica

Anonymous said...

Your house is very aesthetic. I enjoyed your ideas. I am building treehouse in tennessee. I'm interested in your MDO idea. How did you install the aluminium flashing between the pieces? and where do you buy MDO?
Thanks for your advice
Ryan
mtbfatty@yahoo.com