The Red Flag Fire Warning for a few counties in western Oklahoma has been extended through 1 a.m. Saturday morning.

Yea, the quality of those doors has gone down from what it use to be. Over the years I think I've bought about 10 exterior Mastercraft doors, and after the last few I won't buy them again. Menards use to be known for selling nothing but junk, and then they went through a period of years where quality really improved, but now it seems to be going back the other way. I still shop there, but you really have to look over what you are getting. I still spend a lot of money at Menards each year, have been for a long time LOL!! It is rare that a week goes by that I'm not there at least once picking something up. I thought Menards owned Mastercraft/MM manufacturing. Use to drive by the big plant on my way to the Eau Claire store when we lived in WI. Cathy

This is interesting topic, as I have lived on a standard size home lot for 26 years, ... but with approximately 30 trees at time of purchase and a small grove of trees just off the back corner of the home. Many of the trees are northern red oaks and with heights between 40 to 60 feet. A few and our tallest is 80 feet (yes, think seven story building). The message here is "stewardship" of any home. For younger people out there, being a home owner in such a case means expect to spend a significant amount of many out of pocket over the years in dead wooding costs, removal, etc. It's the flip side of the beauty. 12 of the trees I have had to remove over the 26 years, and just recently I believe storm micro burst came down and twisted/ripped the 80 foot tree into pieces.... incredibly lucky didn't land on the two houses twenty yards away. Within a week of getting quotes for removal, evaluator educated me on the Ganoderma he spotted all around the base of another 65 foot red oak. That's right two major 80 to 100 year old trees to be removed in a weeks time to a total cost of 8500, the cost is reasonable given the height, risk to ropers, and cranes, etc needed. Your first thoughts are how to save such trees or make them last, but this is a residential neighborhood with children playing, standard lots with homes in close proximity, and the reality that such trees are not "young". They are extremely mature, beautiful, ...but aged. Acts of God happen, and when they do it is extremely important to prioritize and minimize risks to yourself, others, and property.

res2architect, the winder step idea (with 3 winders in a 36" square) could achieve a 10" tread depth on the straight run to the second floor, and the winders would satisfy the 10" rule at the 12" walk line, but the tread depth on the tight side would be only 4 1/2 inches, not 6 inches. So robbing Peter to pay Paul. After hearing some subjective negative thoughts about winders from people posting here, we think the proper trade off is to take the improvement on the tread depth on the long straight run from 8" to 9.5", and keep the added risers down to 2 (instead of 3) and keep them simpler, with one new step and a 36" square landing. Thanks for your encouragement. (PS, maybe I should just convert everything to metric! )