Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with doors

Can I fix a warped plywood door?

Izzy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:45:32 -0800

How to straigten a warped plywood door? Our contractor fabricated a wooden bypassing sliding door to replace a rotting garage door. It's marine-grade plywood with cedar lap-joint siding glued and screwed to the street-facing side. Looks great, but one side of one of the doors is warping badly, I'd say about two inches. This affects the functionality of the door, making it difficult to slide the door open and shut.

Is it possible to remove the warp in the door permanently? When I see how other barn-type doors are constructed I always see a combination of wood and bolted-through metal braces -- yeah, that's how it should have been engineered to start with, but of course I didn't know that when we started.

If I added braces now, could I slowly remove the warp by gradually tightening the bolt (or would the wood split)? Or, would I be better off removing the door, applying damp cloths to both sides of the bend, lay it on a flat surface, and place sandbags on the bowed side?

Click. Click.

Skyanth — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:25:00 -0800

What is the use of double locks? Not two separate lock, just the kind of lock that you can turn once (which locks the door) and then another time, in the same direction (which locks the door... more?). If the door is only safely locked with two turns of the key, why would you offer the option to turn it only once? And if the door is just as safely locked with only one turn of they key, why offer the option for a second turn?

I've been thinking about his for some time. The only explanation I can come up with is that one turn is not enough to push the bolt far enough to really lock the door. But that would mean that all non-double locking doors are actually not safe? Surely that's not true.

When a sign that says keep out just won't do.

Mastercheddaar — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:38:06 -0800

Looking for a unique door to my gun room/armory. At my house I have a work room/gun room/ armory where I keep my safe with my fire arms in it. They are all locked up and kept safe from anyone that is not a problem. The problem is the door to the room is pretty lackluster and could easily be kicked down by my nephew if he wanted to. I've always wanted to put something more permanent and unique down there as a door. I have thought about trying to find a bookshelf secret passage door or submarine bulkhead style door but my google fu always fails me when I search for them. Ideally I would like something that I know would lock down the room so I could keep ammo and such outside of my gun safe and not have to worry about my nephew's friends coming over and saying "hey look what I found!" Any ideas are welcome.

Seeking blueprint drawings of windows and doors for art project!

Ponderance — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:25:12 -0800

Is there an architect or graphic designer in the house? I need line/blue print style images of windows and doors for art pieces I am designing. Please help! I am working on some art/architecture projects that require blue-print style line drawings of windows and doors. Not the floor plan style, but front-on views (I’m not articulating this well). Ideally these would be in illustrator or photoshop friendly formats. Is there anywhere online (or even in books) that have something like this? I have googled and I get are links to birds eye view images for architectural floor plans or exploded views from window manufacturers, which are not what I need.

Bonus for free, high resolution (I intend to blow them up fairly large) and downloadable, but I'm happy to shell out a meager sum for images that will suit my needs.

Metafilter pals please help me out!

Thanks!

Odd music anecdote online somewhere...

ricochet biscuit — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:34:09 -0800

Looking for an anecdote -- possibly on MetaFilter, possibly elsewhere -- about someone's roommate connecting with her deceased father through music. Within the last few years, I read a curious heartwarming story online that affected even my flinty heart. I thought it was on MeFi somewhere (I lurked for years before ponying up my five bucks last August) but I am having no luck finding it. Maybe it was elsewhere... still, Google hath availed me naught.

This is something like the occasional "Identify this book/movie" questions in that some of the deatils are fuzzy, but I will recount it to the best of my recollection.

It was written by, I believe, a Gen-X woman. At some point in the last twenty years, she had been talking to her roommate about music and the writer had recommended the Doors' first album to the roommate. The roommate had had a listen and found it a mixed bag, but hadn't listened all the way through. Specifically, she had felt tired after listening to the third song, "The Crystal Ship," and turned off the stereo to have a nap. A few days later, the roommate tried again but again found "The Crystal Ship" made her tired. Weirdly, this happened again, and always at the sanme point: "The Crystal Ship." (The song in question, by the way, is pretty sedately paced and arguably more melodic than anything else on the album.)

The roommate mentioned this strange sleepy reaction to one Doors song to her mother and her mother blurted out, "The Crystal Ship?" The roommate was startled by this, and the mother told the roommate daughter that her father (who had died when the roommate daughter was very young) had sung "The Crystal Ship" to his infant daughter as a lullaby. Now grown up, she was still conditioned to want to go to sleep when she heard the song.

Ring any bells?

Otis Again

cloeburner — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:31:03 -0800

How to make a theatrical version of the Star Trek doors that can be operated by one person using only one rope. Must be able to both open and close. A link to a diagram or a drawn diagram will most assuredly hit the spot. We can mount pulleys and eyelets and whatever else necessary to the ceiling, wall and/or ground. Simplest plan is most desired. Here's an example of the type of door we desire.

Thanks for assistance and ideas.

What jobs did Jim Morrison have before he broke on through with the Doors?

Unsomnambulist — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:06:04 -0800

LizardKingFilter: What jobs, if any, did Jim Morrison have to make ends meet before hitting it big with the Doors? The more specific, the better, such as locations. Or a trust fund kid? Mainly, I'm trying to find out if he ever worked as a bartender, and if so, where.

Decorating filter: Windows, doorways, and no talent

_Mona_ — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:18:15 -0800

I'm moving into a new home soon and, sadly, I have absolutely no interior decorating talent whatsoever. I've managed to get by most of my adult life by snagging ideas from magazines and tv shows, but two things about my new house have me stumped. Here's where you come in... Challenge One: There is a large and beautiful window over the front door with a ledge underneath. From the outside, the window frames a gorgeous chandelier that's hanging in my entryway. Indoors, I think the ledge wants something on it, but short of a bucket of water and a rope so I can douse my guests with a surprise bath, I can't think of what to put there. Actually, there are a couple more ledges of this sort in the living room with picture windows very high up on the wall (the room has cathedral ceilings).

So, what can I put on these ledges? I don't want plants, fake or otherwise, so what does that leave me? My tastes trend more toward modern, clean, eclectic, and even a bit kitchy. I don't care for country, cutesy, or flowery.

Challenge Two: I'm taking over one of the downstairs rooms as my home office. Neither entry into the room (there's two) has doors, so what can I do to create faux-doors? I'm not concerned with keeping sound or pets out, so the solution doesn't have be a solid door-substitute. I considered the type of curtains found in the doorways of Japanese shops, but don't think I can pull it off without making it look like a dorm room. I was thinking of beaded door hangings, though I don't want it too look like I've cordoned off the hookah room.

So, MeFites, help me decorate my place, and we'll have a virtual housewarming party when I move in. Thanks!

Ooh, what's inside there?

sixcolors — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:43:46 -0800

So what's inside areas that are closed off to the public, in buildings? I know places like hospitals have certain areas that are closed off to the public because they are morgues, have hazardous materials inside, or whatever...but there's other places I have trouble guessing why they restrict access.

Some examples:

On my campus, the library, business, and education buildings have areas where students and sometimes faculty aren't allowed. Same thing with the dorms, but it is even weirder. Some of the stairwells are locked. Isn't that a fire hazard? One of the dorms obviously have a fourth floor, yet no one lives up there, and you can't get there from the stairs or elevator.

Not too long ago, I looked at the floor plan of my favorite casino, and noticed that there was at least five rooms that didn't have a number or name.

As for elevators...I sometimes see keyholes instead of buttons on certain floors. It's usually the very top or very bottom floor(s).

I don't know if this is urban legend or not...I heard that the 13th floor in some buildings aren't open to the public. Superstitious much?If that's true, what's there?

How to Covert inactive locksets into active locksets?

tickettrader — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:18:44 -0800

How difficult is it to convert an 'inactive' lockset to an active lockset. I have a set of double doors that has an 'inactive lockset'. Basically it's got two sets of doorknobs that don't do anything. How difficult is it to convert these doors to an active lockset so I can close and lock these doors? They don't need to be secured like Fort Knox but it would be nice if they could be closed and locked if need be. I realize this will involve some drilling/boring as the doors are not bored for a lockset like typical doors.

A room of one's own... please.

purplefiber — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:15:30 -0800

My friend recently moved into a new apartment where the two bedrooms are separated by french doors (with glass panes). What is the best way to soundproof this wall? Interested in both the cheapest and most soundproof solutions. Thanks!

My indoor cat wants out.

anotherpanacea — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:21:40 -0800

Our indoor cat desperately wants to go outside. Help! We've had him for five years, and he's always been a bit zany, but this is new. He spends all his time by the door, yowling and scratching at the nob. I swear he tries to turn it. When I enter or leave the house, he tries to slip past me, and sometimes succeeds in making brief escapes. Lately, he's taking to yowling at the door throughout the night, which is not okay: sleep is not optional. We're at the end of out rope!

No, this ISN'T a mortuary, and no this ISN'T a meat locker.

melorama — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:29:47 -0800

I want to buy an "official" sign or sticker that implies to the reader that "THE ROOM YOU ARE ENTERING IS GODDAMNED COLD!!!" My clients semi-jokingly complain that the air-conditioning in my office is way too cold. But since I have about $25,000 worth of video editing equipment in front of my Captain Kirk chair, I like to err on the side of keeping the gear cool (I live in a sity where the median temperature is 85-89F, all year long).

It's become a running joke that I have sides of beef hidden in the drop ceiling, as if I'm a video producer by day, and butcher by night. To be honest, I've gotten sorta tired of the jokes, but since they will never stop, I might as well play along until they actually do. So I'd like to put a big sign or sticker (or some other creative thing that I haven't thought of) on my office door that--in a humorous, sarcastic and/or ironic way--says to the world, "yes I know my office is fucking cold, so I'll spare you the trouble of making a snarky comment about it".

I'm looking for things that are actually "real" signs (i.e. butcher shop signs? Antarctic research facility warning signs? Morgue signs?), and not necessarily things that are outright "jokey" signs, per se. But I'm still open to any suggestions.

Links to actual websites where I can purchase the type(s) of signs or stickers I'm looking for are even better!

Can we get rid of these ugly glass doors on our fireplace?

mmf — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:42:16 -0800

Fireplace glass doors: Necessary evil or unsightly decorating no-no? We have three brick fireplaces. The house was built in 1968 or so and the folding glass doors on the fireplaces appear to be from the same era. I grew up in a 100+ year old house with no fireplace doors, and the hearths were much more attractive than these. Questions: can we/ should we remove the doors? If we leave the fireplace au naturel will there be freezing cold air flooding into the house? All my searches about his have led to sites talking about REPLACING the doors, but we want to be rid of them. ANy help from people who know more about chimneys, etc. than we do would be most welcome.

Help me get to the garden! How can I unlock the patio doors?

handee — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 03:14:41 -0800

In our new house, I can't work out how to get out of the double glazed sliding patio doors. They are locked, and I think I have the key (well, I have a key), but they just won't open. What am I missing? I have always lived in older houses, so am new to the world of double glazing and window locks and patio doors, so I expect I am missing something simple - but here is all the information I have:

These are large sliding double-glazed glass doors. About half way up the left edge of the left door (where it fits the wall) is a fixed sliding door handle (does not turn) with a small lever attached. This lever goes from about -45 degrees to +45 degrees from the horizontal. Below this, at the base of the door, is a metal box with a lock and a small plastic knob which turns but doesn't seem to do anything.

I have a big bunch of keys, and one of these keys, when inserted into the lock, turns about a quarter turn. I have tried both states of the lever with both states of the key (up-vertical, down-vertical; up-turned, down-turned). No luck.

On the right hand door (at the base) is a small box with a light on it. When I touched this box, the light went from green to flashing orange (this, I assume, is something to do with the burglar alarm). The box with the flashing lights does not seem to have any other features. There do not seem to be any other locks or bolts, but I'm not entirely sure what I am looking for. We do not (yet) have a contact number for the people who have just moved out. I know the doors do open, as they were open when I viewed the property.

Any ideas?

How do I keep water from coming under my basement door?

COD — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:10:07 -0800

Looking for ideas on how to stop my basement door from leaking. The door is at the bottom of 5 or 6 steps, directly under the bay window from the main floor of the house. There is a drain in the center of the landing outside the door. The problem I have is that when we get heavy rain, the drain has trouble keeping up. Add in a leaf or some mud to partially block the drain and its even worse. The door threshold is very low - barely a quarter of inch, so it doesn't take much for water to come over the threshold and under the door.

I thought about putting in an awning to keep the area dry during rain, but due to the bay window I don't think that is going to work. At least attaching anything to the house will be very problematic. I believe the primary problem is the water coming down the stairs during rainstorms. I've given some thought to buying a box of industrial absorbent socks like are used in factories and simply leaving a couple on the steps to catch the water before it gets to the landing. Not sure if that will work...

DIY / cheap ideas are best, especially since I'm spending over $1000 tonight on carpet drying, anti bacterial / mold treatments, etc. However spending some cash with a contractor to avoid another episode like last night is certainly ok.

Has anybody had to deal with this?

Help me camouflage cabinet doors

acoutu — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:45:55 -0800

Kitchen cabinet camouflage - bring me your ideas! I've got a 10-year-old condo with a kitchen that was treated pretty poorly by the previous owners. After layers of crud were removed, I discovered that some of the lower cabinet doors have 1x1" holes in the white veneer, revealing partical board. I am now looking for ways to camouflage this.

I cannot reorder doors in this style. The cabinet company no longer makes them and I can't really find anything that looks similar. They are flat white cabinet doors.

I don't want to paint the doors. I'd have to paint all the bottom ones or the three damaged ones would stand out. And this is a condo in an upscale neighbourhood. Painted cabinets would not really look right in a modern kitchen.

I realize that I could put new veneer on the cabinets, but I did that at my old place and, with wear and tear, the veneer started to peel away. If I was just planning to flip this condo, I'd redo the veneer. But I'm going to be here a while.

I have considered replacing the cabinets or the doors. However, I'd prefer to save my budget for other things, since I am not planning on living here for more than a few years. If I must replace the doors, I will. But let's not go there with this thread.

Today, I remembered a Debbie Travis TV show where she used aluminum channels to hide chipped cabinet doors. (She also went crazy with orange plastic...I don't want to do that.) It occurred to me that, because the damage on my cabinet doors is within an inch or so of the bottom of the cabinet doors, it could be disguised with some sort of metal channel. For example, I could just put the channel along all the bottom cabinets and make it look like a feature. Given that there are some metal separators between the drawers and the cabinets, this would not look out of place.

However, I wondered what other means I could use to disguise the damage. I'd like to do something that looks modern and clean. So, aside from metal channels, what other things could I use to hide the damage?

FWIW, we'll be replacing the appliances and putting in stone counters. And I've searched old threads here, in Google, and looked at what's available from Home Depot and Lee Valley. But I may be looking for a non-standard solution -- who would have thought to use metal channels, for example?

Thanks!

Who said this? Was it Hitchcock?

sciurus — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 05:26:07 -0800

Who said "There is nothing more frightening than a closed door."? I seem to remember an attribution to Hitchcock, but that may be apocryphal. Also, my recollection of the quote may be a paraphrase.

What is that behind Jim Morrison?

swlabr — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:01:37 -0800

I need help identifying an obscure, ancient-looking sculpture. A picture of it appears pinned to the inside of a door in a photo of Jim Morrison holding a gas mask. Here is the photo of Jim My interest is in the photo over his left shoulder. Try not to be distracted by the one over his right shoulder. If you crop out the item and turn it right-side up, you get this. So, all you classical history buffs, recognize the statue?? I couldn't figure how to post a picture here.... sorry for just the links.

Can I really install a storm door in as little as 60 minutes?

clearlynuts — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 06:49:36 -0800

I was at Lowe's looking at a storm door for the front of my house. Pella has this thing called Express Install. It shows a woman installing a storm door all by herself. Anyone have any experience with these Pella storm doors? Can you really do it by yourself? Can you really do it in less than 60 minutes? Is this a big deal? Are other manufacturers' doors just as easy to install?

Slightly related ... Are aluminum storm doors paintable?

What are my options for installing a home security system?

DCTapeworm — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 07:43:50 -0800

What are my options for installing a home security system? Hi there,

After being a avid watcher of 'It Takes a Thief', I've been moving forward on researching my options for having a home security system installed.

I currently do best practices by locking doors and windows before leaving the house, and also have installed charley bars on the sliding doors on both the upper and lower floors.

What I'm interested in doing is either:

a) Taking the time to buy and install my own system, and finding a service in my area (Woodinville, WA) that can enable fire and police protection should the alarm be triggered... or

b) Go with a ADT or similiar system where I pay an installation and monthly fee charge for home security and fire prevention.

What I'd like to know is:

1. Are there websites online that review different security products, such as motion detectors, safes, or even reviews on ADT-like services and how well they fare?
2. If there are any forums online that are devoted to issues regarding home security and best practices?

Please post if you have any advice or suggestions, or even your own experiences. :)

Thanks in advance.

I need weird sliding fancy doors.

RJ Reynolds — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 15:40:54 -0800

Ignoramus DIYer wants sliding, hanging, swinging homemade translucent doors! I've been obsessed with this project for months, but don't even know where to start.

My apartment is basically a floor-through, and I'd like to divide it up more. Due to awkward configuration, installing regular doors in the archways on butler/kitchen hinges, or a regularly hinged door in the one central doorway, would just be weird and wrong. So what I'd really like to make -- or, really, what I'd like to buy in parts and then install -- are plexiglass or metal-sheet doors that hang from a track. It hangs; it slides forward to cover the door opening, it slides back to hang against the wall. Should be easy: a 4 by 8 foot sheet of plexi, attached to an overhead rail, etc. (It gets a little more complicated with the larger double-door archway openings; I've been figuring I'd do one door on opposite sides of the same wall, and they'd overlap a bit but with a gap "between" the two doors?)

But: how stable is it to drill and screw into plexi, without it cracking? If I buy sheets of quarter-inch or half-inch plexi, do I need to drill into them with something special? And what kind of track mechanism can I get? How, DIY-ers, would I even conceptually think through a project like this? It's just a teeny bit beyond me.

Also, there are a couple rooms that have windows between the rooms -- the kitchen has an old pass-through window to the dining room and the bedroom has a window into the living room. (Yes, it's weird in here.) I'd like to make a sort of window that closes to "cover" the space from one side and swings out to "open," made of plexiglass and hinges. Can plexi screwed to hinges handle the wear and tear of movement? Have you seen anything like this? I've been offhandedly Googling for months, and haven't seen anything at all--any thoughts really appreciated.

Please go rob my neighbor instead

Zed_Lopez — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 09:39:53 -0800

Home Security: The doors currently on my house would be laughably easy to break through. I'm planning to replace them with solid wood doors with metal strips reinforcing the jamb, and serious deadbolts (with long screws securing them.) Is there anything I'm missing (so far as securing doors go)? I'm a novice to home security... does anyone know of anything I should be doing differently to get more bang for my buck? Or something additional I haven't thought of? Obviously, I'm not going to turn my home into Ft. Knox -- I just want to make sure it's a pain in the butt, rather than easy, to break through my doors (and I'll look to securing the windows next, given how much more relatively attractive a target I'm making them.)

French doors: practical or just for show?

mathowie — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 17:37:20 -0800

I'm starting work on a new deck and ideally when the project is finished, I'd like to swap out the standard sliding glass door that leads out from the kitchen with out-swinging double french doors (something like these). But can they also be practical? I would love to have the dramatic ability to open 8ft of the house out into the world with french doors, but we do use the existing sliding glass door screen in the summer to let cool breezes blow through, especially after dark when the air cools down.

My big worry is with two outward swinging (due to a cramped eating area, there's no room to swing inwards) doors, do I lose the ability to run a screen for breezes? Oregon isn't that buggy, but I would like to have a kitchen free of flies buzzing about.

Would one of those new hidden retractable screens do the job if affixed inside the door frame? Would I need to lash the door handles from the outside to make sure winds don't shut them?

Or do french doors pretty much negate practical screen use? I don't know, because I've never lived anywhere that had them, but I think they look fantastic and would like to have a set, even though I know they'll cost a fortune (quotes currently hover around $2k for the doors). But I do hope they are just as practical as sliding doors.

Door Shaving

chaz — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 14:00:16 -0800

Home Improvement: I have a door which isn't fitting into its frame. Basically, the top part is a little too tall, probably 1 cm or so. Is there a tool or method which will allow me to shave the top cm from the door?