!!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

To make rhubarb jam look more rhubarby, a lot of people add a couple drops of red food coloring! I processed the first harvest of our rhubarb yesterday, and it's in the freezer waiting for a night when we want rhubarb cobbler.

BRK #555

On Friday, the Boot team had a very good day. In the first half of the day, we repaired the front door to Allerton Abbey. To sum up: we don't know exactly the cause of it, but the door began to stick as it was being opened, to the point that one would have to shimmy in sideways after shoving the door open like making a sumo tackle. That wasn't acceptable anymore, so with a little prodding from Paul I pressed the team into the task. Fortunately, we were successful: no one was injured, and no equipment was damaged. And the door is working great.

Big thanks to Trace for capturing these excellent photos of our work.

Here are a couple shots of Ben as he used the oscillating saw to remove about a third of an inch off the bottom of the door.



The door is somewhere round six inches thick, featuring a couple layers of lumber all fastened together with a little insulation tucked in-between. You can see the multiple layers in this picture.



Here I am, holding the door in place while the rest of the team lines up the hinge plate with the door. In this flattering image, I think I mostly-resemble a dog at a fire hydrant.



Here, Brian persuades the carriage bolts to go through the door while Ben secures them on the opposite side.



Finally: the door is secured, and freely opens and closes. Personally, this is a huge weight off my shoulders. For whatever reason, I was most intimidated by the idea that the door was extremely heavy and I didn't want anyone to be under it should it fall on accident. Fortunately, it proved to be much lighter, and hence much more maneuverable than I expected. Still a heavy door, though! The hinge attached to the door is massive, and typical door hinges would easily fail under its weight.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

Nancy Merry wrote:To make rhubarb jam look more rhubarby, a lot of people add a couple drops of red food coloring! I processed the first harvest of our rhubarb yesterday, and it's in the freezer waiting for a night when we want rhubarb cobbler.

Have fun with that cobbler...! One of the recipe videos we watched also recommended some red gel food colouring, and I agree it likely would make things more convincing. After seeing our final results, I think adding some colour would have been wise. I quickly must add though: should no one want to eat it due to its particular shade, I'll happily take a hit for the team and eat it all so they don't have to.

Hmm, any chance the door was sticking due to the hinges pulling away from the frame/wall, or perhaps just swelling of the door due to spring humidity? If it's the latter, would a yearly coating of linseed oil or equivalent possibly help?

Mark Brunnr wrote:Hmm, any chance the door was sticking due to the hinges pulling away from the frame/wall, or perhaps just swelling of the door due to spring humidity? If it's the latter, would a yearly coating of linseed oil or equivalent possibly help?

We had a fair amount of discussion leading up to the repairs. I recall that JR (who led the original build on the newest hinge) suspects that the timber the door rests on is settling. The hinge was most-definitely secure and not loosening from the wall at all, so I don't suspect that's the culprit. I also remember hearing from Paul that since the door is so thick and swings so wide, even a slight tilt to the main support timber, perhaps a quarter- or even an eighth-of-an-inch, can cause the door to stick. We eventually moved forward on trimming the door a decent amount, and want to make some observations before the wall is directly addressed.

As for linseed oil, that's a new idea. The door-sticking problem started perhaps back in December (only now have we had the Boots to handle the project), and I don't think humidity tends to linger long at all round here.

Now that we've trimmed the door, it's wait-and-see.