[There’s a hole cut in the side of Borgia, a mustard yellow cargo container. It’s roughly the size and shape of a doorway, and, in fact, there’s a door frame in it, made from weathered old wood. Leaning against the wall next to the doorway is a slab of metal, coincidentally the precise same size.]
Cutting the hole for the door in Borgia was SO MUCH easier than I was worried it would be. I totally needed earplugs — the sound was HORRIBLE, even with just the jigsaw — and I kept having to take breaks lest my hands vibrate clean off, but over the course of a couple days I got it done.
Plus I got a new power tool out of it, a lovely lightweight 18v Milwaukee sawzall. I feel like I should be getting kickbacks, is what. Kickbacks in the form of MORE TOOLS.
[A red and black sawzall, with a heavy battery at the base and a worn, formerly-white blade at the tip.]
Hypothetically I could’ve cut the whole thing with my jigsaw — & I had to use it a fair bit, both for cutting a starter hole big enough for the sawzall blade & for making the tight curves for the corners. But it woulda taken me a LOT longer, & ow, my poor arms.
I did get about two feet cut with it before the sawzall showed up, mostly out of boredom. But the sawzall went SO much faster, I’m glad I waited to do the rest.
I got the rest of the side & top done the day I picked up the sawzall, then finished it up a couple days later when my hands weren’t so AUGH about the vibration. & I got the doorframe in right away — I was using it pretty directly to make sure the hole was big enough, so I figured I might as well. Also, well, once I was finished cutting the hole it turns out there was a big hole in Borgia’s side, so I had to put SOMETHING there.
I’m no more accurate cutting metal than I am wood, though, turns out. So there’ll be some caulking done.
[The corner of the mustard-yellow slab of metal. It’s cut into a neat curve at the top of the corner, but below that, two long, jagged bits of metal stick up before the rest of the side continues down, more-or-less straight. Ish.]
Having stuck in the doorframe, though, the next bit was necessarily putting in the actual door, which was almost disappointingly easy, except that I’m rarely disappointed when a thing is actually easy. Me & Jasper stuck a really thin bit of plywood under the door to raise it to the right height, then he held it in place while I screwed in the hinges. The door even already had cutouts for the hinges, so I didn’t have to measure ANYTHING.
& then we closed the door!
[The doorframe now has a lovely vintage door in it! It’s a five-panel wooden door, in deep brown, weathered wood with an oval doorknob.]
Right now it just wedges shut — I finished this up a couple weeks ago & we still haven’t installed the parts that go on the doorframe — but one step at a time, you know?
It’s SO nice, we can go in & out without opening the BIG door (though we usually do anyway, for air circulation & light) & Borgia doesn’t get NEAR so hot. I’m sitting at my desk right now, just down from the open door, & it’s nice & comfortable. A big step towards making things more livable here.
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