Sometime around 24 September?
I fitted some strips of wood around the front of the door, to stop the draught getting in at the edges. The strips at the sides and top are nailed along their whole length, but the one at the bottom is more of a replacable doorstep and so is only nailed twice so that it can be replaced when it gets worn out or damaged.
26 September
I added the lock and handle to the door, but didn't get round to the metal box that the lock bolt slides into. I also added one bolt to the inside of the not-usually-opened door so that the door you open swings around it, and bought yet another basin wrench to cannibalise for a bolt at the top of the door. With only one bolt on, I found that the top of the door would wobble when you pushed it so was a bit of a weak point, hence the other bolt. I must get round to doing this - at the time of writing I've still not fitted it. The lock and handle was a bit of pig's ear but it does work, despite having to bore a hole into the door for the inside handle - all because my doors are so thick!
29 September
Fitted the final part of the lock - the metal box that the lock bolt and latch opener wotsit goes into (striker plate I think it was called on the instructions). And it closes and locks like a dream!! In fact when I came back into the kitchen I realised that the shed door closes better than the one to the back garden, which you have to hold with your knee to shut properly.
30 September
Just about to move the big window to the shed when I realised that they didn't deliver the box of bits with it, including the handles and assorted fixings, so a quick trip to Wickes got that sorted out. I was surprised that they gave me the fittings with no fuss, given that I'd had the window since May, but Wickes are very friendly and I was impressed by their service.
1 October
With the handles for the windows, it was now possible to open the windows, unscrew them from the frame, and take the whole thing down to the shed in pieces. Those double-glazed units weigh a ton and there's no way you can lift the whole 6-foot window without help unless you take out each opener!
2 October
Attached the window cill to the window, which meant drilling for screwholes, then putting a bead of frame sealant on the frame. The cill was then attached to it and screwed in. The last bit was the tricky bit, holding it steady (6-foot cill on a very thin edge) while screwing it in, but a useful trick was to temporarily put nails into the holes to hold it in place, replacing them one by one with screws. Read on for why this was all a pointless exercise!
5 October
Rain, going out for pizza, and not being arsed, all meant that a couple of days went by with nothing done. However, today made up for that as the whole of the big window went in! First I had to make the frame fit the window, by cutting some strips of wood and fitting them to the frame. But...
Then I realised I'd put the windowsill on back to front! Gordon Bennett! There are only two ways it could possibly go on and I had to pick the wrong one! Luckily it wasn't too much of a disaster, but I could have done without the hour spent unscrewing it, getting all the unwanted frame sealant off, re-drilling and sticking down with frame sealant and screws. All part of the fun I suppose!
You'll notice that I nailed a board inside the shed to stop the window falling back out again, which is extremely useful if you're doing this on your own as I was. The window frame was screwed into the shed frame, the windows just screwed back into their brackets, the locks went on, and the fixed glazing (ie non-opening) went back in without a problem.
Time to stand back and admire it because with all the windows and doors attached, this is now officially, undeniably, a usable shed!
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