Somewhere...over the threshold.... Crawls Backward (When Alarmed)

With most of the tile laid, I need to turn my attention to putting in a new threshold for the door that goes from the sunroom to the outside.

There is a threshold there but it's old and gross. Since we're gonna have a nice new floor (possibly maybe), it would be nice to have a new threshold there.

Ze foist order of de business is of course to take the old one off. Have I said previously that the worst part of renovation is usually getting the old parts off? If I haven't said that, I'll say it now.

I was dreading this a bit because I wasn't sure What I Would Find There. But after taking off the old rubber molding (which is just press-fit into a channel on the top of the molding), I see that the DPO didn't use any sort of fasteners to hold the threshold down.

So it just took a couple of whacks with a hammer to get the old one off.

There was actually ancient adhesive that he had used to attach the threshold, but it had long since dried up. The tight clearance (i.e., none) between the top of the threshold and the door frame was holding it in place. Easy for me to get out.

Eet vill not be zo easy for next person after I am done! I vill fasten zis puppy down!

Lookit all that disgusting dirt under the old threshold. Dis-gus-ting.

Here's a look at the new threshold. We're going with this dark brown one instead of the traditional silver in the hopes it will show less dirt. Good luck to us.

It's relatively straightforward to put the threshold in. First we need to measure for length and cut it. As usual, I measured it a bit too long and then would up trimming some short pieces off for a good fit. The threshold is aluminum and can be cut with a hacksaw.

After it's cut, we can fit it in place. Not too bad. There is a fair amount of clearance between the top of the threshold and the door jamb, so I'll caulk that space later.

We're trying to cut down/prevent/keep out the number of bug-type critters that get into the sun room. So one half-witted...er...out-of-the-box idea I had was to put silicone caulk on the bottom 'runners' of the threshold in the hope that it might form a tight seal to the floor, and prevent critters from entering via the threshold. So ve get out ze caulk, yes?

Now, I personally am not too good at caulking. I find it quite difficult to use the clumsy guns you find at the Big Box store. In fact, I'm so bad that when I caulked the joints from the ceiling to the moulding on this here project, I used a smaller tube of caulk so I could better control it.

After pondering a bit, it occurred to me that the problem might be that I am using cheap guns and they may just not work well. So, at the Despot, I went hunting for a new caulk gun. What I found were the cheap ones ($1.97 was the lowest), and a couple of 'professional' ones. This one here cost me $11.97. Let's hope it works better.

You may notice it does say "Professional Caulk Gun." I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Usually if it has to say it's professional, it ain't. But anything is probably better than the junk I've been using.

Or, maybe I'm just pathetic at using a caulk gun. Either way, we'll find the answer.

One thing that is rather promising is the fact that it's actually patented. The last thingy I use that was patented, if you recall, was the Bridge Doctor, and that worked out pretty well, dinnit?

Plus, this gun even has a spout cutter! Wowee. There is also a little rod attachment that choo can use to clean out clogs in your caulk tube (called a 'clean-out'). So this may be more than just a plunger with a spring.

I didn't get any shots of the actual calking, but I am quite sure you can guess how that works. Squeeze trigger, aim at area choo are caulking.

Or something like that.

Here's what I did with the caulk. After all the build up, I'd rate the new gun an "8." Easier to operate but I'll still need practice. But not too bad considering I was laying the caulk on a flat surface.

Now we a-gotta drill holes in de concrete. What we need for this is a masonry drill bit and a hammer drill. Unfortunately, you cannot drill concrete with a regular hand drill. Ask me how I know this. I'm like the thousands who have tried and failed.

So I bit (hee hee) the bullet and got me a hammer drill. The upside is it can be used as a regular drill, and it has about 3 times the torque of my other electric drill. It also was on sale at the-you-know-where and it cost me $40. Foh-tee dallahs! That might be the best $40 I've ever spent.

Plus, with that big honkin' handle, people will look at me and say, "hey, he must know what he's doing." Little do they know I have no idea.

With our drill in hand, we mark our spots and drill. The drill also has a depth gauge (green arrow) that allows you to judge how far you are going down down down into the center of the earth.

And with this handy attachment on the front, we can drive concrete anchors to hold the threshold in place. Ain't no way I coulda done this without the hammer drill.