My Old House Entry Door
First home
8 years ago
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crazysmom
8 years agoemmarene9
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Ugly old concrete entry steps to front door.
Comments (22)What an awful mess  One suggestion that has proven helpful to me in sorting out certain disagreements in the past. Go ahead and sit down and write an account of what happened. Record your memory of conversations, the days / hours he worked, etc. Keep notes brief and clear. Even the posts here are evidence of your intentions to create a safe entrance that added value and beauty to your home. You may have other notes, e-mails, etc. that refer to your project and your intention in hiring a "pro". The point of this exercise is to leave your options open. You may decide to do nothing, learn from the experience, and, as my Dad used to say, "overwhelm the problem with money". But, should you decide to pursue a fair resolution, having things in writing  even after the fact  will help. Next, make a decision about legal advice. The funny thing here is that you would again be accepting assistance from a pro. Twice in recent years I've needed a lawyer's opinion. My upbringing schooled me to avoid litigation like an unseemly plague, so the need was only pursued with great reluctance. In the first instance, one involving a need to sort out an issue with a government agency, I lucked into a lawyer who was willing to "coach" me in what to research, letters to write, and keeping a careful record. I paid her absolutely nothing. That matter took about 12 months to resolve. Courts, litigation, almost always take much longer. If I were you, I think I'd be feeling like I'd been robbed. We hire a pro to do professional work. It's an assumption, but I don't know if it holds as a legal standard. I can tell you that in gathering quotes from three companies that do paving work for a project at my home, not one of them suggested anything less than a 8" to 12" inch base. The area we wanted paved had been a gravel bed (previous owners) and my spouse wanted to know if that material could be reused somehow. Looking back, I suppose that was an open opportunity for abuse, which none of the contracters we spoke to was willing to take. As one of the contracter's put it, "Even if this gravel were usable, I want to do the job right from base to finish  We'll clean it out, start from scratch, and get the grade corrected in the process." Since then, I've read quite a bit here at the LD forum, so I've heard chapter and verse a few times on installing paths and patios. With very rare exceptions, and even those are debated, the base is the thing. Without it, the beauty, function, and durability of the finished surface is compromised. As you stated  for your entry you wanted things done right. That should have included the standard base for a well-built and beautiful entrance pathway. Hope things work out well and soon  Wellspring...See MoreWill my house fit on my lot with a side entry garage?
Comments (13)In our area, house has a 10ft setback and driveway has zero. So that would be 27 ft for driveway. We were told that 30 was nice but you could go down to 25 without too much of an issue. We have neighbors in the 22 range and they aren't happy. I think we wound up with 27 and it is absolutely fine but we drive cars. It depends on your expectations and it does also depend on your slope. We couldn't go to zero on our driveway because the neighboring lot was lower. We could have gone to 1 feet and built a wall but we would have created an enemy since they have a 22 ft driveway (it originally was bigger but survey made them cut it down before our time). And I am not sure you can put a wall on the property line so we might have had less leeway. We just left 5 feet of dirt and planted trees....See MoreHelp needed to paint old furniture on my old-house front porch
Comments (27)Thank you Jane. You have a lovely porch too. I love your willow furniture. You are lucky to have trees to shade it. Ours gets morning sun and can get quite warm very early one. One of these days we want to close in our sleeping porch off the master bedroom with storm type windows all around to make it more of a three season porch. We've not used it in years. Used to go out there in the evenings. I used Windows Paint to the above virtuals. I have an original version of PhotoShop that came with one of those pens (by Bamboo) that a friend gave to me since they already had PhotoShop. I think they run around a hundred dollars or so. I've not looked at them for a couple years now. Both Adobe and Corel have free online trials of their photo editors. I've tried them both and liked different things about each one so I never made up my mind which to buy. Now that I have the Adobe from my friend I should ask for the Corel for Christmas from my hubby....See MoreRe-skining an old wood entrance door
Comments (4)I agree door can be reskinned at home. Butcher's method is good as any but I would alow lots more than half inch over size and remove excess with bearing guided laminate trim router bit. +1 about studying up on contact cement before starting. In case you don't see them in your research,here's some tips. Lay several wood dowels across door after glue dry's then lay skin with dry glue on dowels. The dowels will not stick to dry contact cement. Adjust skin to overhang door on all sides then starting at one end or center,carefully pull dowels from between door and skin one at a time. As dowels are removed carefully press skin in contact with palm of hand until all dowels are removed,then roll it. Beg,borrow,buy or steal a laminate roller and really lay into it while rolling skin. If you can't use a roller,do this to make sure bond is good. Use sandpaper to ease sharp edges and corners on a block of hardwood then slide block around on skin while hammering it with blows equal to driving 12D framing nails....See Morerwiegand
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