Hanging the ship lap door

With the door made and all the hard to find hardware collected, or dug up from boxes where it had lain undisturbed for several years, it was time to say goodbye to our long suffering sheet of shuttering ply.

Friend Doug was on hand and made an excellent job of installing the frame. I was concerned about the weight of the door so we dropped a couple of hammer screws through the cill to eliminate any chance of the door pushing the bottom of the glass wall out when open.

Yes I know it is a big step but the patio will be lifted to match.

Time for a Stella?

At this point I had to depart for a culinary extravaganza  of Barium soufflé at the local hospital so I left Doug to carry on (not that I had actually done a great deal myself so far).

When I got back all was not well. My original 100m roll of seal had run out so I'd bought 10m from Germany via ebay but it compressed to 7mm rather than 2mm so the door would not close.

UKIP supporters may like to be made aware that this would not be possible under Faragism, along with a fair chunk of other vital trade, but don't let any minor inconveniences like that get in the way of the populist lunacy.

Doug was not happy but at least it was Friday. I unhinged the door and the shuttering ply got a reprieve for an extra night.

The warts 'n' all section!

I set about finishing the job the following day and it took all of 10 hours to complete. It is fortunate I am not trying to earn my living at this game!

I had to move the 8mm x 4mm seal groove back 4mm and cut one of the rebates back to suit. I used the Biscuit jointer as a slotter and milled out a 12mm square groove back to the new position.

I milled out some 12mm filler strips from some cherry offcuts and glued them into the groove.

I had a sandwich while the glue went off then trimmed off the excess with the excellent track saw.

Nicely set for a quick clean up with my favourite and much used skew rebate planes

A new grip leaving my other hand to steady the door.

Again the combination of left and right handed planes proved useful.

I put an extra rain drip in the door bottom as a precaution although there will be an external drip rail planted on the outside. All ready for some Sikkens and a re-build

The new oversize seal going in. It really is an excellent product and, being a compression face-seal, way ahead in performance terms compared to the usual UK furry stuff.

I fitted the handles and strikers along with shoot bolts top and bottom so I think it is pretty secure. It was a bit of a lump to balance on a lifting lever but Ro helped and we managed to get it back on it's pins. This time it shut first time and a little adjustment had everything working smoothly. Fortunately the seal also acts as a damper so it doesn't shut with the sort of bang we expected.

I am really pleased with the appearance and functionality but I would make a few less mistakes if I made another - as ever.

It certainly isn't lacking in the hinge department and I could probably have omitted the 4th one in the centre. Then again when you pick it up ......better safe than sorry, but it does clash with the handle.