Afternoon everyone….

DON’T FORGET TO BUY YOUR MONSTER RAFFLE TICKETS!!!!

By the time this gets posted Tuesday afternoon, the electrical inspection for the rough out will be completed. In looking at it, there doesn’t seem to be any issues at all.

I was called a few days ago by one of my long term customers with a cry for help. The wife hated the range they chose when I did their kitchen a couple years back. So they bought a new one.

Well….

The one she liked has this massive front handle to open the oven. Which now wasn’t allowing the drawer to the right on the peninsula to open. Luckily the cabinet in question is part of the peninsula and the opposite side of that cabinet had a false drawer front on it.

It was a really hot day and I was in and out of the house getting specific tools and jigs I made to cut out the space in the cabinet to reverse the drawer slides and drawer. I was sweating like a madman. It took me a little over two hours to complete.

The homeowner was chatting with me about my shop build and asking me about installing a new double entrance door for him. I told him the electrician was roughing it out while I was here working. He asked what my plans were for cooling and heating it. I told him eventually once I can afford it I’m going to add a mini split unit that does both. But it’s not in the cards right now, I’m scraping up everything I can to make the final payment on the build.

He asked how much the mini split cost and then started talking about a new mahogany double front door. I finished up, I then went and measured the double doors at the entrance he wanted replaced. I then pulled up door styles from one of my suppliers to show them. I called my sales guy at the supplier, and we got really lucky. The design they chose the supplier had one in stock because of a change order on another job.

So I went immediately to go pick it up. Custom mahogany doors do not come finished, they need to be stained and several coats of finish need to be applied.

This is what the door looked like when I picked it up…

I delivered it to the house and told him I’d be back on Sunday to stain and finish it.

That night I got a text from Marty. It read “I know how much you like to sweat. But we (meaning Marty & Lee Ann) would like you to be around longer. We still have lots of work for you. So we are buying you the mini split AC/heating unit. The $3,000 check will be waiting for you on Sunday”. I guess that means they don’t want me dropping dead of heat stroke…..

DAM….

That is so nice of them. It’s amazing to have great customers like this. I’m very appreciative to them for this. I’ve been doing work for them for close to two decades, in three different houses now.

So Sunday, I sanded the entire doors and jamb to 220 grit. Wiped it down with denatured alcohol, let it dry then stained it to the color of choice which was called weathered chestnut. I mixed up my own Polyurethane finish with a double shot of UV protectant in it. After three coats of finish, it was left to dry overnight.

Monday was the rip out and install of this heavy behemoth of a door. There was a little rot under the sill plate after I removed the old door. Nothing major, it looks like whoever installed the door didn’t use any silicone. After addressing that, it was time to do a dry fit on the new doors. They went in nice, just a little lift on the left side to plumb them to perfection.

I’m a big believer in overdoing the silicone on anything exterior. Water is woods worst enemy, with sunlight be second. Both are an issue here, so two tubes of silicone later, the doors are in place, plumbed perfect and anchored in.

This is what they looked like after installation…

I thanked them again for the gift of my mini split unit. I also told them that it’s best to put a couple coats on the doors ever 2-3 years to keep them right.

Shortly after this gets posted I’ll be on my way to a Somerset Patriots baseball game. That’s a double A farm team for the NewYork Yankees. I’m not a Yankees fan but I am a big baseball fan. So I’ll be having a beer and watching some ball played Tuesday night. It’s my first ball game of the season.