When P and I bought our house 9 years ago, the home inspection report showed termite damage to the front door. On further inspection, they found that the house didn’t currently have termites, but only evidence that a family of termites had once lived in the wooden threshold of our front door and frequently held parties where they’d invite all of their termite friends and they’d float a keg and get destructive. Since the house had bigger issues, such as wiring so old it required us to turn off every light in the house to run the microwave, the termite damaged door pretty much didn’t even register on our to-do list.
So, about 4 1/2 years ago, right after I discovered I was pregnant, we decided it was a good time to do an extensive remodel and addition on the house. The work that needed to be done was so extensive we decided to pack up all our things, rent another house and live there until the remodel was completed. I guess we could have tried to live in our house during the renovation, but I’m fairly certain we would have killed each other and the new master suite we were adding would have been a complete waste.
Pregnancy hormones and extensive remodel. Excellent combination and not at all stressful.
I won’t even talk about how I was so determined to be in our house before the baby was born that I stood on scaffolding to help P hang crown molding while I was 8 months pregnant. I was a woman on a mission. The idea of bringing home our child to a rent house was enough to send me into tears.
Of course, in all honesty, I think an episode of Sanford and Son brought me to tears during my pregnancy. I may have been a little overemotional, but sometimes the unspoken admiration between Fred and Lamont is just too much to bear.
Since we weren’t living in our house, and none of our things were in the house, it was an opportune time to take the front door, which we suspected was once again housing a termite family complete with 2nd and 3rd cousins, and have it gassed and send the termites to a better place. Well, a better place for us. But, we procrastinated and it never happened. It just seemed like there were more immediate issues that needed to be tended to, such as installing flooring and hanging sheetrock. The termite family was spared.
And honestly, we never see them or think of their existence until the weather gets hot. We’ve been in denial, but now our front door is at the point where we may go to open it and the door knob may pull right out as the wood around it completely disentegrates.
So, tonight we were discussing things we need to spend money on and the subject of the front door came up. The problem is our house was built in 1923 and the front door is the original front door. It is one of my favorite features of our house because it’s rounded at the top like a little elf house door with a little square cutout towards the top that holds a piece of original beveled glass. It is a yummy little door and holds my heart in the palm of its termite infested hand.
It is not a door that can be replaced with the cold, sterile doors they sell at Home Depot. Last I checked, Home Depot did not stock yummy elf doors. This is a custom door that will require a custom replacement.
I told P I was concerned about how expensive it might be to replace the door and I didn’t want another door unless we could get another one with a cutout for the little beveled glass window.
I asked, “What if we can’t find someone to make it?”
He said, “I can make a front door. I’ll just get a piece of plywood, nail it up there and spray paint ‘GO AROUND BACK’ on it.”
It’s a good thing he’s cute.