The Door...

 

No, not the group that did Light My Fire.  An actual door.  This actual door...

 There is a door in there, if you can see through the light pattern from the sun coming through the pergola.  If you ask, "Isn't that the door you had so much trouble with when you first moved in?"  Yes, it is.  The builder replaced the door... and all the trim and stucco work around it.

The new door developed a gap in the seal.  Truly, this door is unusual: when you pull up on the handle, it latches in 3 places; very secure deadbolts; dual thermopane glass, nicely insulated.  Today was the day that the guy who works on these doors for the builder was supposed to be here... between 8:00 and noon.

He got here around 10:00, saw the problem, and said, "I think I can take care of that - no promises."  That didn't sound reassuring.  He obviously knows to "under-promise and over-deliver."  He put a couple small shims inside the door (after removing some exterior trim), and it was a perfect seal.  He then checked the alignment and deadbolt latches... he thought the locking handle was a bit stiff.  And then he fixed all that stuff.  He was here about an hour, visiting (with a heavy accent) while he worked.

When he was done, he said, "You try it."  Works and fits better than new.  He told us that all these doors need some "adjusting" after they've been in a while.

"Why does the company use this door?" I asked.

"It is very secure.  This door cannot be pried open."  Good to know.  He gave us a tip on keeping the door latched at all times... not for the security part, but because it keeps everything fitting properly with the daily changes in temperature here in the desert.

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While rolling the garbage cans out to the street, several of the pavers dropped a couple inches.  I assumed the base layer hadn't been compacted enough, and called the landscaper... Robert said he'd get a crew on it right away.

They were here this afternoon and went right after it.  Once they had taken out a section of the pavers, it was clear that the ground underneath that area had settled.  One of the workers pushed a shovel handle into the dirt in that area, and it went down about 2 1/2 feet.  Soft!  I called the builder's rep and he came over right away.  He knew what the problem was: they dig down about 4 feet to set the utilities.  They compact the dirt they put over it, but it was dry here for months.  With the rain we had, it was enough to settle that dirt to the point where the pavers dropped a couple inches when I stepped on them.

Robert had 5 guys from his crew out to do this work; same workers who did the work originally.  They put more dirt in there, compacted that, filled it more, wet it, and compacted it again, before putting one more layer of dirt in and leveling it.  Then, they went after re-setting the pavers...

These guys are fast and efficient.  And now, we'll keep an eye on that area.