Mechanical Room Door

--> I remember lengthy discussions related to the location of the mechanical room for the solar hot water system and radiant floor heating. I was worried about the amount of noise it might produce. I was worried about the size. I was worried about the appearance. I’ve been called a worrier, and I admit it in this situation. I was worried! When it came right down to it, though, there was no option. There was no other place for it except in our bedroom, right across from our bed. Like I said…I was worried.

However, now that we’ve spent a summer sleeping with this mechanical roommate, I realize that he is really a very quiet fellow. Now, even though he’s 10 feet tall and three feet wide, I hardly even notice him…except when Scott and I discuss the type of door we want to close behind him.

First we looked at an accordion door. You know, the kind that separates classrooms in a school or that divides conference centers into meeting rooms. We even found a fairly attractive possibility - Woodfold Doors.

Then I looked into building a frame and fabric door. There weren’t any satisfactory ideas on-line. And the size (remember that 10 foot X three foot dimension) was a problem.

We finally realized we wanted a door built in the same style as the other doors on the wall. But a 10-foot tall door would be a custom order. It is possible that could have been done, and I’m sure there is hardware that could support the weight of such a hefty guy. Still, to access the mechanical system, moving 10 feet of wood would be unwieldy, and the cost would have been prohibitive.

Eventually we discovered bi-fold doors at Accent Doors and Trim. This was an affordable choice because we could purchase solid wood doors in standard dimensions. Keeping visual considerations in mind, one door we would hang at the same height at the other doors on the wall by inserting a header about 80 inches above the floor. The second door, much smaller than the first, would have been an expensive custom order. Instead we purchased another solid wood door in standard dimensions. We would cut that door across the center panel and hang it from the top of the mechanical room opening.

The mechanical room prior to bi-fold door installation

The mechanical room after the lower door is installed

Scott completes the upper bi-fold door

Both doors in place

The entire bedroom wall showing all doors

As you can see, I’m now sleeping with another handsome fellow, even though number two is a giant. I’m not worried anymore.

Doors

Our intent, all along, was to use wood left over from our timber frame to make the trim for our interior doors. That meant we had two choices for each situation: ponderosa pine which we used for the ceiling and porch or douglas fir which was used for everything else. Different woods and stains created very different feelings.

In the bedroom we used the leaf and vine trim which we purchase at Home Depot. In order to get the pattern to show up nicely, we applied dark gel stain to the wood and wiped it off before it had a chance to harden. This application method gave the wood a rather antique look. Scott made the corner decoration from douglas fir and left the gel stain on longer in order for that wood to be darker than the trim. Here Scott is looking into the bedroom from the living room.

 A close-up of the same door

This is the door leading from Scott's office into the living room. We used ponderosa pine here. The "stain" is actually Skidmore's beeswax. That combined with the pine creates a warm yellow trim.

Notice the little square hole in the wall on the right side of the door near the floor. This is the cat door. Our cats are in-door / out-door cats. That means they come and go as they please during the day...at least as much as Scott and I are willing to let them in and out. But, at night, they are inside.

A quandary related to cats is where to put the litter box. Not in the bedroom certainly. We opted for one of the storage rooms in Scott's office. While our cats are absolutely smart enough to learn how to open the office door, which will usually be closed, we are not inclined to teach them. As an alternative, we provided this door. You'll notice, in the photo above, there is no trim on the cat door yet.

Now the cat door has trim to match the office side of the door.

Here Scott is getting a cat's-eye view.

This is the view from the living room into Scott's office.

This is what happens when one of us knows how to manipulate pictures in Photo Shop!