Fixed with wood filler!

Wood filler smells horrible, but it fixed the problem! I was able to fill in the old location of the strike plate and it was really solid when it dried. In the left picture below you can see where I used the wood filler. When it was dry I sanded it down and used a little spackling paste to make it smooth (goes on pink and dries white in the middle picture). I let it all cure overnight and used my drill 1/2 inch boring bit to make the initial hole about an inch above the old spot and then used my dremel to make straighter edges for the strike plate. I also used my drill to pre-drill holes for the screws and voila! The door closes!

A fresh coat of paint and trim will complete this project. Huge thanks to Joanna for suggesting using wood filler based on her father's experience installing a new door.

Standard in 1952 is not standard in 2014

The exciting Friday night of a homeowner... Weedwhack the ridiculous grass and weeds that took over my backyard and begin installation of closet door. Don't be jealous.

I ordered new doors for my linen closet, bathroom, spare room, bedroom, and bedroom closet. All of the doors except for my bedroom closet needed new door frames. Since my house was built a long time ago when 2x3s were acceptable for framing walls, I had to special order them. They're camped out in my spare room for now.

Old strike plate...
 inconveniently painted over.

I thought... "Lucky me. There's at least one door that doesn't need a new frame!" So I only ordered a new door panel for my bedroom closet. Installing that door was something I could do without an extra pair of hands, so I decided to use my free night to start that project. I was making great progress chiseling the door frame for the new hinges and putting my new door knob in to get everything to line-up correctly before drilling the holes in the door for the hinges... but nothing ever goes as planned. The new doorknob latch doesn't line up with the location in the old door frame for the strike plate. It's about an inch higher and may overlap with the old hole, which is problematic.

In case you were wondering... walls are built with 2x4s now and door knobs are higher. I should have ordered this door with a frame too... but I didn't, so I'm going to brainstorm a new solution. Wish me luck!

Man Pride

I made a quick trip to the hardware store last weekend and as I was leaving I saw a guy about to load a huge box with a heavy grill into his truck. He was doing a good job maneuvering it from the flat-cart into the back of his truck, but it was awkwardly large so I offered to help... I know how an extra pair of hands just makes things easier. His response was, "I probably should take you up on that offer, but my man pride won't let me." A couple of adjustments later he was able to slide it right in. His comment made me laugh and reminded me of how my independent streak would have been inclined to respond in a similar way... and at times I have. Why do we make things harder for ourselves? What are we proving? I can move big boxes on my own... but I'm no less independent if I accept help that is offered to me. That guy would have been no less of a man if I held the cart in place or lifted the front of the box so it wouldn't catch on the truck bed. Speaking of pride... can we start being more proud of accepting help and then paying it forward? Instead of being proud of our brute force?

I've gotten better about accepting help... and asking for help. In fact, I'm going to be looking for help pretty soon because my large order of fence panels, doors, baseboards, and more is about to be delivered. That also means more blog posts in the future! Let me know if you want to help paint or install any of those!