Summerhouse - doors and more

Now the winter is coming, we have been pushing on with the summerhouse as much as possible, with an emphasis on getting it weatherproof.  "Now is the winter of our aluminium vent" (with apologies to Shakespeare).  There's a ventilation vent on either side of the gothic window.  These will have a sliding closure inside and there is a midge proof stainless steel mesh inside as well.  They weren't visible on the outside in some earlier photos, because the main Tyvek membrane sheet went straight over the opening, but now that has been cut back and the edges taped down with waterproof bitumen tape.  The flap of Tyvek in the photo below will overlap the next row of shingles on the back, so any water that gets driven into the shingles immediately below the vent (unlikely, because they are in a sheltered spot) would run off between the shingles rather than getting trapped in the wall layers.

The side architrave around the front door was added yesterday.  This is a decorative moulding.  I thought this would make a nice detail, with the top of the door frame in plain wood, with the ends shaped to look a little like a Japanese woodworking detail.

Glyn nailed these on, over a layer of bitumen flashing tape which seals the inside of the door casing to the Tyvek.

This is how it looked last night.

The front step has a metal chequerplate trim, for durability.  It will be covered when the doors are closed and gives a strong finish to the edge of the wood laminate flooring we will install later.  So we could line up the doors correctly, the chequerplate trim has been temporarily fitted.

To make a better fit between the shingles and the architrave at the front edges, Glyn whittled back the edge of the shingles to approx. a 45-degree chamfer.  We'll add some silcone sealant between the shingles and architrave later.

This morning, we started on the doors.  The French windows we got for the front doors were salvaged from a local double glazing company just before they were dumped in their skip.  They are hardwood doors in perfect condition.  However, they appear to be two doors from two different sets of doors, so we've had to modify them a bit to fit i.e. there were cutouts for hinges on the same side of each door.

We researched hinges that would enable to doors to open flat against the front wall.  These are called parliament hinges and are quite unusual, although we did see some recently on doors at one of the mills at New Lanark.  We couldn't find them in any local DIY shops but managed to source them via eBay.  Glyn thinks they are called parliament hinges because they appear to bend over backwards...

They are chrome over extruded brass, all beautifully milled and machines, and are the best quality hinges we have ever seen.  Quite a work of art/engineering.

They weren't quite the same size and thickness as the original solid brass hinges, so the doors were cut out to fit.  The mallet Glyn is using belonged to his grandad Jones.

The doors just before hanging.

Marking and fitting the temporary trim to the front.

Glyn finally got to peel off the protective covering...

The temperature was falling this afternoon - it was about 3 degrees C while it was still daylight (it is is freezing now).

Glyn marked and routed out the door casing and architrave to take the hinges, which have to stick out about an inch at the front to achieve the foldback on the doors.

Using a hinge to set the router to the right depth.

Marking a line with the chisel (and grandad Jones's 80+ years old mallet) before cutting with the router.

A cutout before cleaning.  The black blob is some of the bitumen tape melted by the heat from the router cutting!

Tidying up the cuts.

Hanging the first door.  I couldn't take a photo of Glyn screwing the top or bottom hinge, because I was holding the door up.

The door folded back.

The second door was hung the same way as the first, but in the dark.  It needs some tweaking and trimming before they will hang properly as a pair, and the lock and handles need to be added, but we have made a lot of progress this weekend.