Stress and Sponges

I am always amazed when something that seemed to be a disaster really turns out to be a blessing in disguise.  I talked in my last post about the fact that the door we ordered for the garage-to-house was ordered in the wrong size.  When we went to see the 32" door (which was supposed to be a 36" door), we discovered that the door had unusually thick framing.  When Sonya ordered the door, she asked us if it was OK to order a 20 minute burn-resistant pine frame.  We said that would be fine, and we thought no more of it.  Normal framing for a door is 2 inches wider than the finished door, and Rick expected that the pine frame would be a treated frame in the normal size. Because this door has a 20 minute burn time, this door came in not with fire-resistant components mixed with the frame but with a wider pine frame itself, making it 3"more than the finished door.  Had we actually gotten the 36 inch door that we wanted, we would have found ourselves with a fire-resistant door and fire-resistant frame that would not have fit into the rough opening we had built into the wall!

The company was not willing to just order us the right size door as a replacement; they did say that they could order us a new 36" door for full price and would try to sell our already purchased door for us for full price if they could find a customer who needed it. Since we did not really have another $300+ just waiting to be used, we decided to accept the smaller door and to add more wood to the rough opening so that it would fit.  We brought the door home and calculated that we would have to add a 2x4 (plus a bit more to one side) to each side of the frame to have the door fit.  The good thing about the additional wood is that now we had plenty of room to use full 4 inch screws when attaching the door to the wall.  (Think "hurricane-resistant"folks.) No problem.

Then I asked the key question: would this door fit height-wise since the height of the door really did not change?  Big problem.  The frame on top also was oversized, so the only way that we could fit the door into the rough opening was to remove an inch of wood from the top double frame of the rough opening.  Bring out the saws-all. The oversized wood in the door frame will compensate and still give the door all of the support it needs, so structurally there is no problem, especially since the wall we were installing the door into is NOT a load-bearing wall.

Long story short: after lots of anger, frustration, stress, and grief, we were able to install a still perfectly-good-sized 32 inch fire-resistant door that now has enough structure and screws holding it in place to be hurricane-resistant, too. After installing the door yesterday morning, we had to get out of the house for a while.

The new door plumb and straight.

We drove about 10 miles north to Tarpon Springs.  In 1905, a Greek immigrant settled in Tarpon Springs and started the sponge industry in Florida.  Today, Tarpon Springs remains a very Greek community that still is known for its sponges.  In fact, 90% of the sponges sold in America today come from Tarpon Springs.

Going there was an education.  We learned that there are many kinds of sponges, and they all have their purpose.  Yellow sponges are more coarse, and they make great scrubbing sponges.  Wool sponges are of higher quality, so they are many times used for bathing.  (For those of you using a loofah in your shower, please understand that you are NOT using a sponge.  Tarpon Springs sell loofahs, but the salespeople are clear that loofahs are a different animal (literally) that is not a sponge.) The softest sponge is a silk sponge, and those are used for the face and for gentle bathing.  Sponges range anywhere from $2.99 for a small yellow sponge to $16.99 for larger, softer, better sponges.

I actually bought two sponges: a wool sponge for the shower and a yellow sponge for my cleaning closet. Why use a sponge? Because while plastic or synthetic "sponges" are great for short-term cleaning, after a few uses, they begin to grow mold and to harbor bacteria. True sponges will not allow mold to grow, and they will not harbor any bacteria.  If they are squeezed rather than wrung out, they are supposed to last up to five years.  Does that mean that if I don't clean too often, I can get 10 years out of the yellow sponge?  What?  No?  OK, that probably wouldn't be a good idea.

My yellow sponge, waiting for its debut cleaning spree.

Today we worked this afternoon to get the disaster-formerly-known-as-our-garage straightened out and to get the primed door sealed with a first coat of paint.  While Rick painted, I picked up, rearranged, threw out, and otherwise tried to find the floor and space that I remembered seeing in the garage. Both of our efforts were successful by dinner time.

A new coat of paint for our new door.

Our disastrous wrongly-sized door turned out to be a blessing in disguised because it certainly is easier to add wood than to cut it away, and the result is still a properly-sized garage-to-house door.  We now have a beefy door that is secure, insulated, and hurricane resistant.

Each task completed is a further step into making Gladys the winter home we want to be able to come to and to enjoy for many years to come.