Back Door Strike Plate

Missing Strike Plate

 The back door of the bungalow originally had a strike plate for a mortised lockset, but it was long ago filled in and made to work for a modern door latch.  The repair filler had cracked and allowed the strike plate to loosen, and it eventually fell off completely.

Some of the tools needed

Since I happen to have plenty of the Abatron WoodEpox left over from my window sill restoration, I used it to fill in the old hole and provide a fresh start.

WoodEpox is a two-part epoxy dough that you can use to restore rotten or missing wood.  It has the consistency of Play-Doh, but when it cures it is very hard and lightweight.  The gloves pictured are worn while kneading the two parts together.  The screwdriver is for digging out the old filler, and the putty knife is for smoothing the new filler before it hardens.  I forgot to include a 1" chisel for cutting the mortise for the strikeplate and a drill for predrilling holes for the two mounting screws, as well as a 1" spade bit for cutting a hole for the latch.

Hole Filled with WoodEpox

Here you can see that I've filled in the old hole with the Abatron. Take your time to get it as smooth as possible, since this stuff is very hard when cured and you can't just sand away large bumps or irregularities.

I let the WoodEpox cure overnight and then used a 1" chisel to cut a mortise for the new strikeplate. After 24 hours the epoxy is semi-cured to a point where it is hard, but not as hard as it's going to get. This makes it relatively easy to work with a chisel. Be sure the mortise fits the strikeplate precisely. A good tight mortise will add a significant amount of holding power to what the two screws will provide.

Here's the finished product after I drilled pilot holes for the screws and used a 1" spade bit for the latch hole.

Back From the Abyss

I'm Baaaaaack!  Miss me?

You may have noticed that the blog got a redesign.  Well, that's not all I've been up to!  I'll have some fresh pictures and updates in the Dining Room, as well as some old posts from this summer that I never got around to writing.  So stay tuned; I'll have some new posts coming very soon.

Back Steps

I had an unexpected project come up this weekend that had to be started and finished by today.  

When I tore down my deck two years ago, I never got around to building a new set of stairs coming off the back of the house.  We are in the middle of doing a refinance, and the appraiser made our appraisal contingent upon a set of stairs being built.  This weekend.  Crap; my normal process of spending weeks, if not months, planning something in my head was out the window.  I had to improvise.

Here's what I came up with.  Not bad for about 8 hours work, if I do say so myself. (and I do.)

New Back Steps

As you can see, the floor joists still need a little cleaning up.  I'll get to it, really.

Party at the Bungalow!

Block Party Today!

We're having a block party on NE 58th between Siskiyou and Stanton from noon 'till 8:00 PM on Sunday, July 25.

There'll be a band, water wars, and BBQ in the streets.

I'm hoping to meet some of you in person, so stop by and don't be shy.

Our house is 3007, about mid-block on the west side of the street

See you there!

Musings from a nine year-old

Riley

My nine year-old had me in stitches yesterday when she said, and I quote:

"Do you think Riley's favorite color is black, or white?"