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Posted: 8/22/2004 6:22:11 PM EDT
I just put in a new pre hung door in one of my bedrooms. It was a closet, because I've never installed a door before so didn't want my first installation to be the door TO the room and thus reveal embarassing flaws.
ANYHOO So I put the new door in the rough opening and... Low and behold, the jambs in my older house (built in the very early 50s) were 1" THICKER than the prehung door jamb. So I get to "trim it out" because they don't make jambs that size anymore. So my rant is, why would Home Depot (and whoever) plop a store down in the middle of an established, built-in-the-days-of-actual-plaster-walls neighborhood and only carry doors premade for drywall? And furthermore, why don't the mills make the deeper jambs for those of us with older houses? They KNOW most of these doors are going into older homes!!! Oh well. I got it in, and there will be some puttying to do (wife's job  ) but GEEZ. I eagerly do not look forward to trimming the room's entrance door the same way. Oh yeah, I need to make my own 1"x1" trim for it because nobody makes actual 1x1 - it's all 3/4". But that's another rant.BTW it went in way easier than my first attempt at a new door - on another bedroom I installed just the door... Chiseling out the hinges and all that crap. Forget that, prehung is where it's at. At least I got to exercise my power miter box and pneumatic nailgun. That makes the trimwork so much easier than it was... |
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Posted: 8/22/2004 6:25:35 PM EDT
[#1]
Custom order. |
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Posted: 8/22/2004 6:27:14 PM EDT
[#2]
They carry what they figure will be purchased by a majority of people, and didn't count on the established nature of the neighborhood.
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Posted: 8/22/2004 6:28:26 PM EDT
[#3]
Beacause they're a big box store and don't care about you, they care about sellling doors to people that build newer homes.
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:28:55 AM EDT
[#4]
Because for every 1 door for someone in your situation, they will sell 500 doors in "standard" size. Economy of scale.
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:36:29 AM EDT
[#5]
My house was built in 1896 , don't get me going on OLD houses
 GM |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:37:01 AM EDT
[#6]
I have a 100 year old house, so I know what you are going through. Wait until you try to replace some boards in a hardwood floor of an older house. Have to special order those. Windows are another pain. Go into Lowes and ask if they can replace a window that is 76x32. Just replacing the glass in the existing window frame can be fun. I've had the local hardware store ask what I need such a big piece of glass for. I've also looked at replacing my front door, back door, and screen door. They all would have to be special ordered. There isn't a single piece in my house that can be replaced off the shelf, everything has to be special ordered. That's why all the older houses are "preserved" in a "historic state"...because it's too much of a pain to upgrade anything!
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:38:09 AM EDT
[#7]
mine was built in 1830. arrghh i hear ya. |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:41:40 AM EDT
[#8]
I can relate. I am rebuilding my Great-Grandparents house and talk about a mess. The hardwood floor needs replacement in certain areas, but finding that size planks is near impossible - I have to make them myself. The wiring, good god almighty, the wiring. I am rewiring the house, due to electricians idea of splice is duct tape two wires togethor and then electrical tape on top of that. Trying to bring this thing up to code is a nightmare, not to mention the cast iron plubming. Now that is a pain in the ass! Thank god for sawzalls. |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:47:38 AM EDT
[#9]
My wife and I joke that our house was built with no plans- just what their alcohol induced stupor enabled them to do. No joke, we found all kinds of Schlitz bottle caps behind our kitchen cabinets when we tore them out.
That said, my house is pretty well built. Nice big joists etc., and it's all been seasoned with time. Real plaster walls, hardwood floors (although we're going to put carpet on them)... The electrical is a major downside. I want to install new GFI outlets. Good thing I have a decent fish tape.  I've also discovered that a lot of, uh, "extensions" were done by tapping off other outlets and wiring a new room. Like the entire upstairs is connected to the downstairs bathroom.House built in 1896? You have much more patience than I do good sir. Hat's off to you.  50 years is bad enough!
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:49:16 AM EDT
[#10]
got the same walls- boy is that trimming out FUN....wish I could do that every day!!!!
mine are 2x4 then 3/8" sheet rock then some sort of sandy shit about 3/8" thick then a plaster skim coat on top. makes a helluf a mess when you replace / cut it |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:51:41 AM EDT
[#11]
Don't forget the metal lath.
That stuff royally screws with my electronic stud finder. 
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:53:25 AM EDT
[#12]
I only have metal lathe in the corners/edges
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Posted: 8/23/2004 9:58:22 AM EDT
[#13]
Sounds like the farm that we inherited from my grandparents. There's nothing like turning on the vacuum, and watching the light level drop a BIG notch as it puts a strain on the electrical system. Read: Pop open the fuse box, and they are the round, screw- in type!  I've been afraid to call an electrician to see how much upgrading the system willmake us squeal...... |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 10:10:46 AM EDT
[#14]
I am suprised my house has not burned down yet because of the wiring. I was told I had a 60 amp main coming into the house. That feeds into the round type fuse box...which has 4 30 amp fuses in it. Attached to the main fuse box is an actual circuit breaker box with two 20 amp breakers. Add to that the most recent addition of a 40 amp beaker box for my new heat pump and furance. I use electricty like crazy but haven't really had any problems. However, lately I have noticed the lights dim when I turn on the electric skillet. The wiring has never been completely updated. There are still remains of the very old "ball and tube" wiring but I'm pretty sure that has been disconnected. All the other "upgrades" look like they were done by previous home owners and never done to code or inspected. |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 10:15:02 AM EDT
[#15]
just upgraded our electrical- it was actually quite easy, but had the help of a retired electrician. We had the old screw in type too but like 15 of them- each wire is now on its own circuit breaker in my new 200 amp 40 place box. the parts were about 300 bucks.
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Posted: 8/23/2004 10:21:31 AM EDT
[#16]
Hey, this just gives you an excuse to buy a garage full of power tools
 [good husband mode on]Honey, it's so I can make the proper trim pieces to accent the doors and windows. That way it will look professionally made and add to the value of our home [good husband mode off] See, then you can sneak in cool stuff like a mill and a lathe (cause most women can't tell the difference anyhow, but even she can, refer to "good husband" reply above ) and before you know it, you can be turning out cool gun parts and stuff  Oh, yeah, and you can make furniture, too. 
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Posted: 8/23/2004 10:36:00 AM EDT
[#17]
I did my daughters old farm house this last spring, what was nice is that none of the wires had any obstuctions or other obstacles in the walls and I was able to fish new wire by using the old wire to pull through to outlets and switches. It already had new service panel with breakers, so I broke up circuits in to smaller loads and added a few new ones. Her house is now pretty much like new electrical wise and only costed about $300.00 for materials and 3 days work for dad. I did it for my grandchildrens safety, now if I could get around to doing my house GM |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 10:36:31 AM EDT
[#18]
I am fortunate enough that I know enough of the NEC to get around and wire properly. The best thing is that the original house on the property BURNED to the ground because of ELECTRICAL problems. My Great Grandparents went so far as to hire the SAME electrician. Talk about asking for it again. We did find about 50 years of razors in the walls behind the bathroom sink. Apparently they use to drop them in a little slot in the medicine cabinet. Out of sight, out of mind. |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 10:51:11 AM EDT
[#19]
YES! I was going to mention that earlier. Us too. What did they think would happen with them in there? Hilarious. |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 10:52:10 AM EDT
[#20]
Ours was built in 1884...then I find out we're talking about houses built in the 1950's in this thread. Wait another 50 years and then the house will be OLD.
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Posted: 8/23/2004 11:25:58 AM EDT
[#21]
Well, if you put them in a trash bag, they have a tendency to cut themselves out and into you 
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Posted: 8/23/2004 11:45:52 AM EDT
[#22]
Yeah, but what happens when the wall fills up?
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Posted: 8/23/2004 11:54:13 AM EDT
[#23]
+1 |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 11:55:43 AM EDT
[#24]
Maybe you move on to one of the other three that are left?
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Posted: 8/23/2004 12:10:45 PM EDT
[#25]
That's an awful lot of shaving
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Posted: 8/23/2004 12:22:36 PM EDT
[#26]
Neighbor's house burned to the ground a couple weeks ago. Fire started in the panel box. House built in mid '70's.
He should have known better, by profession, he is a ........Fireman! |
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Posted: 8/23/2004 12:26:14 PM EDT
[#27]
Know what you're talking about. My house was built in 1947. It's got shredded up news paper in the exterior wals for insulation.
With floors that slope, I couldn't just go buy a thresh hold from Home Depot. My dad had to make them. Fortunately for me, my dad and brother are great at carpentry.
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Posted: 8/23/2004 12:33:25 PM EDT
[#28]
Yeah, right! I have two uncles that are firemen. You wouldn't believe some of the things they do. The one I bought this my chimney sweeping business didn't know a damn thing about the business but every thought he did because he was a fireman. The other uncle has a 350 lb. wood burning insert in a factory built fireplace that hangs off the side of his house. Even after I told him it was a fire hazard for him to not only have it in a factory built fireplace, it was eventually going to pull the fireplace away from his house. Seen pictures where some have just dropped right through the bottom taking the fireplace and chimney with it. But does he listen? No. |
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