There is a door…

From the breezeway into the garage.  Other than the garage door, it is the only access to the garage, and therefore, my car.

Now this door has functioned fine for about 68 years, other than sticking a bit in the humid weather.  Last evening, as I was putting out the dogs, I turned on their light.  The switch is inside the garage, right next to the door.  As the door shut, something didn’t sound right.  It hasn’t been latching for several months (cause for concern with the ACO and my Houdini-inspired pups).  Now it was latched.  And the knob wouldn’t turn.

Stuck.  Frozen.  Oh, well. Maybe by morning whatever it is will have worked it’s way out.  Can’t really do anything at 10 p.m. anyway.

In the morning, I tried the knob.  Then I looked for the spot where the set screw would be.  The screws for the door plate were on the other side.  Yup.  Officially screwed.  Can’t take the knob off…

So I called and rescheduled today’s doctor appointment, called Bolton Vet for more pills for Piper (she needed a refill), spent a half-hour on hold there.  Finally called my favorite carpenter, Ray Roy, Creative Carpentry, East Hartford.  (Shameless plug!)   Ray mentioned taking it off the hinges.  Why didn’t I think of that??

Since there were god-only-knows how many layers of paint and who knows when the last time they were removed, it took a significant amount of WD-40, hammer and strong straight screwdriver to knock the pins loose (over half an hour).  Once loose they came right out.

But the door did not. I searched the internet for some trick that would help me and eventually tried putting screws in the door and using a wrecking bar to try and move it out.  Nothing worked.

My handyman, Reuben came by and he couldn’t get it out either.  Eventually, we just broke the damn window.  Opened the garage door, took the knob off and shoved the door out.

Took me 20 minutes to clean up all the glass shards (and most is still in the frame).  But at least now I have access to my car.  It’s the little things in life.

Now, not only do I need a real storm door (another story for another day), but I have to fix the glass in this door and get it back in place, and get a new knob for it. 

Never a dull moment.

Never without projects.