The garage was a terrible mess and in desperate need of organization. It didn’t start that way though. At first, all the Costco supplies were packed into the pantry. But, in a bid to clean-up the house, all that got dumped into the garage. And, one by one, the boxes multiplied until they occupied a fair amount of space.
I had always intended to pick up some shelving. However, every time, I spotted a stainless steel shelving rack at Costco, the size and weight of the box was just enough to dissuade me. Finally, I just ordered the shelving rack online from Costco. It took one business day to deliver, and one hour to assemble. If I had to put together a second one, I should be able to cut down on the time dramatically, especially if I started with a tape measure in hand. Mount the shelves at the same height on each leg!
After I assembled the shelving, I organized what I needed and disposed of the rest. Now, I have a mini-Costco in my garage.
Back in September 2009, I had replaced two torsion springs for my garage door. These springs lasted all of 4 1/2 years.
A few weeks ago, I was getting ready to leave in the morning when I heard an ominous sound in the garage. It’s never good to hear strange sounds from the garage. Before long, I managed to put that sound out of my mind until I grabbed my backpack and pushed the button on the garage door opener, only to see the opener futilely attempt to open the door. That’s when I remembered the sound.
After a quick check of various parts, I spotted the crack in the spring. I made a same-day appointment with the contractor, who quickly replaced both springs. Asking about the life expectancy of a garage torsion spring is a trick question. Like the expensive fluorescent light that promises a lifetime of savings in exchange for a steep initial cost, the economics all depends on the frequency and type of use. Turn the light on-and-off, like in the bathroom, kills the life expectancy. I have light fixtures in the kitchen where the fluorescent lights have never been changed. I also have light fixtures in the bathroom where the light has been changed 4-5 times. Some day, I might figure out the math and see whether it is cheaper to just leave the bathroom light on instead of replacing the bulb so often.
Anyways, if you use the garage door like a main door, the springs will not last 7-10 years. Let’s see if this new set lasts to Fall 2019.
I have a Baldwin Oval Bell Button installed by the front door. A few months ago, I noticed that the doorbell was no longer lit. I’m not entirely sure when the lightbulb burnt out, but I finally decided to do something about it.
Unfortunately, the Baldwin website didn’t list any replacement parts for the doorbell. But, after a quick inquiry to support, I received a e-mail notification that a new doorbell was on the way.
Here’s how the replacement doorbell appears:
Even without instructions, the replacement was straightforward and only involved four screws. The most difficult part was inserting the new doorbell back in the bronze finish since it was tight fit.
I’ve changed my share of Kwikset and Schlage locksets before. These locksets install and uninstall quite similarly, so I’ve never had to drag out the manual whenever I had to re-key a door.
Tonight, I tackled my first Baldwin lockset and it was quite a challenge. So, what exactly happened? Well, I had an interior door lockset that had been jamming for quite some time. Even when the door was unlocked, I would feel resistance when turning the knob in one direction. When I started wiggling the door knob, it went from bad to worse. The knob was now stuck off-center and no amount of turning could get the knob unstuck. The real bad news was that if the door were to close, there would be no easy way to open the door again from inside or out. Thus, this was not a repair that could wait until the next morning.
From a visual inspection, I found the set screw that held the inside knob in place. A couple twists with a screwdriver fitted with a hex head freed the screw as well as the inside knob. Next the rose plate. I tugged at it. I looked for a slot to pry the plate off. I got absolutely no where. Thankfully, Baldwin’s online installation guides bailed me out. I would have never guessed that the rose plate was a screw-on. Really different from a Kwikset or Schlage.
With the rose plate removed, the rest was fairly straightforward. During the reassembly stage, I did notice that getting the screws to affix the inner assembly to the outer assembly was remarkably easy. With other brands, I occasionally get stuck for a few minutes while trying blindly to insert the screw into the corresponding hole. All in all, not a very difficult challenge if you have access to the instructions. I am not sure how anyone managed to perform home repairs pre-Internet. Even if you meticulously kept all your installation guides and operating manuals, you’ll still have to sift through boxes of documents to locate the right one, that is if the contractor who performed the original install kept it for you.
When I shop at Costco, I expect to receive a quality product at a competitive price. Usually, I am extremely happy with my purchases, but that garage door I purchased from them has turned out to be quite a doozy. Mind you, the garage door itself is fine. The problem is with everything else attached to that garage door.
So, three years in, one of the torsion springs broke. Only three years? So, I found another contractor to replace both of the torsion springs and I didn’t think much about the garage again until a few months ago when the garage door opener started failing intermittently. Sometimes the door would not open all the way. Other times it would not close all the way. I had not problem with the opening, because I could always click on the garage door opener a second time. However, the closing was a serious issue because unless you monitored the garage door every time to make sure that it closed completely, there was always a chance that the garage door was not securely shut.
Long story short, I replaced the Chamberlain Whisper Drive 1/2 HP Belt Drive garage door opener, which was not all that quiet, with a LiftMaster 3850 DC Motor Belt with EverCharge Standby Power System. After I changed the garage door opener, the problem completely disappeared and the new opener is amazingly quiet. No more rattle and shake when the door is opening or closing. Just solid and quiet.
As a house settles, doors that used to open and shut smoothly start sticking. And, sometimes the door falls so far out of alignment that strike plate no longer catches the door latch. So, how can this be fixed?
Well, adjusting the strike plate is not the answer. First, look at where the latch is hitting the strike plate. Is the latch passing above or below the hole in the strike plate? This tells you which door hinge you have to adjust to rotate the door. In my case, the latch was passing above the hole in the strike plate. To correct this, I needed to push down top of latch-side of the door down so that the hole in the strike plate would catch the latch again. To rotate the door in that direction, I needed to push out the top door hinge a bit. Originally, the door hinge was flush with the door jamb. However, I loosened the screws holding the hinge to the door jamb, placed a piece of cardboard behind the hinge, traced the outline of the hinge with a pencil, and then cut the cardboard to obtain a pad. With the pad, I placed it under the hinge, and tightened the screws. So, in the photo, the top hinge now sits a bit off the door jamb. However, this slight adjustment was just enough to push down latch such that it now catches whenever the door is shut.
Last week, I was browsing at Home Depot and looking for a new lockset. I had to change a bunch of locks and came across the new Kwikset Smart Key system. Here’s the promise. With the new Smart Key lockset installed, you can easily re-key a lock within seconds. Well, the Smart Key lived up to its promise. During the installation process, I discovered that I was short one lock. I just purchased another Smart Key lock at Home Depot, installed it, and re-keyed it in under a minute. Not difficult at all. And, if I ever needed to change the locks, I would only have to purchase a new key for $9.97 and spend 5-10 minutes rekeying all the locks. Not bad.
But, that’s not all. During the lock installation process, I’ve always encountered a frustrating hitch. The deadbolts are simple to install. The knobs? Not so easy. I’ve always wasted frustrating minutes trying to thread the screws into the hole. Again, Kwikset offers a revolutionary approach. Instead of threading the screws blind, you install the knob pre-threaded. A twist of the baseplate locks the opposing knob into place, and all you have to do is tighten the screws. Of course, if I read the instructions telling me not to remove the screws, I would have saved about 10-15 minutes of aggravation. However, I love the quick installation and rekeying process.
Three years ago, I had purchased a new garage door and opener through Costco. A local contractor handled the installation. Other than the light bulb repeatedly getting loose, the door and opener worked flawlessly. I really like the new steel sectional garage door for two reasons:
- I didn’t have to worry if I parked too close to the garage door anymore. That’s a real problem with tilt up garage doors.
- When I was inside the garage, I no longer had to worry about the garage door whacking someone when it opened. Again, a problem with tilt up garage doors.
Anyways, the honeymoon ended last night when one of the torsion springs broke. Ugh. At first, I wasn’t sure what was happening. The garage door would only open about 3 inches and then stop. It also could not completely close by itself. I ended pulling the release so that the garage door could slam shut. After some inspection, I discovered that one of the springs was broken. Now, I’ve fixed many an extension spring on tilt up garage doors before, but torsion springs were something new. I spotted this page on replacing torsion springs and it looked entirely unappealing. Anyways, I called one contractor who quoted me $239 to replace the one spring. Not sure if that was the after hours price or their regular price, but since I was in no hurry I waited until day break to call again. This time, I called Halcyon Overhead Doors in San Jose. $159 to replace one spring and $199 to replace both. Of course, I replaced both with high cycle torsion springs that should last 12-15 years. We’ll see how these perform, but a garage spring failing after three years? C’mon.
Solid core doors offer a fantastic option for new or remodeled homes. If you add solid core interior doors to your house, you just might sleep a little better at night from its improved sound dampening / insulation properties. However, if you have to make adjustments to your door height at a later point in time, such as if the house settles or you decide to switch from hardwood to carpeting, that solid core door is heavy.
The main types of door knobs are the round knob, the oval or egg knob, and the lever. Each have their merits. Levers are the easiest to operate for both the elderly and young. If you have toddlers or young children running around the house, they can easily open doors operated by a lever once they can reach the handle. Oval knobs or egg knobs are not as easy to operate as a lever, but still easier than the round knob. While shopping around for door knobs, consider how you may be able to secure a door to prevent a child from accidently running out. The traditional plastic door knob covers designed for round knobs may not fit on an oval or egg knob. For levers, you may be able to find a child-safety lock at your local hardware store.
Recent Comments