Doorknobs from Ebay!

Sometimes I just randomly click on over to ebay to see what's there. Since I got the house I've always kept an eye out for doorknobs. You know it's really hard to find matching hardware for old houses, and my doorknobs are especially difficult. They aren't the mortise lock type doorknobs that most houses this age have. The doorknobs are made by Schlage, and are what I'd assume are their first crack at the modern doorknob. During the duplexing process, some of the original doorknobs went missing, so my quest finding replacements has been rather unfruitful...

Until now!
I found some on ebay last week! They are pewter, not brass like the majority of my knobs, but they are from the same time period. The metal ones have a hammered look to them, but some of them are glass and match the ones I have already in the house. A couple of the glass ones were made with black glass. How cool is that?

Even though some of these knobs are different, they are period-appropriate so they should work. Of course, this means that I'd have to get back to working on the house. Maybe they'll just stay in the box until spring break. We'll see!

BTW, I'm glad I paid for shipping on parts of the doors! What's up with that?

On a different topic, my friend Martha from the neighborhood association emailed me with some great advice for my water leak issue. It was so obvious I felt absolutely dumb for not thinking of it myself. A mug. A big mug from a local establishment's mug night. You see, when you put the mug under the drip, it stops the water from spreading out into the rest of the room and the rug. See why I feel dumb for not thinking of that? Wow.

Get a 'Handle' on that Rain!

Ok, sorry for the pun. This post is mainly about a doorknob, but first things first. Last night at about 3am there was a pretty big thundersorm and I caught some footage of my living room water feature. Enjoy.

Yeah, sucks huh?

I contacted the roofer who "repaired" the flashing around the chimney and he's coming out to take a look on Saturday.

Well back to the doorknob. I've been in my house for over a month now, so I figured it was about time to put a doorknob on the front door. Nope, didn't have one. All it had was a deadbolt and a couple of window sash pulls, one inside and one out. I'm really hoping that my roommates are surprised. Hooray for small accomplishments!

Here's what it looked like to start with:

Starting to cut the holes back in (they were filled in with plaster):

Holes completed:Doorknob! Success!

I also started sanding down the walls in my room so I can get them primed and painted. I'm really anxious to get that space done and my furniture moved in so I can have some sort of sanctuary from my own house!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

I figured out how to use my camera, even though the LCD screen is broken. That one was a little alcohol+game involving movement+pavement+camera issue... I learned my lesson.

The good news is that I took pictures of everything I've written about but been unable to show you. I'll start off with the salvaged basement window I cleaned up, put new glazing compound on, and painted green.

I'll have to go the house and prop it up on the porch so you can see what the color looks like in it's proper application. Taking pictures from the middle of the street I guess; just more weird behavior in front of the neighbors. They'll have to start expecting it at some point.

Here's a photo of the one of the doorknobs I got from my 'parts house' (Rest In Pieces!). Check it out, 3 bags full! They've just been riding around in my trunk with me for the last couple weeks.

I read that if you put hardware like this in a crock pot full of water overnight, the paint comes right off. I'll try it sometime before we start working on the house, just in case these get called into play

I worked for three more hours on the first salvaged door, removing all of the paint with the heat gun. I'll probably use a chemical stripper to remove the stubborn paint from from the cracks and crevaces. That should take care of the rest of the varnish too. I'm a little concerned about the stripper because I've never tried anything like it before. I should be able to manage if everyone else can. Anyone have any suggestions on which one to use?

Before I get to that I need to attack the second door. Oh, picture provided! Yes! We have door #1 on the left and door #2 on the right. We also have about five hours of heat gun and scraper on the right. Boo!

Did I fail to mention that Fargo hit 100 degrees today and is really humid? Just the perfect temperature to spend a few hours with a gun blasting out 950 degree air. Fantastic idea. Ranks right up there with wearing shorts and flip-flops with searing-hot sticky paint chips dropping to the ground. I felt the heat on that one a couple times! I also inadvertantly bumped the hot tip of the gun with my thimb. Ouch! It was quick enough though that I didn't burn it really. No blister at least! It's still my favorite tool.

That's about it for now.