You may recall that in February we had a new back door fitted and we have had an ongoing saga with it ever since.

Feb 11

Our old back door was replaced, the previous door had warped over time and was letting in cold air, much like the front door which we also replaced recently. The new backdoor was left with a blank panel at the top so that the fitters could measure and align the georgian bars to the windows.

Feb 23

Before the door was fitted we discussed in length our exact requirements with the gentleman who came to measure and assess the fitting; he knew exactly what we wanted. He suggested that a blank panel was fitted so that exact measurement could be taken when the door was in place. When the  top glass panel arrived it was not at all what we wanted or asked for,and was something that we could not live with.

The door should have had Georgian bars to match the windows (something we specifically requested on ordering). The new glass panel had huge squares at the bottom with smaller ones at the top. It seems to have been a miscommunication (and a badly drawn diagram by the fitter) between Mr C and the fitter who came to measure the window. Apparently the glassmaker had queried the design when asked to make the unit!  The best laid plans… Now we await a new glass panel at additional expenditure!!

March 15

The new glass panel is now fitted and looks much better than the first panel we were provided with. Now we need to get the fitters to come back and fix the beading that the fitter damaged whilst fitting the new glass pane. Mr C thought it rather odd that the workman rushed off rather quickly after he had finished the work. On closer inspection he realised why!!

The whole installation has been a shambles from start to finish. When the workman came to fit the first pane of glass Mr C had to get them to sort out the plastic panel by the side of the door which had been left in a buckled up state because the piece of plastic was too long!

Mr C asked about the door sticking as we shut it and he was informed that it was just the draft excluder at the bottom of the door causing a bit of resistance.

May 23

Last Friday the fitters eventually returned with the replacement beading. We had also asked if they would sort out the problem with the back door being difficult to shut in certain circumstances and an ongoing slightly different problem with the front door, which only needed a slight tweak to the alignment of where the door catches. As I left the house for work I was quite disturbed by the activity that was going on with the front door. There was a screwdriver wedged beneath the door and some fiddling going on with the door springs…

When I got home from work I wasn’t convinced that the work on the front door had made any difference, the lock was still stiff to maneuver. I went to look at the back door I was appalled, the new replacement beading was different to the rest of the door, making it look rather tacky. Mr C had been told that is the beading they do now!!! When I looked more closely at the back door I saw that the door springs had been cranked up and were all off centre, leading me to think that the door had not been fitted in the correct position in the first place.

Over the weekend I have been busy, out of the house on Saturday and on Sunday preparing for a special celebratory birthday meal (at chez nous) so it wasn’t until yesterday that I noticed that the work activity on the front door had now put the door slightly out of square in its frame! The door was perfect before, it just need the lock realigning slightly. I tried very hard not to feel annoyed…

This evening when I got home from work before it was time to prepare our evening meal I ventured out into the back garden. When I opened the back door, it caught and didn’t open easily *sighs*!

I inspected the door and found that the door frame is catching against the locking mechanism and a screw is starting to scratch the outside of the door. Not enough leeway has been given for heat expansion on sunny days. That is the real problem with the front door too.

I have focused on the back door photos above, but below are the before and after photos of the front door. Showing that the recent adjustment to the door has lead to the door being not square in its frame.

Matthew 7:7-8 (King James Version)