I've Been Framed!

Hello, my friends. It's been awhile since I posted, but there hasn't been much going on with me to tell you about. Gary has been concentrating on house repair projects instead of me, and that's perfectly understandable. We won't be going camping anytime soon, so there's no rush for me to be road ready. I know he will work on me when he can or when he feels like it. Today was one of those days that he decided to spend some time with me, and I was REALLY surprised and happy to see him. He had painted a wall in the house, and instead of literally watching paint dry, he came out to the garage to work on me. WOO-HOO!!! What was the project of the day, you ask? Well, as you know, my door frame came back from the welding shop a couple of weeks ago, and today was the day for it to be reinstalled. Gary has been dreading this job, but it actually went more smoothly than he imagined. There wasn't one time that I heard those familiar swear words that I often do when things don't go as planned. Three quarters of the door frame fit well, but the area where the damage had occurred from my little "accident" took some patience to get right. Gary used long machine screws and wing nuts to draw the warped and multi-piece plywood in the upper left hand corner of the frame into place. The angle aluminum that I thought was going to be a permanent part of me, was used as only a temporary support. It was removed, and in it's place, Gary used something called t-nut fasteners. There's a picture of one in Gary's hand if you don't know what they look like. I had never heard of them, but Gary told me he has used them for other projects. Once the long machine screws had drawn the plywood into close proximity of the door frame, three-quarter inch machine screws were placed through the door frame, through the plywood, and into the t-nut fasteners that Gary had pounded into the plywood on the inside of me. They have little "teeth" on them that grip into the plywood. One by one, the long machine screws were replaced by the shorter versions and the t-nut fasteners. The door frame was now in place, and a line of ten t-nut fasteners now fill the holes where the ripped out screws that once held my door frame used to be. What a great repair, and the t-nuts won't interfere with the placement of my re-worked upper cabinet, whenever Gary gets around to that part of this lengthy project. Anyway, Gary re-hung my original door, and as you can see, there is no longer a wide gap at the top like there was before the repairs were made. I am impressed! The last thing done today was cleaning and polishing the eyebrow that goes over my door. That will be installed later. I'll still be getting a new door, a re-worked screen door, a new entry lock, and a deadbolt. And whenever that happens, you'll be reading about it right here. I hope I didn't bore you with all the details, but you know by now that I'm a long-winded little trailer. As always, thanks for checking in.

A Little More Progress

Even though Gary was busy with other projects this week, he still managed to gather up some parts for me in his spare time. He got my door frame back from the welding shop, and it's all in one piece again. YAY!!! Mid-week, he made a trip to Ocala to pick up some odds and ends for various jobs. Much to my surprise, he came home with the bigger screen door you see in the first picture. The small screen door is mine, but it will need to be modified to have access to the new lock and deadbolt that's going to be installed in my new door. The large black slide, stationary aluminum panel, and the tracks that they fit into will replace the smaller versions in my old screen door. Once all of those are in place, new screening will be installed. The tracks will need to be cut down to fit my smaller door, but that shouldn't be much of a problem. Where there's a will, there's a way, and Gary has definitely got the will. The welding shop did a good job with my poor old frame. They repaired all four corners and the large split along the top edge. It's good and strong now. While at the welding shop who also happens to sell various kinds of metal, Gary got a piece of 1/4" thick angle aluminum to repair my damaged wall. Also this week, the thick aluminum panels that will serve as the coverings for the interior and exterior of my new door got picked up. That's some pretty metal! All the new bare wood that was installed last week on me, got sprayed with another coat of rubberized undercoating. While Gary was under me, he touched up various areas that had the undercoating scraped off. My undersides have passed over a lot of miles of roads over the years, and a few scratches and scrapes are inevitable. I look factory fresh under there now. So, I'm hoping that a lot more progress will be made soon, now that all of the parts and pieces needed for the job are here. We will see.

Weekend Update

Hey there! Happy Sunday to all my friends and fans. Here's a few pics of the latest improvements to me since I last reported in. While we await the return of my door frame from the welding shop, there were/are a bunch of things that need to be done before the door frame can be reattached. The first order of business was stripping the remaining aqua and white paint from around my door opening. Job done. I'm all silver now. And then, Gary removed the metal edge trim that was attached to what was left of the wooden facing under my door. There was just enough of the wooden facing left to hold the screws that held on the metal edge trim, but neither Gary or I could figure out how that was possible. It was REALLY rotted. Gary cut a new piece to replace it, and removed the two sheet metal pieces on either side of my drop-down floor to have access to screw it into place. On a happy note, my plywood sides (as you can see under the lifted up piece of my siding), is in GREAT shape. No rot or water damage at all. Gary attached a fresh piece of 1x2 under my door opening (not shown), and then attached the new wooden facing he had made. Also not shown is the two coats of rubberized spray undercoating that was sprayed onto the fresh wood to protect it from the elements. Spraying that stuff on is a MESSY job, and holding a camera afterwards to take pics is NOT too healthy for the camera. Gary went to a lot of trouble to build a temporary door for me, but it hasn't been used as yet. The door needs a hinge to attach it to, and the hinge is attached to the frame which is at the welding shop. No worries though. My brother "Scotty" wasn't using his door, so I borrowed it until I get my frame back. And so my friends, that's the latest news from here. I hope you all are doing well and enjoying your weekend. Thanks for stopping by.