Small Projects Around the House Archives - Page 4 of 5

Since buying this house we have determined that the life of an outdoor faucet is about 30 years. Our home is 31 and shes leaking! We already replaced the spigot at the back of the house, since its used more often. We blogged about that process on this post.

From the outside of the house, it all looks pretty simple. I had another old, leaky faucet at the front of the house that needed to be replaced. So, just like the tap at the back of the house, I cut the head off and have a wrench holding the piece of copper pipe away from the house for me to attach a new faucet. But on the inside of the house, it’s a different story.

To get that piece of pipe to stick out a few inches, I needed to open the wall on the inside of a closet in the basement bedroom. The pipe had a piece of wood holding it in place, which needed to be temporarily removed to safely use a torch on the outside of the house.

Here is a closer look:

Back outside, I had all of the tools I would need. A torch, pliers, pipe cleaner, file, flux, solder wire, sawzall to remove the old fixture, and the new faucet head.Cleaning the copper pipes and applying flux:
Putting the faucet head into place:

Carefully heating the pipe until it starts to change color, then putting solder wire up against the pipe where it meets the faucet. The flux draws the wire into the gap and seals it.

Old faucet, new faucet. After this image, I screwed the new faucet to the siding, then added some caulk. On the inside of the house, I secured the wood board again to keep the pipes from vibrating or pulling out of the house, and sealed up the hole in the wall.

Old and dingy.

Your front door is one of the first things people see when entering your home. This storm door wasn’t say’n much other than “good luck getting 30 years of grime off me”. Also notice how it opens on the left side, which is oddly awkward when guests arrive. “Welcome, let me just open this door into your face!”

We looked for storm doors at several stores, but found the largest selection (and competent help) at our local Lowe’s. The store is roughly five miles further than Home Depot and Menards and for whatever reason, had fewer customers on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so we had an easier time finding someone to help answer questions. The person we worked with listened to our needs and talked us into the Larson Signature. We wanted a door with both storm glass for winter and a screen for summer. But we did not want the screen to open, because we don’t like the look of a bar in the middle of the screen (example: click on this link). This was also another great example of how much we are using my parent’s truck this summer!

Required: 8ft bed

We unloaded the door right in the driveway and opened the box for ease of installation.

They don’t waste much packaging space.

After we removed the old door, Sara took a few moments to clear away 30 years of grime.

The instructions came double-sided. We needed to look for the side that said “left hinge” as we were planning to reverse the direction of the door from what was previously installed (example below).

After a few minutes of feeling overwhelmed by the directions poster, I decided to tape them to the door to the garage for easy viewing (and pop a Ritalin).

Holy complicated batman!

You’ll notice we have the correct hinge direction that we want. “Left Hinge.”

The photo below shows the door suspended on a single screw. This is the first screw to hold the door in place.

Mike working to secure the remaining screws on the hinge.

Sara’s thought process through this project: “are we sure we’re doing this right?”

Complicated door mechanism time.

Slow process.

One of the final pieces we installed. These door closers have really made some advancements in recent years. They now have a part that you can hit with your shoe to keep the door from closing. Smart!

Lining everything up.

The cats were eagerly waiting to check out the new screen door. Robert, who you see on the right, watched us intently through most of this installation. He was very excited about finally being able to watch birds out front!