Big doors, bad jokes, hot fires and cold beers.

I mentioned in our last post that I flew back to Canberra almost as soon as we arrived. This isn’t quite as insane as it sounds, as I went back to help Leigh install the big doors into the house. I arrived back into Canberra at 2200 h, and was at Leigh’s the next morning at 0645 h to load the trailer with the doorframes and the timber we would need for framing.

We spent three big days (using all the available daylight) working out how the doors were going to hang, and getting them up, as well as installing temporary doors in the conventional spaces and hanging half the sash windows.

I am making a big deal of these doors because they are rather a big deal. The frames weigh anything from 90-110kg (this is only our guesstimate, or WAG – wild assed guess), and the panes are 111kg each. The house was designed around the glass we were able to reclaim, and these doors are the pisé de resistance. We hung the frames, and confirmed the roll was manageable. To do this I stood in the frame (being of a similar mass as the frames) and Leigh gently slid me along the track.

 

The first pane of glass is in. At this stage I think we realised just how much weight we had yet to lift!

 

Satisfied, we then began the somewhat trickier task of fitting the glass. The panels, as well as weighing 111kg, are about 2.8 metres long and 1.5 wide. To make the job more awkward, we had to stand the panes on end. The first was a little unnerving as I watched the glass flex, but Leigh assured me there was nothing to worry about. Not so sure he was that convinced though!

 It isn't just the doors onto the deck that went in. The sash windows look just as good across the rest of the house.

The nights were cool enough to warrant a fire – not that we needed it, but given that the opportunities will be few and far between in the next couple of years, we took what we could. After all, there is nothing like a cold beer after a long day’s labour whilst standing around a fire telling bawdy stories!

 The doors are in (not finished, just primed to protect against rust for the time being), and are monumental in scale. Leigh is standing there to provide perspective - He is roughly my size. These doors are bloody big!

Peter also came up, and was at times a little shocked/bemused by the conversation, but as Leigh reminded him, he was on a building site!

After getting as much done as we could, we drove back to Canberra just in time for me to catch the flight back to Townsville, and the next couple of years.