The door I made mention of on Saturday is done. I’ll be installing it tomorrow after school.
(you know the deal)
90″x44″ overall.
1/8″ plate steel welded to a bunch of 2×2 with 1/4″ wall thickness.
It is a beast.
The latches are along the left hand side and one on the top are to make sure it seals air tight. It will close an opening in a 20ft by 50ft wall of plate steel which serves as a backing for an architectural testing company. They test designs for structural integrity for insurance companies.
The current test is of a large set of folding windows. The engineer will use the newly sealing section of the wall by creating a vacuum within the enclosure (between the windows and the wall) to see if the windows can survive. If they do, he will then hit them with increasing wind forces until they don’t and record the results.
I want to work for these folks full-time soooo badly. I would love to get paid to help with destructive testing.
Plus, you could build a safe-door…or a safety-door!
That would be the bees knees of jobs without a doubt.
Random question:
I’ve fantasized about building my own house, and the fantasy isn’t complete without imagining doors that can’t be breached, first-floor walls that can’t be saw-all’ed through, and sally ports instead of huge windows.
I look at the warehouse-style big box stores with I-beams and cinderblocks and wonder.
Ballpark – How much would it cost to get an average-sized house framed with metal – at least enough to reinforce the door frame and window frames? How much would it cost to have one average-sized bedroom walled with metal plates thick enough to stop rifle rounds?
Dustydog, I’ve tried to email you a couple times about your question, but I keep getting it bounced back. Hit up the site mailbox and we’ll talk.