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| After the duct tape fix... I didn't think to take a picture at the time of the bent frame... well maybe I did but I didn't think SCB would appreciate it at the time so I decided not to take the photo and anger him.... |
Well, after bonding over homemade spaghetti and garlic bread, we were hanging out on my patio, enjoying the summer breeze when it happened.
It was like sitting in slow motion, trying to prevent the action from happening, but to, no avail...
My friend walked through our patio screen door and fell into the house, onto my husband.
Thankfully my husband only got a scratch on his arm because he was able to slide away a bit since he was sitting in his computer chair, and my friend was fine, just shaken up and incredibly sorry...
The frame was contorted into a nightmare, but the screen itself was still connected (Thanks to my ex-boyfriends father who helped repair them 3 years ago when I bought this place and his amazing talent.)
After about 30 minutes of bending the door back into place, my husband was able to jam it back into the track and duck tape the door in place since we couldn't fix the frame entirely. Right now the door doesn't open or close, but at least with the duct tape on it we can keep the slider door open and get a nice cross breeze still.
****
We Google'd our hearts out and measured the frame because its truly shot and will need to be replaced. It looked like it would be $60 to custom order something from Home Depot so SCB went into the store the next day since he couldn't order the part online.
and that's where the story gets worse.
Apparently our patio slider door is so abnormally sized that Home Depot will no longer order the custom size screen door to fix it...
What's the point of paying for a custom size if they won't make it????
Why advertise on your website that you sell said screen door if you really don't??
So, we now have to contact specialty companies... and that means the price tag is going up up up.
SCB called a few places and the cheapest we can get is $160.00 for a very basic screen door for our patio... It's about $40 more dollars to put in a pet screen (something more durable), but that means its also more visible so we are thinking about going with the sturdier screen so people will see the door and not walk through it so we don't have this problem again... but if we do that, we might have an issue with our screen doors not matching (one darker, one lighter).... and both screen doors are right next to each other, on the same side of the condo so it might look funny.
Thankfully the company also re-screens existing doors as well, so we might just have our second screen re-done so the colors match... but depending on the frame they bring for the new one, we might just replace both at the same time so they are identical and we won't have the HOA to deal with.
But for now we won't know because they can't come out until the 17th of July... :(
We're getting our screen door replaced by the guys that come out to the house. They are busy this time of year and we had to wait only to have him take the wrong measurements. He has to come back. He did leave the new screen door or (there's just a small gap at the top and we love it. We got the stronger screen and it is no easy to tell if the door is open or closed. I can see how your friend went through it. I think I'm just going to get a little sticker (butterfly or something) to put on it so we don't have an accident like you did. We paid $235 for ours but it is very high quality. There goes your 3 paycheck month!
ReplyDeleteI know... but the check is already spoken for retirement and our vacation so its going to have to come from some where else :(
DeleteOh no!! :( I'm glad everyone was ok, but wat a pain! I hope it's fixed sooner than later!!
ReplyDeleteYa, considering we need the screen for the breeze since we aren't running the AC wall unit because our windows are so terrible that its a waste of money...
DeleteThey sells things called 'screen savers' which are 2 sided magnetically attached decorative objects. I have a dragonfly on mine - and it uses a magnet to attach - you put one on one side of the screen and the other on the other side. You put it at eye height and it should catch your eye enough to see that something is there. http://www.songbirdgarden.com/store/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=598
ReplyDeletehth!
Might be worth it to check those out so it doesn't happen again.
DeleteIf you have two light magnets, you could use those. Just tried it with two of mine and it works fine.
ReplyDeleteDid your friend offer to help pay for the screen at all? Halfsies would help take the sting off.
ReplyDeleteYes and no... Its one of those things that's always thrown out there after the incident happens, but I don't actually imagine her pitching in, in the grand scheme of things... and I don't think I could take her money.
DeleteIt was an accident and things like that happen all the time. I've learned not to let money and friendship mingle.