Doors are a-changing in my flat! Not only the door itself, but the surrounding frame along with the side and lintel windows, too.
Here is what my original back door set-up was like:
It may not look it, but the above door frame had some serious flaws which became apparent late last year on a very damp Saturday evening.
The rainfall was torrential, and my dodgy back yard guttering could not cope with the deluge.
I was having an Indian takeaway with my ex-girlfriend at the time, and it was she who first spotted the problem on the way back from the bathroom – as she accurately described it, my back door had sprung a leak!
She was not wrong.
Rainwater from the drainpipe was seeping in from outside.
It was making its way through fissures in the doorframe, where it formed into drops through a split in the wood at the top of the side window.
The ferocity of the rainfall meant that the water droplets spraying down were forming a constant stream, splashing onto the floor after hitting the window sill.
I figured that the upper widow frame split had just cracked that evening – I had never experienced this level of waterlogging around the back door before!
I employed the use of my trusted Starbucks Coffee mug to catch the jet of water – this actually worked pretty well – although the water droplets were drip-dripping into my mug at a constant rate, it would take a long time before the coffee receptacle would get anywhere near full.
With the no fresh rainwater hitting the floor, clearing up the remaining puddle was pretty straightforward.
The other back door issue was also caused by water seepage from the broken back yard gutter.
The door itself had absorbed too much rainwater and had recently warped to such an extent that it was wedged firmly into the door frame – there was absolutely no way of getting it open.
It was a bit of a catch-22 situation – the door being wedged shut prevented entry to the back yard from my flat, which meant there was no way anyone could get to the guttering to effect a repair to stop further back door damage being done.
There was nothing for it – the door had to go!
This was eventually facilitated by a visit from a sales rep of a well-known home improvement company who were canvassing for sales in my road.
I booked a survey in respect of a replacement back door and door frame, and after agreeing a price and signing a contract, a couple of months later (apparently there was a work backlog due to COVID) the following was installed:
So far I am pleased with the new back doorway set-up.
The door and surrounding frame are derived from a hard-wearing PVC type of material which should not warp like its wooden predecessor.
Sad though it may sound, it feels really good to have a working door to the yard again – to pardon the pun, it is an open-and-shut case!
As you can probably guess, the above work came at a cost – it rocked in just north of £1,100.
With the fixing of the guttering now a priority, it is looking to be another costly year in terms of home maintenance!
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