Oh well. I nabbed a template and made a few adjustments. I've no energy or time to figure out a better fix. Who knows what you might find here. At least my other blog template is working.
Yesterday I called in the calvary for help in re-hanging my kitchen cabinets. If you are going to tackle the job of putting on new hardware onto 30 year old cabinetry, you should keep these two points in mind:
Cabinets are made to fit the available hinges
Hinges today are not the hinges of yesterday (many, many yesterdays). There is a little something called the "throw". The throw + the inset are likely not the same on a different brand of hinge than the original. While your cabinet might close, it might not fit as snugly at the hinge.So...I had to suffer the indignity of my husband's certitude that I had just bought the wrong type of hinge. In honesty, I did buy the wrong hinge on two separate occasions. (Time 1, I failed to get inset. Time 2, I failed to get self-closing). However, at Time 3, I had the right hinge, but all manner of issues that I had no experience in working through. With 17 doors to hang, and 4 of those miserably failures, I tooted the horn to call the calvary.
To my credit, with each of my 4 failures, I got a little further along--but not fer enuf (sic). I had learned that when applying the new hinges, I had to scoot the hinge up enough to fully clear the previous holes. If your holes line up perfectly centered with the new hinge, then you'll be fine so long as there is enough grip for the screw. In my case, the hinge holes were just a wee bit off. When you are a wee bit off, the old holes will act like a neutron star and suck your screw into the previous recess. This will make your hinge crooked, and there is no good that can come from that. Same goes for the cabinet faces.
Gerald came to the rescue. When he rolled up the work van, I did a happy dance. (My happy dance is hopping in a circle with both feet together and clapping my hands. I don't do this often.) Calling in the calvary was not without its embarrassment on two counts. Count 1: you have to admit defeat. Count 2: you have show someone your goof-ball work. Pride really must be pushed aside at times if progress is to be made. I needed a bulldozer to push my pride aside.
He was kind enough to tell me that I was on the right track (but truly that train had jumped the tracks). Not only did we have to hang the remaining cabinets, we had to rework my mishaps. He decided that it would be best to start with a fresh door (to which I had already applied the hinges clearing all of the old holes). He had the same issue that I had, with the hinge pulling once screwed in. The fix? Pressing hard on the butt of the hinge to flatten it, and then screw it to the cabinet face.
Oh....there are neutron stars of past screw holes on the cabinet faces. There is a fix. The glorious toothpick. (Image pinched from American.com) Insert the toothpick into the hole (bigger holes may require more than one), and then snap them flush with your hand. Use a hammer to make them flush. Yes, had I known this trick, I might have been able to leave my hinges at the same spot on the door. But tomorrow's knowledge is of no help today, and you have to work with what you got.
But the toothpicks were placed in the cabinet frames with impunity. Because I had moved the hinge on the door, the "indentations" on the pine faces are evident. It is an imperfection that is not all that noticeable.
Gerald worked with two drills. One of them armed with a self-centering hinge bit. If I learned anything from my screw ups (I now see a pun), precision does count. (More later). So a beautifully centered pilot hole for your hinge-setting projects will enhance your project experience.
Once we got all of the cabinets working properly (happy dance!), the task list was to hang 2 pairs of bi-fold doors, hang a solid wood door (mortise hinges and bore for latch) and a closet door (already bored. When we finished, I did another happy dance. I had some minor things left on my list, but Mark and I can do those. The heavy lifting was done. I only have a cell phone pic of the cabinets...I'll take a decent pic and post before and after pictures.
The day was not done yet. Gerald left, and I sat down and rested my head on my knees. I was tired. We had steadily worked all day without a break. My feet hurt, and my arms hurt (from the cabinets). They really hurt today!
The next task was to bore 4 holes in the brick steps to re-mount a broken rail. This is a 'must' for an FHA appraiser. Two days night before, I brought home the hollow core drill, and it worked for 10 seconds. We could not revive it. It appeared to be an electrical problem in the GFI. I returned it to Rental Works. Those folks are fantastic. They could not get it looked at until the next day (yesterday), and it was ready to be picked up for a second try.
Four holes and two wet feet (Mark's) later, we had successfully cut the brick without....ooops...yes, the very last hole managed to break the brick. An easy fix.
We now just have a small bit of plumbing hookups to execute, and we are ready to wash our hands of this project.
I was very tired today from yesterday. I had to take the drill back, meet a truck for the vanity that was delivered, pick up some stain and paint. I have to finish staining the pine steps the same color as the flooring. I didn't have it in me to do that. I went to Lowe's to get an oscillating multi-tool. I then saw all manner of things that were interesting. I'll write on that tomorrow, as this post is getting long winded.
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