This Saturday, we fitted the second refurbished steel door at the top of the stairs at HH, which has been languishing in store since the spring. Hanging it was easy this time around, since we knew just how to wedge and wiggle it to make the hinges line-up. The part that was decidedly not easy was lifting it up the stairs. These doors are heavy, and difficult to grip. The stairs are steep, narrow, and turn sharply. Still, with plenty of pauses to plan the next move, three of us got it into place safely.
We then turned to the locking arrangements. As well as a mortice lock to replace the "hen's teeth" brass panel-lock of old, this door will be fitted with three additional bolts - the least damaging way of improving security we could think of. For safety, these will have to be locked in the retracted position whenever the building is in use.
You may note that the newly-hung door is still in primer, except for the edges. Don't worry, we will paint it properly, but that part of the plan was thrown off-course earlier in the year by viruses and vandals.
Now for some good news:
This post is a later than usual for a very positive reason. An extremely generous donation, combined with a number of others, has completely covered the cost of purchasing security doors. In fact, we've sailed straight through the next target too, which was to be the purchase of an appropriate reproduction downpipe & fittings for the front of the building. Huge thanks to everyone responsible (You know who you are!)
So what next? We've been placing some orders. It will be nice to work with something that doesn't need wire-brushing and painting for once. After that, we're turning to the big upstairs windows. How exactly we glaze those, what with, and how much that will cost, all needs to be finalised soon.
Once that's lined-up, there will be the opportunity to 'sponsor a window'. Needless to say, any excess donations for one part of the campaign are being carried over to the next.
Thanks again, for all your support!
