The space formerly known as "Ugly Wallpaper Bath" is being reconfigured to allow direct access to the downstairs bedroom, to do this we had to cut a door. Fortunately for us, when they added the new room the previous owner covered over a window that used to be in that external wall. All of this is very exciting because it means we get to use the sawzall!

First step: get the electricity turned off to that outlet in the middle, easier said than done considering the mess of wiring in this old place. After 20 minutes of flipping breakers and yelling back and forth we managed to get the power turned off.

With the power off we removed the outlet, capped the wires and got ready to turn the saw on.

Woohoo! This is one of those moments where hours of prep allows for a few brief moments of obvious progress. Cherish these moments, they are what keep you going.

The door starts to take shape, revealing a beautiful view of our old powder blue toilet...a true classic, perhaps collectors item??

This is where the versatility of the Dewalt reciprocal saw really comes into play. Notice how the handle is facing up? The blade can be inserted four different ways to allow for all kinds of different cutting positions; in this one we needed to cut down and end flush with the floor. At this point we are cutting below the window sill of the old window so the original exterior wood siding is partially exposed, you can see the many layers of siding and drywall that were built on top of each other.

Notice the not covered floor vent? That is not due to negligence, the vent is getting replaced with a wood one and the useless flex vent supplying it will also come out and be replaced with a nice efficient oval sheet metal duct. The flex ducts tend to kink and not actually supply much air, a big drawback which outweighs their ease of installation benefit.

Once the door was open we looked at it for a while and realized it was suitable for a skinny hobbit, so back out with the saw to do some more cutting back. Originally we were going to use the inside of the window frame dimensions, but after walking though it a couple times opted to cut back to the outside of the window frame instead.

Ermela turned out to be the best with this piece of equipment, Graham cut like he drives, a little random and Mama C was very unpredictable. Well, now the opening is cut, width is 31" and height is 6'6", perfectly comfortable for our purposes. Next step will be to frame the actual door and see if we have any old doors that might fit the pace. Because we stayed within the original window framing we didn't to deal with new headers or king posts, all in all a very easy modification, and one that did not require any kind of structural considerations.