Home Improvement: My experience installing a screen door

Now, I’m no handyman. I’m somewhere between Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor and a pool float. But since I was laid off, I’ve been tackling projects around the house, the most recent was installing a storm door on the back door entrance. Thanks to the wide selection at Lowe’s, I went with the 32-inch Larson Screen-Away.

It was all paws on deck with this installation.
I had the instructions, all the screws and parts, almost all the right tools (I had to make another trip to Lowe’s for a 3/7 inch drill bit and a 9/16 drill bit), and a few hours to get the door mounted. At one point early on, I thought to myself,

“That doesn’t look right.”

But I charged on determined to finish the task with speed and gusto! Now the door is mounted but there are still a few things left to do: installing the latch frame, the drip guard, the closer, and the handle/locking mechanism. I was knocking these things out like a champ. I thought to myself,

“Dang, I’m good.”

Then I let the door close as I was standing inside the house, as opposed to outside where I had been working up to this point. Sadness. Deflated excitement. Shoulders slump at the sight of huge gaps above the door, beside the door, and under the door. Deep airy sighs. What went wrong? “Dang, I’m good” turned into “Darn, I’m the worst.” Remember the thing that “doesn’t look right”? Well, it turns out that “thing” was the door frame, and it was upside down. Who knew it mattered so much?

[also check out my first attempt at doing my own PEST CONTROL!!]

So after 2 and a half hours of work, I had to essentially start over. The funny part is, once I righted the wrong, it took about 30 minutes to get back to where I was. Oh, how frustrating it sometimes is to be hard-headed.

The door’s been working now for about a week, and I love it (scroll down for pictures). Although, the process would’ve gone much smoother had Al been around.

-Out of the Wilderness