Opportunity Knocks

OK, so Chernee and I decided that it was time for you to meet me.  My name is Steve and I am the “Hubby” Chernee is consistently referencing in this blog.  Before I begin, I thought I should tell you a little bit about myself.  If you believe in the age-old adage, “Opposites Attract”, then you would totally understand our relationship!  I grew up in a house where we NEVER moved the furniture.  Literally, never.  When we finally moved my mom out of the house 38 years later the carpet under the furniture and beds looked brand new.

So, I grew up in a house with little physical change, and I think it is important to mention that I am NOT handy.  My brother seemed to get all that talent and left me with the ability to quickly program a universal remote (I rock at that).

Other than that, I am a typical guy:  I fear change, I enjoy sitting on the couch and watching football, and I do not get all charged up to complete “projects” around the house.  Well, as you can guess, that just doesn’t fly anymore.  J

So, you can imagine my trepidation when Chernee approached me and said, “I want to paint our front door and interior garage door and replace the hardware.”  The painting I knew she would handle easily, but I knew the hardware change was up to me (gulp).

 

So, off we went to Lowe’s to pick out new paint and door hardware for the front door and garage door.  Now, I will admit, I have replaced interior doorknobs before, and it is a relatively simple process, especially if the door already contains the holes.  So, I knew this one would not reduce me to a blubbering mess.  The difficult part was going to be the front door, as we wanted to install a deadbolt where there was none (drilling – double gulp!).

We picked out the hardware Chernee wanted for both doors. For the interior door we went with Kwikset and their smart key system. I replaced the garage door doorknob.  It was simple.  I just removed the old doorknob and hardware and replaced it with the new hardware….easy!  All the holes lined up and the doorknob fit like a charm, now off to the front door.

So, this was a different issue, as I needed to drill holes in both the door and the frame for the new deadbolt.  When we purchased the hardware at Lowe’s the sales rep that helped us showed us this great template sold by DeWalt that you can attach to the door and it lines up all the holes for you.

It was very easy to use and helped a ton!  I was able to install the deadbolt and new door latch into the door with little trouble.

For the next part, I was not sure how I was ever going to line up the hole in the frame so that the deadbolt would come out of the door and line up perfectly with the hole in the frame.

Chernee is always telling me “look on Google, look on Google!”  For some reason I seem to view it as stopping for directions.  This time I thought I would give it a try.

I searched online for installing a deadbolt and found a really creative idea.  The site said to put some nail polish on the end of the deadbolt, close the door and then firmly engage the deadbolt.  Then, when it hits the doorframe the nail polish will mark exactly where you need to drill the hole in the door frame.

It worked!  The nail polish left a perfect red mark on the doorframe; I drilled the hole and, voilà! A newly installed deadbolt!

In the end, I enjoyed completing this project with Chernee and the refinished doors look great!  Now, I just got to get back to the couch…….