Victorian Home. Full basement under the home. Concrete floors in basement. Concrete steps to back of house - but they are rather steep and the sill height is very low. So; somewhere in the last century ... I added a walk down conctrete ramp into the basement; at another location. After that, I rather ignored this inviting entrance, under the double doors.

It's time to go. It's gonna be expected that the door at the bottom of the steps be attached and functional. But - the wooden anchors, frame, etc., was all rotted away. The mortar crumbling where the wood was in the stone walls. Joy. Looks like a job for "SUPER GARY".



So; I cleaned out the mess and Kelly and I made a "pre-hung" unit. Treated lumber for the frame. 3/4" plywood door. Made the door stops and installed. Sills. Cut the door from plywood and just screwed it into the frame to keep the frame square. Installed the hinges, handle, and locks; while the unit was laying on tressels on the patio. I'll set it into place this way - open it later.



I cut treated anchors to go back into the rock work. I installed long screws thru those for additional anchor points to lock the mortar.



A look from the inside. Anchors in place. Screwed to the door frame and set way back into the rock.



Then mortared into place. I take out four screws temp. holding the door to the frame ... and open the door. It's square and straight. Frame isn't twisted. Has to be correct when the mortar sets.



Gary

Good job, and it is one more step closer to a final approach......

Thank you Don.
I appreciate the comment.
I can't wait to get back and install this round of things harvested from the BPN shop. Electrical 3 phase converter and generators. The pig tails and specific plug boxes for tools already in place.
It's clear that most readers are pretty bored with the move threads. It's all I've got right now. I'm staying in touch and showing progress. Life handed me health issues which are pretty incompatible with this Md. climate. Our area has changed to be 85% different then it was 33 years ago. I'm pretty sure my days were numbered for this business here. So; this is what we had to do.
We will keep at it. I very much appreciate the readers who still participate. I believe the latest Orion threads show I still have a few good days in me yet.
Best,
Gary

man if that's just 1 of the projects you gotta do there in Maryland ,you might have to stay up there a couple of months .Whoever get that house sure will be happy with the work and effort you put into it not to mention the craftsmanship hope you're able to get all that money back out of it or at least some of it .

Thanks
Kurt

Hi Kurt,
I hear ya. What I'm trying for is not to get well paid for the few things I do now .... but to NOT get terrible write-downs because some basic stuff is not in place. Two ways to see it. You are right ... I'd have been better paid to make guns and carve. However; anybody buying a nice old home is gonna expect there to be a door on the basement. haah. And ... for me to have hired a carpenter and mason (from my non-existing book of repeat contractors) would have been nearly impossible. For ten years I've called people who didn't show. Came and never gave bids. Gave bids then never did a half decent job or did the complete job which was bidded.
Some things grab attention. Like the beautiful hot rod ... with the flat tire. You aren't going to get well paid for changing the tire ... but you better - before the buyers come to consider it.
So; anyway ... that's my logic. Hope it's on target. Cause I'd rather be in Florida. hahah.
Gary

Hi Gary,

Nice job! It's simple and functional. Have you considered the idea of bringing one FL guy with you to help you finish this chores? Since there's no one in MD willing to do the job.

Good luck with the sale of the house.

Julio

Hello Julio,

Good to hear from you. Hope all is good with you.

Well, I wish I had such a person. Finding someone to leave their home and family for a month round trip - provide room, food, salary, transportation, entertainment, and such. I'm not so sure I could afford such anyway.

I talk, by PM ... to a couple of folks who are in parts of the world where help is everywhere - and dirt cheap. I'm talking $40/month rents some hard working labor.

Here, I've found folks who were down on their luck. Say they are willing to do anything for some money. Bills piled up to the roof. Electric about to be turned off. You talk to them a bit ... and they turn up their nose at $80/day. Give them some work ... and inside a week - they want an advance on next week ... or a loan ... or both. And then, IF you agree to help them over a hump ...they start needing off early. Or need the day off. It really is a pathetic thing that has been created here.

I'm very willing to admit that I don't know everything. And, I know I have a gift for being in the wrong place/time. But it's been my experience that I can barely HIRE contractors - unless I was to be doing a complete mega kitchen make over or building an entire new wing on the house. Nobody wants to do repair. And ... the few I have hired knew next to nothing. Gosh - I've worked (with my own tools) to get contractors here out of trouble. Had to demonstrate that a window opening that was tight .... and rubbing at the upper left corner ... could be fixed by removing material on the lower right corner. When they wanted to hack thru moldings and I showed them I could just remove waste wood. I've had window guys stomp down the seams on my 100 year old standing seam roof. Roof guys that insisted upon coming in mid August when I wanted them in October ... and them complained all day about the heat. Cut corners and left mad because it was hot. Carpenters who brought helpers who beat the heck out of the wood with hammers all day cause they couldn't hit a nail. Carpenters who could not figure out a staircase stringer so they made whatever size top and bottom sized steps a pre-fab stringer would make. It's been brutal.

I honestly have tried the "get help" route. But then - another thing comes into play. Unless the help is really skilled ... it's not really help. If you have to explain their job to them - it's aggravating. You should have seen the guys trying to put a handle on a new refridgerator here. The guy didn't know a plate came off the front of the two foot long handle. So - he tried to start the screw that was sticking out the back ... and WIND the whole handle round and round and round like he was trying to start a WWI Bi-Plane. Not caring that WHEN the base hit the door - it was gonna wind a big ground up circle into the finish. AND ... not caring that they'd dragged the thing and made marks on the orig. pine flooring.

I've just done it myself. And figured I saved myself from having a stroke - even if I did ruin my back. It's pathetic.

Oh .... ... hahaha .... while on a rant ... you should see the efforts we've gone to to get help with the yard work. In the Spring ... Kelly would decide to help me out and call this and that yard service. They'd be here lick-ety-split!!! (that's old timer's speak for "fast"). Well - they'd make an offer - she'd accept. And ... they'd show up first time with a 45 horsepower 60" zero turn hotrod mower on a trailer bristling with equipment behind a brand new turbo diesel truck! IM-PRESS-IVE!!! And they'd block the busy alley behind the house and drop the trailer gate - fire up the beast ... and then TRY to figure how to get it into the yard. It's all hills, shrubs, stone walls, fences, walks, steps, and flower beds. Hummm. They'd fight and fuss and finally manage to shoehorn it in. They'd spin around twice - and that was all they could do with it. Uh-oh! Then they'd gallop around behind a rotary and hit the high spots. Do a really lousy job of trimming. Break out two or three mega-cyclone backpack blowers and blow up the skirts on the whole property. We MIGHT see them one more time. By then, they'd found more contracts and were culling out the ones they didn't like - the ones that required more then ten minutes and were not like mowing the Washington Mall. Early Spring they grab everything. Two weeks later they are late to show. Three weeks in - they are no shows. Year after year. Company after company. You can't hire a neighbor kid anymore. They want $75 to use your mower and gas. And you'd need a bullet proof insurance property against some underaged kid cutting his foot off in your yard.

Well - that's just the tip of the ice-berg when it comes to owning a glorious old pc. of history in a charming little Victorian Town in 2013 Maryland. You play big or get out. Hummmm ...

Well ... gee ... somebody touched a nerve ... hahaha .... ....

Thanks for the comments Julio! Thanks for reading.
Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2013 12:46AM by barnespneumatic.

Well - just to complete the thread .... the mortar hardened great. The frame stayed in nice and straight. I took out the four screws holding the door into the frame, and we swung it open. Works great.

Gary

I know what you're up against as I've run into it myself, the outfits small enough to want the remodel work often lack the skill to actually handle it. On the other hand, when you hire a subcontractor that really DOES know what they're doing, it's such a pleasant surprise that you almost want to kiss them. I've hired guys that needed hints to figure out which end of the shovel to lean on, and guys that could lace brand-new T&G oak planks into a 50-year-old floor with such skill that you couldn't tell the new wood from the old. Paid about the same as it turned out, and there's no telling until they're got the job half-done. Which of course, is too late. I think that might be the true secret to the good general contractors, they know from experience which subs are the gems and which are the duds.

Hope it works out without killing your back. So far the work is looking good, as usual.

Sean

Part of the equation is that everybody is a rock star Sean. They show up and EXPECT me to play the role of the stupid, helpless, unskilled homeowner. They babble some nonsense I know is crap ... and expect me to buy it. It's no secret I have a few tools and skills. So; you can imagine the senerio when I know they are lying to me - they expect me to be impressed - and they become confused when I don't seem to be buying it. It's just usually simplier to do it myself, and let them leave - certain that I'll be lost without them.

The general contractors are only as good as their subs. That means they keep them close and busy to monopolize their services. That leaves the unreliable and unskilled left for us commoners.

Kent