As I mentioned in the previous post my latest project is a custom screen door for Stacy Bolt, a fellow veteran of advertising (and creative partner of mine way back when) and author of Breeding In Captivity, the story of her 'journey to have a child at “advanced maternal age,” first with the help of a Really Expensive fertility specialist, and then ultimately through a local adoption agency.' Read it, it's really great.
Now where was I? Right, screen door...
Stacy and her husband Dave (oh what the hell, I'll unseasonably pimp his incredible haunted house Fright Town while I'm at it. Yes I am very well connected!) have a beautiful old craftsman home with an unusually wide front door. Since standard sized screen doors are out of the question Stacy asked me to design one to fit her house. We'll test fit it this weekend (did I mention that the door opening of this 100-year-old house is somewhat less than square?) and then adjust, put stain on and finish on it. Here are the latest in progress photos.
That grand old door.
Plans. I ended up changing the mortise and tenon joints that connect the bottom, top and side pieces to lap joints for extra stability on this wide door. I'll put some square pegs through the joints for added strength.
Mortise and tenon joinery for the inner framework.
Cutting the mortises.
DXS stands for Dave/Xander/Stacy. The X is biggest because their son Xander is the most important person in the house.
Dry fitting to check the joinery before glue up.
Glued and ready to finish.