Progress! Last night we hung the door. Hinges, jamb, weather stripping, oak threshold and all. A great event made greater by the fact that the trailer is on a slightly uneven surface so it's hard to say whether the door will swing naturally shut due to being slightly mismounted or if it just might miraculously be completely perfect once the trailer is back on level ground. Only time will tell!
We made the door out of Spanish Cedar, chosen because of its 1) natural built-in bug resistance and 2) bargain basement low price (compared to fancy exotic woods). We learned this factoid: cedar dust is not good for your health. Wear a dust mask when working with it.
It's a panel door and took about 3 full days to make in a friend's woodshop. Necessary tools to build your own panel door are: joiner, router, random orbital sander, chisels, hammer, table saw, and, if possible, a mortising machine (like a drill press but makes, gasp, square holes -- no joke).
Home Depot special ordered us a 10"x10" window for $20 which we put in the door.
What else.... we learned that some brands of metal roofs need their own proprietary type of underlayment. Apparently certain tar papers accelerate the corrosion of steel roofs. Interesting factoid of the day.
We used a deadbolt for the door which is keyed on both sides for added safety. Since there's a window in the door which a thief could ostensibly smash and reach through it seemed like a good idea to make sure there was no lever on the inside of the lock that could be easily turned. When no one's home, the key won't be in the other side. Until world peace descends upon us, this idea seemed prudent, even if there are lots of other smashable windows in the place.
Hooray for doors! The house now looks way more legitimate and house-like.
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