REMOVING YOUR OLD SLIDING GLASS DOORWritten by John Rocco
Last week I explained how to measure your existing sliding glass door so you can order vinyl replacement door. This week I am going to go over steps required to remove old sliding door before installing new door.First, you have to remove sliding panel and stationary panel. The vast majority of doors out there have sliding panel on inside half of track, and stationary panel is on outside. Whatever case in your particular door, outside panel has to come out first. To remove fixed panel, you need to remove sill cap that snaps into bottom track and runs from fixed panel to side jamb where sliding panel locks. Force a screwdriver into crease and pry cap up. Then, look for screws on inside side jamb holding fixed panel in place. These screws prevent someone from prying up sill cap and pulling out fixed panel in order to gain entry into home. In addition to side jamb, be sure to check across top header and bottom track for screws there as well. Once all screws have been removed, you need to pull fixed panel away from side jamb. You can start by simply grabbing side rail of fixed panel and pulling as hard as you can. If you're lucky, panel will pop free. Then you can lift panel up as far as it will go into top channel and swing bottom away from track, and remove panel. Now, I said "if you're lucky", because in most cases panel will be stuck in side jamb, bottom track, or both. Usually, you're going to have to use a pry bar to loosen fixed panel before it will slide out of side jamb. Once fixed panel is out, removal of sliding panel is usually easier. Just lift up and swing bottom away from track, then remove panel. Sometimes bottom rollers will prevent bottom from swinging out of track. If that's case, you will need to find roller adjustment hole in bottom corners of sliding panel. Put a screwdriver into this hole and turn screw counterclockwise to bring roller as far up into bottom of sliding panel as possible. This should allow slider to come out. Now, you want to remove all screws from side jambs, top header, and bottom track. Then, take a pry bar and get it under bottom track about in center. Pry up until track is separated from floor. The next step will depend on whether your old frame is nailed to house frame, or simply screwed in. If it's screwed in, then frame should now be loose in opening, since you removed all of screws. You just need to remove whatever inside trim there might be around door frame. This type of frame should come out. If your door is nailed to house frame, you will have to do a bit more work. Use a hacksaw to cut track in half, approximately in center. Start with either half and raise cut piece up towards side jamb until the track piece separates from side jamb. Do same thing to other half.
| | Using candles in Feng Shui decoratingWritten by Jennifer Hall
The basic belief behind Feng Shui is that there are five elements, some combinations of which create a productive cycle, and some a destructive cycle. When one of these five elements – water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, respectively for productive cycle – are combined with an element adjacent to main element, a productive cycle is perpetuated. The reason being that water sustains wood, wood feeds fire, ashes create earth, earth creates metal, and metal holds water. So if you have a room where wood is main element, it would be good Feng Shui to add a water or fire element to room, as water feeds wood and wood feeds fire. This is where candles would be a nice touch of good Feng Shui.A look at destructive cycle will show which elements do not work well together: water, fire, metal, wood, earth. And we can see that water puts our fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood clogs earth, and earth muddies water. Although these elements are generally considered bad Feng Shui combinations, one can be used with an adjacent element in destructive cycle to minimize an overpowering element. For instance, if a room has overpowering metal elements, maybe filled with modern metal furniture, you can minimize that with wood elements like some green leafy plants, or with fire elements such as red throw pillows, a fireplace, or even candles.
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