On Wednesday, October 1, 2003, Anna Walker wrote: >... we have to keep the doors open to help heat the house right ... I >am looking for (is) something to put up in the doors to keep them open >and the kids out ... can anyone suggest anything? If you own your house, you might try making various doors into Dutch doors. This is easier than you might think. A Dutch door is just a door cut in half. You will need a way to latch the part of the door that doesn't already have a latch, and extra hinges so both halves have two hinges. First thing, decide how high to cut the door. Colonial-style doors will need to be cut through the thicker frame part, rather than through the panels. Flat doors are usually hollow core, but there will be a piece of wood across the door inside. This is usually where the handle is. If you're confident with your woodworking you can cut anywhere and just reinforce as needed, but I'm assuming you'd rather do it the easy way. Mark the cut line. Don't remove the door yet. Most interior doors already have two hinges. You will need two more, so there are two below and two above the cut line. Go to the hardware store and buy another pair. The type that do not require a mortise on both surfaces are the easiest to put on. You will probably still need to cut one mortise (that's the groove the hinge sits in) on one surface. The mortise is supposed to go on the door frame, but if you will want to make it easy to return to normal doors, it's OK to put the mortise on the door itself. (When you want to sell the house, just replace that particular door). You can cut the mortise with a chisel; there's no need for any fancy router work or anything. Put the hinges on. This makes sure the hinges are in the right places. Next take down the door. Either remove the hinge pins, or just remove the screws holding one side of the hinges. Leave the hinges hanging. Cut the door in half along your cut line. You might want to cut twice, so there is a small gap between the two door halves; this will allow you to put a small strip of wood on top of the new lower door and dress it up a bit. You can also use a bit of veneer or counter-edge binding tape. My cats appreciate a bit of rug shaped to drape over the top, since they like to sit up there to watch the ferrets from a place of safety. Put up the two door halves. You'll notice that the old door handle is now on either the top or the bottom of the new door. My doors are cut low, so the handle is on the top half (the opposite of textbook Dutch doors). So you'll need something to fasten the lower door. I have some doors held with hook-and-eyes, and another that I've put a bolt on. If you have the handle on the lower half, then you should use a bolt to hold the top half to the bottom half (rather than to the doorframe). You can also use a crescent-moon shaped dutch door fastener sold just for that purpose, but they're hard to find and a bit expensive. Total cost should be about $7 for hinges and latch. I find a big advantage of the dutch doors is that I can look over and see if anyone is angling for an escape before I open the door. When going out with a crowd around me, sometimes I even follow the cat's example and step over the door -- the kids think that is really cheating! Hope this helps, Claire Curtis (Sam, Frankie, Missy; also Louis and Lilo) [Posted in FML issue 4289]