Building Materials - Doors

It has been quite a few years since I have been doing renovations or building so I am a little out of touch with what is out there. 9 years ago I took 6 months off work to do a full renovation of a small workers cottage.

Back then I honestly bit off more than I could chew, it was a weatherboard cottage and the external boards had to be stripped, some of them had upto 15 layers of paint from plastic style paint to the old lead based paint. We moved walls, built new ones, moved the kitchen and bathroom from one side of the house to the other, built the vanity and inbuilt cupboards, stripped peeling ceilings (my pet hate). I learnt to tile and cut tiles around tap fittings.

I knew that back then buying all the building equipment like framing/finishing guns, routers, mitre saws and saw benches would come in handy. The place we are currently living in I built the bathroom vanity, laundry cupboards and kitchen out of timber and did all the cedar slab benches 6 years ago.

After my brother found out I could tile I took on tiling a full living room, bathroom and laundry in slate, never again it nearly killed my back. Took me 2 weeks, it looks absolutley beautiful and will be there forever but when I see it, sadly I think of how sore my back was.

I like building and woodwork but just don't get the time to do it, at one stage I looked into an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker or builder but back then it was very hard as a female to get a start or break. Women just didn't do this kind of thing, how times have changed.

Currently we are building a new workshop as the old one is too small. I am guestimating that we will outgrow this workshop maybe in a couple of years, so it has been planned with future extensions to be added at a later date.

I have been looking at doors which would be suitable for offices and the entrance doors and came across these doors.

They are an energy efficient door with an internal venetian enclosed in between glazed glass. The venetian has a magnetic mechanism on the side of it so that the venetian can be raised, lowered and opened and closed. The other bonus is that the controls can be removed so no one can fiddle with the venetian. I saw these doors and immediately decided these were the ones for our new workshop offices etc even though they are a little pricey just for a door but the door will be there for many years to come and I am very certain I will be glad that I chose this style.

They let lots of light in if necessary and they are minimum cleaning and fuss. Minimal maintenance is high on my priority list because then there is more time for other things.

I have found some fabulous fittings and things that will make life so much easier and slowly but surely these things will be incorporated into the scheme of things.

Like I just got hold of a Zip mini boil which is instant hot water on tap for tea and coffee, this is a must in any work place because there is no time wasted sitting around waiting for the jug to boil. More time relaxing or having a break with a cuppa.