Cabinet Crisis Averted

Doom and gloom? Almost? Sounds dramatic. Melodramatic. Sort of. You decide. Here’s the skinny version. The upper of two builtin medicine cabinets in our bathroom had begun to wobble, the upper hinge getting looser and looser. When the hinge screws finally pulled free, Susan managed to catch the heavy door before it crashed onto the marble floor, shattering into a mosaic of fragments. Phew! Cabinet crisis averted…

I was asleep when this micro-crisis transpired. Susan woke me, alarmed, certain the crash was inevitable.

Did I mention I was asleep?

“Tape it shut, and I’ll fix it tomorrow.”

Susan obliged. Begrudgingly. And her fitful sleep was, of course, my fault. Bad husband.

And worse? Mañana became the day after the day after mañana. (Too much Santa Fe influence, perhaps.)

So this morning I knew it was time to acknowledge the blue tape reminder that my husband rating was drifting down, down, down into the murky depths.

Fortunately Tony had alchemized my screw envelope notes into two bags of better options. Thank you, Tony. Thank you, Willsborough Hardware.

The two doors are especially heavy because the mirrors are thick glass and weigh on the hinges. Originally well matched to the hinges’ load bearing capacity, the length of the screws was never adequate. With plenty of material to hold them (trim plus framing) we really should have swapped out the stock hinge screws for longer alternatives that could have been sunk deep into the structural supports. But we didn’t.

Gravity finally won. Or, almost won, but Susan saved us. Thank you, Susan.

And today I finally happened fulfilled my ancillary responsibility, swapping the approximately 3/8″ original screws, for a new 1″ top screw and a 3/4″ bottom screw. Sturdy once again, I removed the tape, and smiled at my work.

Until I noticed fingerprints smudged across the mirror, unsatisfactory souvenirs from yours truly.

Susan’s enthusiasm for the repair would quickly fade in the face of smudgy glass.

A quick cleanup later I’m back in contention for husband of the year!