Official “numpty” status confirmed.

Maybe this is old age creeping in, or maybe I just need to slow down, but a recent event has confirmed my utter cretin status to myself and Mrs M. Thankfully we can both laugh about it.

Back in 2019/20 we had an extension at the rear of the house, this included two French doors that open onto the rear garden/patio area, all very nice.
We didn’t order blinds that fit within the doors/glazed units at the time as they were rather expensive. Seems cheap now….. As a possible solution I ordered and fitted some thermal blinds to the two doors and adjoining windows, these were needed partly for the night but also to reflect some of the suns heat in what passes for our summer. Although not cheap, these weren’t bank breaking, and did a reasonable job. Since then they have worn and the pleated blinds have become saggy, not sitting straight when pulled up etc.
Black Friday deals came around on Blinds2Go, so I thought we would upgrade to some “perfectFit” blinds. These have a frame that clips around the UPVC inner door frame, creating a semi rigid structure that the blind sits inside. They look great and get fantastic results. Out came the tape measure, notepad and glasses, measured at least five times as I was paranoid of getting this wrong, the measurements have to be within 2/3 mm as the frame/blind is made to order. Great, checked several times again, confirmed with Mrs W, ordered. Happy days.
Fast forward to yesterday, the package arrives! Hurrah. New blinds for me to fit. However….

The width of each glass pane, two doors, is exactly 582mm, checked the new blind, absolutely spot on, excellent. The drop of each door was measured and ordered at 980mm. Those of you with an eye for measurements would immediately question that as a measurement for the drop on a door…..clearly I don’t have an eye for this. I’d been so busy treble and quadruple checking the measurements I’d missed a 1000mm from the order! Instead of the 980mm frame that I’d ordered, I should have had frames of 1980mm…….. Doh!!!
Essentially these two blinds are useless to me, I will have to see if there is anyone on eBay who needs a perfect fit blind for a window of 580x980mm.
Phoned the people up, put my hands in the air and told them what an eejut I’d been. After some mild sniggering the kind lady allowed me to re-order them with the correct drop, and took pity on me, giving me a 50% discount as a re-order.
Official numpty status confirmed.

 

The doors are going to look like this for a few weeks longer….

 

Yes, unless you are related to Warwick Davies I immediately noticed the 1 missing off your drop height.

Having project managed a self build these things become ingrained to me.

We have thermal roller blinds in our kitchen. Six of them with a remote control. I didn't fit or measure these though...

 

Don’t worry when I was with the Ex we got a fairly expensive and solid concertina door which was perfect in every sense bar the length as width/fold was the changeable element and all came at a set length. Out comes the tape measure and door duly reduced to length prior to fitting. Voila.. one new door with bespoke 1 foot “cat gap” created at the bottom … we laughed like heck while looking at it closed, when the cat comes wandering along and duly trundles through aforementioned gap God knows what was going through my mind it only needed 2 inches off.

Anyway I gained my numpty status that day but that door remained in place for 2 yrs until we split and moved our separate ways. Cat loved it mind

 

Easy done i like feet and inches not as easy to get wrong well i don't think so.

 

Mrs W is of the feet/inches school of thought, I’m a child of the 70s, so metric all the way! I did get her to check the measurements and she agreed with me at the time, although now it seems I am 100% to blame.

 

I could be wrong, but French doors are constructed using small panes of glass from top to bottom. Well that’s how they appear in my neighbours’ houses. Without the small panes they are just seen as glass doors.

"...I’m a child of the 70s, so metric all the way! "
Well I’m a child of the forty’s, work with both imperial and metric, and did so before moving to France – it was necessary in my line of work. My granddaughter is from the 2000’s and will tell you how tall she is in feet and inches, but how heavy she is in Kilos; you work it out. So no excuses Matthew, I’m siding with your wife on this one.

 

You had me thinking on the door name. I’ve always called such doors “French” doors, spent a few summers fitting windows/doors and fitted a few like this.

However, I have also seen them referenced as having multiple panes. Who knows!

 

My wife worked in a cash office but i never trust her adding up but then she doesn't lol.
A wife is never wrong had 2 myself just to check.

 

New ones arrived and fitted today. It was a tense moment opening them up….

Phew!